Alaska

ALASKA HAD BEEN settled from at least 12,000 B.C.E., with the first European contact in 1741 when the Russian explorer Vitus Bering led an expedition to the region. The Russians then established settlements there, but in 1867 sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million. Because of the climate and its geographical isolation, few settlers moved there until the 1890s, when there was a gold rush there and in the nearby Yukon Territory in Canada.

This led to a massive increase in the population and Alaska was granted the status of a territory in 1912. It was not long afterward that Alaska had its first major political scandal when the second governor of the Alaska Territory, John Franklin Alexander Strong, was forced to resign in 1918, when it was revealed that he was actually a Canadian citizen.

During World War II, the Japanese managed to capture three of the Aleutian Islands, which were the only parts of the United States to be captured by the enemy during the war. In response to a feared invasion, the U.S. government deployed large numbers of troops there, constructing some military bases. These were maintained throughout the Cold War, leading to an increase in the population of Alaska. However it was not until January 3, 1959, that Alaska was granted statehood. Nine years later, oil was discovered at Prudhoe Bay, and this led to the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which led to massive oil wealth for the state. The population, which had been 128,643 in the 1950 census, rose to 226,167 in 1960, 300,382 in 1970, 401,851 in 1980, 550,043 in 1990, and 626,932 in 2000. It remains the least densely populated state in America.

In the years that preceded Alaska gaining statehood, there were political discussions about whether it would tend to support the Democrats or whether it would lean towards the Republicans. Many commentators believed that as Alaska was in need of federal government funding for its infrastructure, it would support the Democrats, which gave the Dwight Eisenhower administration reservations about statehood.

The first governor of Alaska after it gained statehood was William A. Egan (D), who held the position from to 1966, and Alaska has had a Democrat governor for 28 of the 48 years as a state. However, it has voted Republican in every U.S. presidential election except in 1964. No state has favored the Republicans more times than Alaska with its Electoral College votes. Although it might seem that Alaska has a built-in Republican majority, the two-party system is well developed, with some of the Republican victories running close. In the U.S. presidential election, Richard M. Nixon only narrowly won with 30,953 as against 29,809 for John F. Kennedy. Four years later, Alaska voted heavily for Lyndon B. Johnson, who gained 44,329 votes to 22,930 for Barry Goldwater.

William Egan, the first governor, is the only governor of Alaska who was born in the state. His parents were miners, and his mother died in an avalanche when Egan was six years old. His godfather, Anthony Dimond, was a member of the Alaska senate and encouraged young Egan to follow politics. Egan was elected to the Alaska Territorial House of Assembly in 1940, and to the Alaska Senate 13 years later. He left the governorship in 1966.

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