49 at Last!

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How a prophesy was fulfilled Secretary of State William Seward, who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Czarist Russia in 1867, predicted on his first visit to the northern possession that Alaska one day would become a state or many states. Seward’s prediction came true in 1959 when Alaska became the 49th and largest state. Little wonder this took ninety years. At first, Alaska was recognized as a military district and later as a territory with limited self-government. The movement toward statehood was frustratingly slow for its advocates given the powerful influence of outside mining, shipping, and commercial fishing interests who exploited Alaska; the differences of opinion both at home and in Washington, D.C. as to whether the territory could support itself as a state; and the swirl of complex political intrigue that touched on other issues such as civil rights, the balance of power between the Democrats and Republicans, and the timing of Hawaii’s admittance as a state. In a book that reads at times like a political thriller, author Dr. Claus-M. Naske tells the story about how, after decades of trial and error, the unrelenting pro-statehood forces won support from President Dwight D. Eisenhower-a breakthrough for their cause-and forged a coalition in Congress that