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Alaskan Statehood
- Syracuse University Press
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199 Alaskan Statehood June 25, 2009 In 1867 , the United States acquired the Territory of Alaska from Russia . In 1912, Alaska took the first step toward being a state of the union by becoming an incorporated territory. (Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory.) In the conquest of the West, Alaska was the last frontier. It was populated and colonized by white Americans, fortune hunters. It was they who had political and economic control, and they displaced Alaska’s scarce native population. Such groups of settlers were the ones who began the pursuit of statehood through lobbying and plebiscites. The main factor in attaining statehood is not local support for statehood , but rather the contribution that the new state can make to the nation and the reasons for that contribution’s being advantageous for the United States. During the 1950s, 80 percent of Alaskan residents were white, and 20 percent were natives. Up until 1945, there were signs in public establishments that prohibited entry to the native Alaskans. In his book The Battle for Alaska Statehood, Ernest Gruening, a former governor and senator, explains Alaska’s military importance for the US Armed Forces and the aggressive lobbying for statehood by the air force and the navy. Lieutenant General Nathan F. Twining, commander in chief of the Alaska Command, testified before Congress that “statehood for Alaska would help the military . . . and be a great asset to military development.” 200 Newspaper Columns In Puerto Rico, in contrast to Alaska, the closure of Fort Brooke, Isla Grande Naval Base, Ramey Air Force Base, Roosevelt Roads Naval Base, and the practice ranges on Culebra, Vieques, and so forth underscores the decreasing military importance that Puerto Rico ultimately has for the United States. President Harry S. Truman actively favored statehood for Alaska, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower did not. Congress ignored the claims of the residents of Alaska. Given local frustration, Alaska’s political leadership decided to implement the “Tennessee Plan,” part of which entailed electing two white senators and one white representative and sending them to Washington, DC, in 1956. But, according to Gruening, who was one of the senators sent to Congress, “We were not admitted to the floor of the Senate, as has been done in the case of Tennessee.” During the Second World War, the Japanese attacked Hawaii at Pearl Harbor and occupied some of the western islands of Alaska for more than a year. These events highlighted the desirability of Hawaii and Alaska for forces hostile to the United States. The Cold War arose initially in Europe, but the Korean War and the triumph of Mao Zedong in China in the 1950s elevated the conflict to a global level. The few hours that separate Hawaii and Alaska from the Soviet Union and China suddenly increased the value of these incorporated territories in the eyes of the United States. This new scenario led to Eisenhower’s endorsing statehood for Alaska. The Senate approved HR 7999 on June 30, 1958, granting statehood to Alaska once assurances had been given that the new Alaskan and Hawaiian senators would not alter the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. The vote was sixty-four in favor and twenty against, with twelve abstentions. Not voting for the bill were legendary senators such as Sam Ervin, J. William Fulbright, Herman Talmadge, Strom Thurmond, John Stennis, Prescott Bush (the father of George H. W. Bush), Albert Gore Sr., and Lyndon B. Johnson. The 48,000 Alaskan voters ratified annexation by a majority vote of five to one. Extrapolating from the case of Alaska to that of Puerto Rico, [54.166.141.52] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:27 GMT) Alaskan Statehood 201 what does Puerto Rico have to contribute to the United States? What economic contribution can it make now that local annexationists have destroyed the use of Section 936 [of the US Internal Revenue Code], which had the potential to create a strong economy, and have consolidated the welfare state with the addition of food stamps (both effective short-term electoral strategies)? The United States has been consistent: statehood is available to Puerto Ricans but not to the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico. The almost 4 million Puerto Ricans who have relocated to the United States have achieved statehood. The incorporated territory of Alaska served as a strategic military asset to the Americans during the Cold War. What possible contribution might Puerto Rico make to the United States to convince Congress to grant...