Those Alaska junkets can make a difference

The summer junket to Alaska by members of Congress or the president's administration is a long-standing feature of the tourist season here.

For many of the Washington, D.C., travelers, it's merely an exotic holiday, especially for those headed for one of the luxury lodges deep in the wilderness, protestations about a "working vacation" to the contrary notwithstanding.

But others have been serious about getting to know and understand the vast environment and unique economic and social character of America's north. The junkets are often reported by the press, with or without the blessing of the subject, and usually include speculation about what might come of the "fact gathering." One never knows.

[What's in a name? Often, a heck of a lot]

Raised eyebrows aside, much is possible from such visits. One of the earliest was by Vermont Sen. William Dillingham, in 1903. The Senate had established a subcommittee to survey conditions in Alaska following the Klondike Gold Rush.

Dillingham and other senators visited several towns — but not the Nushagak Bay community subsequently named for him.

Recognizing substantial needs in the territory, back in Washington he helped move legislation that produced an Alaska Road Commission, which built the Richardson Highway, capitalized by an "Alaska Fund" Dillingham engineered that collected business license fees.

In 1906 he pushed the bill to create an Alaska delegate to Congress. Real follow-through.

[Pioneering Gruber left mark on state]

One of the most important visits ever was by Ohio Rep. John Seiberling in 1975.  Seiberling became enchanted with Alaska on that trip, and made himself an expert on its environment and the politics of the pending Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

Several historians argue that ANILCA owes more to Seiberling than to any other single individual.

Interior Secretary Fred Seaton visited in 1958 when he was being mentioned as a possible presidential candidate (he deferred to Richard Nixon). He addressed the annual Alaska Native Brotherhood Convention at Sitka.

Also impressed with the Alaska environment, and with naturalist advocates Olaus and Margaret Murie, two years later Seaton persuaded outgoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower to create the Arctic National Wildlife Range (changed later  to: "Refuge").

One of the most productive summer visits was by Harold Ickes, the longest serving U.S. interior secretary, from March 1933 to February 1946. Ickes was a "Bull Moose" Progressive Republican from Chicago.

Democrat Franklin Roosevelt wanted Ickes in his administration for political balance. What he got was a formidable political reformer described by one biographer as "irascible, honest, suspicious, committed to democracy and minority-group rights, and hungry for power."

He was the most colorful member of Roosevelt's management team.

In August 1938, Ickes made his one trip to Alaska. He traveled extensively, from Metlakatla in far Southeast to the Northwest coastal villages, also Mount McKinley (now, Denali) National Park, and the Interior.

Returning from the trip he undertook several policy initiatives that changed the landscape of Alaska. He organized an International Highway Commission that surveyed possible routes from Seattle to Fairbanks, one of which would become the Alaska Highway.

Alarmed by the forest fire damage he saw, he directed that a high-level fire protection team from Montana be dispatched to the territory to devise a plan for Alaska. He added acreage to the Glacier Bay National Monument (which had been created in 1925), a move supported by Chief Forester (later Alaska Territorial Gov.) Frank Heintzleman.

Ickes also proposed that Admiralty Island be made a national park, which did not happen, partly because of Native land rights there. And he demanded that the Mount McKinley park hotel, then under construction, be expanded and upgraded to look like a traditional national park lodge, instead of the structure he said "looked more like a factory."

Ickes was especially interested in ideas that would further Alaska's economic development. A favorite was to rescue Jews being persecuted in Europe, for resettlement in Alaska, a concerted gesture he thought would contribute greatly to the territory's advance.

An exhaustive report by Undersecretary Henry Slattery was enthusiastically supportive, as were many in FDR's administration. But others opposed the idea, including Gov. Ernest Gruening and Delegate Bob Bartlett, as well as the American Jewish Congress. There was still too much stigma; yes, even in Alaska.

The Alaska Jewish Museum will open an enlightening exhibit on this failed plan on Aug. 21.

Steve Haycox is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com.