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PROFILE

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Hubert Humphrey enjoying an Eskimo Blanket Toss in Anchorage during a campaign trip in 1967. Because of Gruening's fierce opposition to the Vietnam war, in the late 60's, there was a saying on college campuses, "Don't trust anyone over 30, unless he is 80!." (Henry S. Kaiser, Jr.)

dustry (due to a lack of management and enforcement), and fishing and goldmining industries (main economic staples) which weere seasonal and controlled outside of Alaska. Almost immediately, as a member of the Alaska International Highway Commission, he began work on contruction plans for a highway through Canada that would result in an overland link to the "Lower 48" states.

Governor Gruening recognized that this northern territory, "Seward's Icebox," had almost unlimited economic wealth in the form of natural resources: land, water, forests, minerals, fisheries, unmatched scenic magnificence, and a virgin environment populated by a few hardy souls possessing great energy and an unfailing spirit.
During his travels to various Alaskan 

Henry Kaiser originally from Nenana, Alaska, taught in the public school system. He then moved to Anchorage and taught at Fort Richardson. Before retiring three years ago, he served with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

communities, he noticed some business displayed signs stating, "No Natives Allowed." He attacked this civil rights problem by asking to see the manager, and in most cases after a one-on-one discussion, the discriminatory signs were removed, adding Natives and other minorities to that firm's clientele - the beginning of Gruening's efforts of civil rights for all.
Gruening led a revolution that brought several Alaskan Natives into the territorial political system, his "legislative reform." Qualified Indian and Eskimo candidates were personally advised to run for the legislature, others were appointed to territorial boards and commissions. Many remote Native villages saw their first polling and voting places where, for the first time, they voted for Native candidates.
He often spoke to Alaskan minority groups, sometimes likening himself to a 19th century American journalist, abolitionist, and social reformer famous in the 1830's for his denunciations of slavery. He would say, "I am like William Lloyd Garrison who often stated, "I am willing to speak to any audience, anyplace, at anytime, on any subject, as long as it is abolition." By 1945, his appeal for an Alaskan anti-discrimination bill passed the territorial legislature, bringing with it a new era in race relations.
As a wartime governor of the only U.S. possession that experienced enemy invasion during World War II, Gruening travelled to Attu Island in the Aleutain Chain on the eve of an historial battle where he mingles with the anxiously waiting soldiers. Their commanding general wrote him a thank-you letter for "the untiring support and encouragement you gave my troops that destroyed the Japanese forces on Attu..." It was because of these invasions that Alaska gained much greater national attention as a U.S. territory, and along with the beginnings of economic development, a tremendous defense buildup was soon accomplished by the federal government.
It was also at this time that one of the most successful public health efforts in the history of our country was started. During a special session of Alaska's Territorial Legislature in

FEBRUARY 1987 HORIZONS 36

Transcription Notes:
removed per SI instructions on how to transcribe images [[image description]][[/image description]][[note]] [[/note] "Industry" "completed on page 35