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Walter Joseph Hickel

Wally Hickel
Hickel.gif
2nd and 6th Governor of Alaska
In office
December 3, 1990 – December 5, 1994
Lieutenant Jack Coghill
Preceded by Steve Cowper
Succeeded by Tony Knowles
In office
December 5, 1966 – January 29, 1969
Lieutenant Keith Harvey Miller
Preceded by William A. Egan
Succeeded by Keith Harvey Miller
38th United States Secretary of the Interior
In office
January 24, 1969 – November 25, 1970
President Richard Nixon
Preceded by Stewart Udall
Succeeded by Rogers Morton
Personal details
Born Walter Joseph Hickel
(1919-08-18)August 18, 1919
Ellinwood, Kansas, U.S..
Died May 7, 2010(2010-05-07) (aged 90)
Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Resting place Anchorage Memorial Park
Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.
Political party Republican Party
(ca. 1940-1990, 1994-2010)
Other political
affiliations
Alaskan Independence Party
(September 1990 – April 1994)
Spouse(s) Jannice Hickel (née Cannon; 1941–1943, her death)
Ermalee Hickel (née Strutz; 1945–2010, his death)
Children Theodore Jeffrey "Ted" Hickel
Robert "Bob" Hickel
Walter Joseph "Wally" Hickel, Jr.
John Edward "Jack" Hickel
Joseph William "Joe" Hickel
William Karl "Karl" Hickel
Signature

Walter Joseph "Wally" Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman and politician. Starting out in Alaska during territorial days as a construction worker and subsequently a construction company owner/operator, he later became heavily involved with real estate development during Alaska's post-World War II boom period, building residential subdivisions at first, then branching out to building and operating shopping centers and hotels. Thrust into politics during the early 1950s by a power struggle within the territorial Republican Party and the battle to achieve statehood for Alaska, Hickel remained a formidable power in Alaskan politics for nearly a half century.

Hickel served as the second and eighth Governor of Alaska. Defeating incumbent and first governor William A. Egan in 1966, he served as governor until 1969, ending with his resignation upon his confirmation in the position of United States Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President Richard Nixon. He later served a full term as governor from 1990 to 1994 under the banner of the Alaskan Independence Party, thus far the party's most significant electoral achievement.

Born in Ellinwood, Kansas in 1919, he grew up on his parents' Dust Bowl tenant farm during the Great Depression near Claflin, Kansas. Hickel relocated to Alaska in 1940, going into the local real estate industry. By 1947, Hickel had formed a successful construction company. While some fellow Republicans in the Alaska Territory opposed statehood, Hickel joined Democrats in calls for joining the Union during the late 1940s and into the 1950s. Using his growing popularity among Alaskan Republicans and growing political clout in Washington, Hickel was able to travel to the nation's capital to engage in talks with key Republicans in both the U.S. Congress and within the Eisenhower Administration to speak about Alaskan statehood. Thanks in part to his efforts, Hickel's debates with Congressional leaders led to enough initially hesitant Republicans voting in favor of the Alaska Statehood Act in 1958.


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