|
Ernest Gruening
Although Ernest Gruening graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1912 with an M.D. degree, he soon decided to direct his energies to bettering the lives of those in the United States and its territories who did not enjoy the full rights of citizenship. Initially, as a crusading reporter and editor, he championed the cause of the laboring man and minorities. Later his interests expanded to include neighbors, territories and possessions of the United States.
|
With his appointment in 1934 as director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions within the Depatment of the Interior under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gruening worked to improve conditions for United States citizens outside the continental boundaries. Almost immediately he began working toward statehood for Alaska and Hawaii..
|
Beginning with his appointment as governor of the Territory of Alaska in 1939 and continuing after his retirement in 1953, Gruening fought for statehood, for an expanded economic base, for protection and efficient utilization of resources, and for equality for Alaskan Natives. As a U.S. Senator after Alaska achieved statehood, Gruening worked to smooth the transition. He provided leadership at the national level in support of civil rights, in improving U.S. foreign aid, and in efficient utilization of natural resources..
|
Books by Ernest Gruening include "The State of Alaska," "The Battle for Alaska Statehood," "Mexico and Its Heritage," "The Public Pays, Viet Nam Folly," and his autobiography, "Many Battles." He was also a contributor to numerous periodicals including National Geographic, The Nation, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, as well as the Encyclopedia Britannica..
|
Always a strong supporter of the University of Alaska while serving as governor of the Territory of Alaska, Gruening was awarded an honorary degree by the university in 1955 in recognition of that support. He and his wife, Dorothy, attended the dedication of the Ernest Gruening Building on the Fairbanks Campus in 1972. Ernest died on June 26, 1974, in Washington, D.C..
|
| Congressional Biography |
| Senate Years of Service: 1959-1969 |
| Party: Democrat |
GRUENING, Ernest, a Senator from Alaska; born in New York City, February 6, 1887; attended Drisler School and Sachs School; graduated from Hotchkiss School in 1903, Harvard College in 1907, and Harvard Medical School in 1912; gave up practice of medicine to enter journalism; reporter for Boston American in 1912 and, after a variety of jobs with several newspapers, became managing editor of the New York Tribune in 1917; served in the Field Artillery Corps in 1918; editor of The Nation 1920-1923; editor, New York Post 1932-1933; adviser to the United States delegation to the Seventh Inter-American Conference, Montevideo, Chile, in 1933; director of the Division of Territories and Island Possessions of the Department of the Interior 1934-1939; administrator of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration 1935-1937; member of Alaska International Highway Commission 1938-1942; appointed governor of Alaska by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 and twice reappointed, serving until 1953; elected to the United States Senate October 6, 1955, from the Territory of Alaska as an advocate of Alaska statehood but did not take the oath of office and was not accorded senatorial privileges; known as ‘the father of Alaska statehood’; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate on November 25, 1958, and upon admission of Alaska as a State into the Union on January 3, 1959, in the classification of Senators from that State, drew the four-year term beginning on that day and ending January 3, 1963; reelected in 1962 and served from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1969; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1968; president of investment firm; legislative consultant; died in Washington, D.C., June 26, 1974; cremated; ashes scattered over Mount Ernest Gruening, north of Juneau, Alaska..
|
The Gruening Building dedicated in May 1972, is an eight-story, 72,000-square foot structure just north of the Eielson Building. It was the first building on campus more than three stories tall. It was built to house the social sciences, classrooms and general office space..
|
The building was designed in the image of the FBI building in Washington, D.C. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, planners believed university and other "establishment buildings to be targets of civil unrest and built Gruening to withstand attack. It has no ledges or fixtures from which the building can be scaled from the outside..
|
|
| "The People Behind Campus Names" On these pages, you will find the stories of the people behind the names. Who are they and what did they contribute to the University of Alaska? |
| Text taken from the ceremonial program for the unveiling of the bronze bust of Ernest Gruening, presented to the University of Alaska by the Alaska Legislature. May 1978 |
| Congessional Biography of GRUENING, Ernest, 1887-1974 at http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000508 |
| Building Information, UAF University Relations |
|
|
|
Offical photo of Governor Gruening. Photo: Alaska State Library
|
|
|
Gruening Building on the UAF campus
|
|
|
Bronze sculpture of Gruening by Felix W. de Weldon.
|
|
|
In 1945, Governor Ernest Gruening helped introduce legislation for equal rights of Native people.
|
|
