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Walter J. Hickel:

Walter J. Hickel was born near Claflin, Kansas, August 18, 1919. The eldest son in a family of ten, he was working a gang-plow with four horses at the age of eight on his parents' dust bowl tenant farm. He graduated from high school in Claflin, participating in football and track. In 1938 he became Kansas' Welterweight Golden Gloves boxing champion.

Under age, without a passport, his plans to emigrate to Australia thwarted, he went to Alaska (arriving in Anchorage with only 37 cents) in 1940. After a year of odd jobs, from logging to bartending, Hickel married Janice Cannon, who became ill and died in 1943. They had one son, Ted. In 1945, he married Ermalee Strutz, daughter of pioneering Alaskans, Louis and Aline Strutz. Wally and Ermalee have six sons: Ted, Bob, Wally Jr., Jack, Joe, and Karl.

During World War II, Hickel served as a civilian flight maintenance inspector for the Army Air Corps.

After the war, he became a builder, developer, and civic leader. He built and operated rental units, residential developments, hotels, and shopping centers, and became deeply involved in Alaska's statehood fight, especially the successful effort to gain 103 million acres for the new state. In 1954, he was elected Republican National Committeeman and served in that capacity for ten years.

In 1961 President John Kennedy requested that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce select six delegates to attend the Japan-U.S. Conference in Hakone, Japan. Hickel was chosen, and at the meeting he pointed out the importance of natural resources in Alaska including natural gas from Kenai. As a result, Alaska became the first exporter of LNG from the U.S. to Japan. Hickel continued to visit Japan, and contributed to the promotion of Japan-Alaska economic and trade relations through interchange with Japanese business leaders. In 1964, Hickel led the first Alaska Chamber economic trade mission to Japan.

In 1966, Hickel ran against heavy odds for the governorship and won.
His record as governor included putting Alaska onto a sound financial footing by opening up the North Slope for oil development, upgrading the court system, and initiating forceful environmental and anti-pollution actions.

At the 1968 Republican National Convention, he was nominated for President as Alaska's favorite son. Later that year he was designated by President Richard Nixon to be the 38th Secretary of the Department of the Interior. As Secretary, he became known for his strong actions on behalf of a national energy policy, the environment, and reconciliation between the generations.

His actions as Secretary of the Interior, detailed in his best-selling book, Who Owns America?, included upgrading offshore oil drilling regulations after the Santa Barbara oil disaster, establishing the Parks-to-People program, reorganizing the Bureau of Indian Affairs, placing all eight species of great whales on the Endangered Species List, and a multitude of other precedent-setting actions on behalf of the nation's public resources.

In private life, Hickel is the sole proprietor of the Hickel Investment Company which builds and operates a hotel, office buildings and shopping centers in Alaska.

In June 1982, then-Governor Jay Hammond asked two of his predecessors--Governors Hickel and Egan--to lead an effort to explore alternatives to bring Alaska's North Slope natural gas to market. The Hickel-Egan effort, known as the Governor's Economic Committee on North Slope Natural Gas, proposed the construction of an 820-mile gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez to serve Pacific Rim markets. Following this initiative, Hickel formed the Yukon Pacific Corporation with a group of investors. This firm is now a business unit of CSX Corporation.

In 1989, at the invitation of NASA, Hickel joined other leading businessmen, astronauts, scientists, and historians on the NASA Exploration Task Force which advised NASA and the President on a return to the moon and human exploration of Mars.

On September 16, 1990, Hickel joined the race for Governor under the banner of the Alaskan Independence Party. On November 6, the voters elected Hickel as their eighth Chief Executive. Hickel, Alaska's first Independence Party governor, vowed when taking the oath of office to rekindle the state's spirit and values.

His record as Governor included collecting approximately $4 billion in back oil taxes; filing landmark lawsuits against the federal government asserting Alaska's State's rights; settling the Mental Health Lands Trust dispute; selecting the final 23 million acres of the State's 103 million acre entitlement; founding The Northern Forum; securing funding for the purchase of Kachemak Bay State Park; cutting agency operating budgets by six percent a year (eight percent with inflation); and allocating more money than the past three administrations combined for upgrading village water and sewer systems.

Hickel chose not to seek re-election in November 1994. Two months prior to leaving the governorship, he was elected Secretary General of The Northern Forum at the annual meeting in Rovaniemi, Finland. The Northern Forum is an international organization of elected leaders that represents 25 Arctic regions. It has been accredited by the United Nations. In 1995 he founded the Institute of the North to provide academic support for The Northern Forum and degree and public educational programs on Northern geography and management of the commons. (For more information, see web site www.institutenorth.org.)

His articles on national issues have appeared in The New York Times, Reader's Digest, Saturday Review, Family Weekly, Saturday Evening Post, and Boston Globe.

In April 2002, Governor Hickel's book, Crisis in the Commons: The Alaska Solution, was published and released by ICS Press, a division of the Institute of Contemporary Studies. This book has been described by the Ketchikan Daily News as "Alaska's bible, and a textbook for every Alaskan, every American, every world citizen. It lifts the spirit and gives hope to all ages." The Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Joseph W. Ralston, commented: "The best security in a dangerous world is a fair world, a world where everyone has enough to eat, an opportunity to succeed and a voice in their governance. Such is the world The Alaska Solution will help create." In October 2004 this book was published in Russian and released in Moscow.

Named as the "Alaskan of the Year" in 1969, Hickel has received a number of awards including 12 honorary college degrees, and the DeSmet Medal (highest award of Gonzaga University). In May 1988, he received the "Grand Cordon of the Order of the Sacred Treasure" from His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Japan.

In 2004 Governor Hickel was named University of Alaska Anchorage Distinguished Professor of Public Policy for the 2005 Spring Semester.
Course topic: Managing the Alaska Commons.