| Born
in New York City on February 6, 1886, Ernest Gruening graduated
from Harvard in 1907 and from Harvard Medical School in 1912. Gruening
forsook medicine to pursue journalism. Initially a reporter for
the Boston American in 1912, he went on to become copy
desk editor and rewrite man for the Boston Evening Herald
and, from 1912 to 1913, an editorial writer. For four years, Gruening
was, consecutively, managing editor of the Boston Evening Traveler
and the New York Tribune. After serving with the Federal
Artillery Corps in World War I, Gruening became the editor of the
The Nation from 1920 to 1923 and the editor of the New
York Post from 1932 to 1933.
Intrigued with politics, he switched careers. Gruening was appointed
to the U.S. delegation to the 7th Inter-American Conference 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, 1935-1937, and a member of the Alaska
International Highway Commission from 1938 to 1942. In 1939 Ernest
Gruening was appointed Governor of the Territory of Alaska and served
for fourteen years. He was also a delegate to the Democratic National
Conventions of 1952, 1956, and 1960.
Pending statehood, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1958; with
Alaska's admission to the Union in 1959, Gruening served in the
Senate for 10 years. Although not renominated in 1968, he continued
his active political involvement as president of an investment firm
and as a legislative consultant. He died on June 26, 1974.
The 7' tall sculpture of "Senator Ernest Gruening" is
part of the permanent collection of the U.S.
Capitol Hall of Columns, National Statuary Hall Collection (Washington,
D.C.), as donated by Alaska. The model for the 7' sculpture is also
part of the permanent collection of the University of Alaska Rasmussen
Library (Fairbanks, Alaska).
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