6
9
456
53 halftones, 4 maps

Published by University of New Mexico Press

Series: Histories of the American Frontier Series
Add to Cart

Exam Copy
Rights Info

Completing the Union

Alaska, Hawai'i, and the Battle for Statehood
By John Whitehead
$29.95Paperback978-0-8263-3637-8November 2004
  • $29.95
    Paperback
    978-0-8263-3637-8
    November 2004

Details

Overview

As late as mid-1941 the two territories of Alaska and Hawai'i were little known by most Americans. Alaska was seen as a frozen wasteland and Hawai'i, an exotic outpost in the mid-Pacific with a multi-racial, particularly Asian, population. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in late 1941 and the capture of two Aleutian Islands in 1942 made the two territories central theaters of World War II. Thousands of Americans came to know Alaska and Hawai'i as never before.
;
Once the war ended both territories hoped that statehood would be their reward for such loyal wartime service. Their strategic locations pointed to an increased national involvement in the Pacific and Asia. The 49th and 50th states would eventually be admitted, but it took thirteen years, from 1946 to 1959, to do it. The long delay was caused by many of the events of the Cold War. Both territories became enmeshed in the national politics of anti-communism, radical labor movements, and Arctic policy to resist a Soviet air attack across the polar North. A cadre of statehood supporters emerged to make their case to the nation, including the young Daniel Inouye of Hawai'i and Ted Stevens of Alaska, both of whom would become two of the most powerful senators in Congress.

Subjects: American WestHistoryPolitics

Contributor Bios
John S. Whitehead retired from the history department of University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and resides in Athens, Georgia.
Martin Ridge is a senior research associate in the Henry E. Huntington Library. He has taught at San Diego State University, Indiana University, and the California Institute of Technology. He is the former editor of the Journal of American History and the past president of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association and Western History Association. He is the author of numerous scholarly and review articles dealing with the American West. He is the coeditor of Histories of the American Frontier.
David J. Weber is The Robert and Nancy Dedman Professor of History and the Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University.
Howard R. Lamar is Sterling Professor Emeritus of History at Yale and a former president of that university.

Also of Interest