Presidential Cabinet Secretary, Alaska Governor. He served as the 2nd and 8th Governor of Alaska and was United States Secretary of the Interior (1969 to 1970) during the administration of President Richard Nixon. A versatile athlete at Chaflin High School in Chaflin, Kansas, he excelled in football, track and boxing, and became the state's 1938 Welterweight Golden Gloves Champion. Two years later he moved to the Alaska Territory. Following World War II, when he served as a civilian flight maintenance inspector with the United States Army Air Corps, he began his own successful construction company. His involvement in politics began in 1954, when he served as Alaska's Republican National Committeeman and helped lead the effort for Alaska statehood. A political moderate, Hickel was elected Governor and served from 1966 to 1969; he resigned upon his appointment as Interior Secretary. During his tenure in the Cabinet he was an advocate of conservation, and held oil companies accountable for oil spills. He was forced to resign from office in 1970 after disagreeing with President Nixon's stance on anti-war demonstrators. He authored the bestseller "Who Owns America?" in 1971. After nearly two decades in the private sector, he joined the Alaskan Independence Party and was elected to a second term as State Governor, serving from 1990 to 1994. Hickel supported Sarah Palin's 2006 gubernatorial bid and was a respected elder statesman of Alaska politics to the end of his life. He died at age 90 from natural causes.
Presidential Cabinet Secretary, Alaska Governor. He served as the 2nd and 8th Governor of Alaska and was United States Secretary of the Interior (1969 to 1970) during the administration of President Richard Nixon. A versatile athlete at Chaflin High School in Chaflin, Kansas, he excelled in football, track and boxing, and became the state's 1938 Welterweight Golden Gloves Champion. Two years later he moved to the Alaska Territory. Following World War II, when he served as a civilian flight maintenance inspector with the United States Army Air Corps, he began his own successful construction company. His involvement in politics began in 1954, when he served as Alaska's Republican National Committeeman and helped lead the effort for Alaska statehood. A political moderate, Hickel was elected Governor and served from 1966 to 1969; he resigned upon his appointment as Interior Secretary. During his tenure in the Cabinet he was an advocate of conservation, and held oil companies accountable for oil spills. He was forced to resign from office in 1970 after disagreeing with President Nixon's stance on anti-war demonstrators. He authored the bestseller "Who Owns America?" in 1971. After nearly two decades in the private sector, he joined the Alaskan Independence Party and was elected to a second term as State Governor, serving from 1990 to 1994. Hickel supported Sarah Palin's 2006 gubernatorial bid and was a respected elder statesman of Alaska politics to the end of his life. He died at age 90 from natural causes.
Bio by: C.S.
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