Per. 2 Ancient Civilization Senator E.L. “Bob” Bartlett Edward Lewis Bartlett, also known as Bob Bartlett was an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. Bob Bartlett was born in King County, Seattle,
Washington on April 20th, 1904. His real name was Edward Lewis Bartlett, but when he was younger, his older sister Doris insisted on calling him Bob, and it stuck for life. Bob was a small town guy who helped his father with his mine .His main occupation in life was to be a politician, and a journalist, and he became both.But first, Bob went to college in 1922 at the University of Fairbanks, then moved to the University of Alaska in
1924 and graduated in 1925. After school, he married his high school companion and childhood friend Violet Marie Gaustad in 1930.She also was in the mining business with her father. Their wedding was in Valdez, and was witnessed by territorial senator
Anthony Dimond. After their wedding, Bob went to work as a reporter for the Fairbanks
Daily News, yet between Bob’s newspaper work and his connection to the Gaustads, politics soon came calling. He accepted the position of secretary to Delegate Anthony
Dimond of Alaska. Three years later he became the chairman of the Unemployment
Compensation Commission of Alaska (money that substitutes for wages, paid to recently unemployed workers under a program administered by gov. labor union).
Alaskans elected Dimond in 1932 as the territory's nonvoting delegate in Congress. But during 1932, Bob had also earned a reputation as a (comments on events) commentator on the Alaskan political scene, and as Associate Editor supported
Anthony J. Dimond's successful 1932 candidacy for Territorial Delegate of/to congress.
Bartlett came to Washington, D. C. as part of Delegate Dimond's staff just as the new deal was getting underway. Bartlett's considerable knowledge of territorial problems earned him an eventual appointment as Secretary of Alaska in 1939. During his term as secretary, Bartlett served as Acting Governor on numerous occasions, including the opening of the AlaskaCanada Highway and as a member of the Alaska War Council.
When Delegate Dimond resigned in 1944, Bartlett was elected as his successor.Dimond had lasted 12 years in Washington, but Bartlett didn’t.
Within 2 years he returned to
Juneau where Bob had a few political appointments, but when his father died in 1935, so the family him and the family returned to Fairbanks to help the mine near
Independence Creek, near Circle Hot Springs, Southeast county Fairbanks. But Bob didn’t like mining very much so he went back to politics in 1938 . Within a few months he was appointed secretary of Alaska, after he was administered a territory. In 1944,
Dimond returned to Alaska and Democrats pushed to seek the delegate job, and as with most of his decisions, he was indecisive, meaning he didn’t have or show the ability to make decisions quickly and effectively. He almost backed out at the last moment though. During his first campaign speech, Bob Bartlett endorsed the cause for which he is most remembered for “Statehood for Alaska”. (meaning to declare one's public approval or support of). When Bob was in congress, he showed extraordinary skill for writing and successfully promoting bills which brought Federal money into Alaska.
Bartlett served on the Committee on Public Lands, the Agriculture committee, and the
Armed Services Committee, writing more successful bills than any other Member
(thirteen of his measures became law). In 1947, he introduced a statehood bill and urged hearings to be held in Alaska. The importance of statehood to the natural resources of Alaska and the citizens were discussed throughout the state. Meetings were held in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Seward, Kodiak, Nome, Barrow, Cordova, Juneau,
Petersburg, Wrangell, and Ketchikan. Many forces testified against statehood, among them Alaskan businessmen, who