Hickel, Walter Joseph

Born in Ellinwood , Kansas , USA . In 1940 he moved to live in Alaska. He was elected the second governor of the State of Alaska in 1966 in a general election, defeating the first governor and Democratic Party candidate, William Egan. At this time, the discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oil fields in the Prudhoe region in 1968 in the north of the state occurred, which became an important policy factor in subsequent years. Later, the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline with a length of 1288 km stretches south through Alaska. Hickel, a moderate Republican and environmentalist, did not seek heavy oil exploitation. Hickel sought to improve relations with the Alaskan Aborigines in the search for solutions to their demands to return their native lands.

Minister

Richard Nixon , who became President of the United States in 1968 , invited the governor of Alaska to the post of Secretary of the Interior . Hickel’s appointment was met by a newspaper campaign of “slander” and “false accusations” (according to the governor himself) that he is a corrupt official and an anti-ecologist. ^[4] Among his opponents were such famous journalists of those years as Drew Pearson and Jack Anderson (the future Pulitzer Prize winner ). The major newspapers New York Times ^[5] and Los Angeles Times and influential Democratic senators Walter Mondale (future US Vice President) and George McGovern were against . Later, Hickel announced that he would leave the post of governor to go to the proposed post in Washington. And on January 23, 1969, the Senate approved his appointment. ^[6]

Becoming a federal interior minister , he turned out to be a consistent environmentalist, supported the liberal laws of Congress, which imposed large taxes on oil companies using offshore oil platforms, as well as laws requiring environmental guarantees as part of the development of the Alaska oil industry. ^[7]

Hickel's centrist-liberal voice in the Nixon administration eventually led him to a confrontation with the President. In 1970, after shooting college students at the University of Kent National Ohio State Guard, Hickel wrote a letter criticizing Nixon's Vietnam military policy and calling for him to give more respect to the views of young people criticizing this war. This dissent attracted worldwide media attention, and on November 25, 1970, Hickel resigned. ^[7]

After 1994

In 1994, Hickel left big politics. In 2006, she supported Sarah Palin when she was elected as Governor of Alaska. ^[8] However, in 2009, he stated that he now "is not interested in what she is doing." ^[9]

Died May 7, 2010 in Anchorage , Alaska at the age of 90.

• Interview with Hickel by Headwaters News (eng.)