Walter Hickel, former Alaska governor and Nixon Cabinet member, dies at 90

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Walter Hickel dies at 90

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Former Alaska Gov. Walter J. Hickel, who served as Interior secretary under President Nixon until he was dismissed for objecting to the treatment of Vietnam War protesters, has died at age 90.

The two-time Alaska governor died Friday of natural causes at an Anchorage assisted living facility, said longtime Hickel assistant Malcolm Roberts.

Gov. Sean Parnell ordered state flags flown at half-staff Saturday in honor of his predecessor.

“He taught us to dream big and to stand up for Alaska,” Parnell said. “Gov. Hickel will be remembered for many things — for his wit, for telling it like it is, and for always reminding us that our resources belong to Alaskans.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said Alaska “lost one of its true visionaries” with Hickel’s passing.

“He was creative and courageous and always put the interests of the state first,” Begich said in a written statement.

Begich added later: “Gov. Hickel transcended partisan politics and was a friend and mentor to many. His decades of public service, his focused vision and his forceful advocacy for Alaska will always be appreciated by Alaskans and the many Americans who knew him.”

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also eulogized Hickel as a visionary.

“A fighter for statehood and a champion of the lands claims of Alaska’s Native peoples, Wally left a lasting legacy for generations to follow,” she said in a statement. “We’ve truly lost a giant figure whose leadership greatly influenced Alaska’s birth, its present and its future.”

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the state also was losing a good friend and true Alaskan.

“His courage, tenacity and independence helped to show everyone around him, and the rest of the Lower 48, what it really meant to be an Alaskan,” Young said in a written statement.

Alaska Democrats, meeting for their convention in Sitka, had a moment of silence in Hickel’s honor.

A wave of “Oh!” and “Oh, my God” rippled through the audience when word of Hickel’s death was mentioned Saturday morning.

Hickel was fired from his Interior post in late 1970 after sending Nixon a letter critical of the president’s handling of student protests following the National Guard shootings at Kent State and the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

The letter helped to stir national debate about the growing generational rift over the Vietnam War.

“I believe this administration finds itself today embracing a philosophy which appears to lack appropriate concern for the attitude of a great mass of Americans — our young people,” Hickel wrote.

Hickel had never held elected office when he upset two-term Democratic Gov. William Egan in 1966.

Hickel resigned in 1969 to become Interior secretary and quickly made national headlines as the environmental movement began to take root in America.

Hickel imposed stringent cleanup regulations on oil companies and water polluters after an oil rig explosion off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. He also fought to save the Everglades from being destroyed by developers and advocated for making Earth Day a national holiday.

An “Alaska boomer” with complex views on environmentalism and developing the state’s oil-rich resources, Hickel railed against “locking up” the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling and used settlement money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill lawsuit to help repair Prince William Sound.

He frequently described Alaska as an “owner state” and advocated that the state’s wild frontier should be developed responsibly to preserve its value.

Hickel’s political career started in the early 1950s as a crusader for Alaska statehood, both at home and in Washington. He also was involved in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, which helped pave the way for the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

Hickel’s was a quintessential Alaska rags-to-riches story. Born in Kansas, he arrived nearly penniless in the small city of Anchorage in 1940, taking advantage of the city’s rapid growth following World War II to build a multimillion-dollar construction and real-estate fortune.

“I used to think about all the great countries of the world where I might want to go, because there was no room or opportunity in Kansas for me to do the things I wanted to do,” he wrote in his 1971 book, “Who Owns America.”

He never quite got out of politics. In 1990, at age 71 and after several unsuccessful gubernatorial bids, Hickel won the job a second time.

But his four years as governor were marked by frequent run-ins with legislators put off by his sometimes autocratic style and with environmentalists critical of his unabashed support for natural resource development. Hickel chose to not run for re-election in 1994, and Democrat Tony Knowles was elected.

Hickel was an early supporter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during her campaign in 2006. However, that support waned after she became Republican John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential race.

In a September 2009 guest column in the Anchorage Daily News, he decried what he said was her penchant for partisan politics during the campaign.

“Palin became the spokesperson for the divisive voices in American politics. She dismissed the greatness of our immigrant heritage, indeed of today’s Alaska, where in Anchorage alone nearly 100 languages are spoken in the homes of the children in our public schools,” he wrote.

“She missed a golden opportunity to challenge the rest of the country to adopt the welcoming spirit of the Alaska frontier and the message of mutual respect,” he wrote.

Palin said via her Twitter feed that Hickel made a “real difference in the world. Unsurpassed impacts on Alaska, the Arctic and her people.”

Walter Joseph Hickel was born Aug. 18, 1919, in Claflin, Kan., the oldest son of a German wheat farmer. As the Depression-era Dust Bowl swallowed Kansas, he made plans to leave the Great Plains.

He took up boxing as means of travel and won the Kansas Golden Gloves championship. At age 20, Hickel, impatient over the wait for a passport and visa for a trip to Australia, chose Alaska.

In 1941, he married Jannice Cannon, who died in 1943. They had one son, Ted.

Hickel married Ermalee Strutz in 1945. They had five more sons: Bob, Wally Jr., Jack, Joe and Karl.

He is survived by his wife, his sons, 21 grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated in Anchorage.