32 Facts About Jay Hammond

Jay Sterner Hammond was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982.

Jay Hammond served as a state representative from 1959 to 1965 and as a state senator from 1967 to 1973.

Jay Hammond oversaw the creation of the Alaska Permanent Fund in 1976, which, since the early 1980s, has paid annual dividends to Alaska residents.

Jay Hammond advocated for environmentally and fiscally responsible government and individual civic responsibility.

Jay Sterner Hammond was born in Troy, New York in 1922.

Jay Hammond studied petroleum engineering at Penn State University, where he was a member of Triangle Fraternity.

Jay Hammond later served as a Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II with the Black Sheep Squadron, and in China, until 1946.

That year, Jay Hammond moved to Alaska where he worked as a bush pilot and earned a degree in biological sciences at the University of Alaska.

Jay Hammond had one daughter, Wendy, with his first wife, but that marriage ended in divorce.

In 1952, Jay Hammond married his second wife, Bella Gardiner, with whom he had two daughters, Heidi and Dana.

Jay Hammond served as a state representative from 1959 to 1965 and as a state senator from 1967 to 1973.

Jay Hammond served in the 1st Alaska State Legislature as an independent, joining thirty-four Democrats and five Republicans in the forty-member House.

At the time, Jay Hammond believed that a Republican could not be elected in that particular time and place, but that he could not envision running as a Democrat on account of his upbringing and background.

Jay Hammond did serve as a Republican in subsequent legislatures, however.

Jay Hammond was Senate President in his final two years in the legislature.

Jay Hammond was the mayor of the Bristol Bay Borough from 1972 to 1974.

Jay Hammond served as the borough's manager during his time away from the legislature in the 1960s.

Jay Hammond is often erroneously credited for this; in fact, he was actually staunchly opposed to the idea.

Jay Hammond advocated for another constitutional amendment providing for governors to serve a single 6-year term without possibility of further service.

Jay Hammond felt it would allow governors a free hand in accomplishing their goals.

Jay Hammond championed a program which opened large amounts of state-owned lands near Delta Junction for agricultural use.

Jay Hammond vigorously fought with the legislature over power struggles between the two branches of government, culminating with four proposed constitutional amendments on the 1980 ballot, all of which failed by large margins.

Jay Hammond advocated for environmentally and fiscally responsible government, and individual civic responsibility.

Jay Hammond wrote articles for newspapers in Alaska, and appeared in public service announcements on television.

Jay Hammond hosted a television series called Jay Hammond's Alaska from 1985 to 1992.

Jay Hammond survived a rafting accident on August 6,1988, while shooting an episode of the series on the Tana River in Wrangell-St Elias National Park.

Three others on the raft besides Jay Hammond survived, including one who fell into the water of the Class IV river.

Jay Hammond wrote the preface to Brother Asaiah, As Remembered by Martha Ellen Anderson and Friends, a memoir of the life of Homer businessman and peace activist Brother Asaiah Bates, which was published in 2006 following the deaths of both Bates and Jay Hammond.

Jay Hammond spent much of the conference holding court outside of the Wood Center ballroom where sessions were held, espousing his own solutions, which included doubling the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend and restoring the state income tax, the latter of which was strongly opposed by Murkowski.

The delegates responded to Jay Hammond by endorsing an income tax proposal, which delegate Clark Gruening described as a "declaration of independence" from Murkowski.

Several weeks after the conference, Jay Hammond spoke before Commonwealth North, proclaiming that he would spend $50,000 of his own money if necessary to campaign for his dividend and income tax plan.

Jay Hammond lived at his homestead on Lake Clark, until his death at age 83 on August 2,2005.