16 Facts About Wally Hickel

Walter Joseph Hickel was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994, as well as US Secretary of the Interior from 1969 to 1970.

Wally Hickel worked as a construction worker and eventually became a construction company operator during Alaska's territorial days.

Wally Hickel entered politics in the 1950s during Alaska's battle for statehood and remained politically active for the rest of his life.

Wally Hickel served as governor until 1969, ending with his resignation upon his appointment to the position of United States Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President Richard Nixon.

Wally Hickel later served a full term as governor from 1990 to 1994 under the banner of the Alaskan Independence Party.

Wally Hickel was born in 1919 in Ellinwood, Kansas, the son of Emma Pauline and Robert Anton Wally Hickel.

Wally Hickel grew up on his parents' Dust Bowl tenant farm during the Great Depression near Claflin, Kansas.

Wally Hickel joined Democrats in calling for Alaskan statehood during the late 1940s and into the 1950s.

Wally Hickel was elected as Alaska's second governor in the 1966 state general elections, defeating his Democratic rival and incumbent governor Bill Egan.

Wally Hickel would recall years later that he cried afterward and announced that he would be resigning from the governorship to go to Washington.

Wally Hickel's nomination was met with what he later wrote was a newspaper "smear" campaign of false and "crazy accusations" that he had a corrupt and anti-environmentalist record as governor.

Wally Hickel rejoined the Republican Party in April 1994, near the end of his term.

Wally Hickel wanted to build a water pipeline from Alaska to California in 1991.

Wally Hickel was a prominent real estate developer and successful businessman, with a focus on hotels and shopping centers.

In 1964, Wally Hickel decided to build a high-rise luxury hotel in downtown Anchorage following the devastating 1964 Alaska earthquake.

Wally Hickel's statement was made in light of the August 2008 federal indictment of Stevens related to the alleged receipt of improper gifts from Bill Allen, CEO of the VECO Corporation, an Alaskan construction company heavily involved in the Alaskan oil industry.