Reaching for a Star

The prospects of winning statehood for Alaska were bleak in 1955. President Eisenhower felt it would be "imprudent" to admit Alaska to the Union, and Congress was reluctant to act. "The steam has gone out of the statehood movement," Time magazine reported. At this low point, a group of Alaskans "with strong convictions, given to strong, often colorful expressions," created a state constitution that is now considered a model and then proceeded to elected a "congressional delegation" to lobby for statehood in Washington, D.C. It was an audacious move that ultimately put a new star on the American flag.