Letter, Senator Henry Jackson to President Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding Alaska Statehood and National Security Considerations

3 JAMES E. MURRAY, MONT., CHAIRMAN CLINTON P. ANDERSON, N. MEX. EUGENE D. MILLIKIN, COLO. RUSSELL B. LONG, LA. GEORGE w. MALONE, NEV. HENRY M. JACKSON, WASH. ARTHUR v. WATKINS, UTAH THE WHITE HOUSE JOSEPH c. O'MAHONEY, wYo. HENRY DWORSHAK, IDAHO w. KERR SCOTT, N. c. THOMAS H. KUCHEL, CALIF. ALAN BIBLE, NEV. FRANK A. BARRETT, WYO. RICHARD L. NEUBERGER, OREG. BARRY GOLDWATER, ARIZ. States Senate MAR 22 12 03 PM '55 RICHARD L. CALLAGHAN, CHIEF CLERK COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS RECEIVED me lane March 19, 1955 MAR 22 1955 CARDED The President The White House Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. President: I have read with great interest the verbatim transcript of the record of your press conference of March 16 in which in reply to a XOF 101-6 question you once again affirmed your acceptance of the principle of statehood for Alaska. However, you were quoted as saying that the national security considerations force you to oppose it. I am sure you are aware that no Members of this Committee nor any Member of the Senate would consciously support any action that would in any way adversely affect our national security. However, the records of the Committee are replete with uncontroverted evidence that statehood would strengthen the security of Alaska, or at worst, have no effect upon it. For more than two years now, this Committee has been endeavoring to obtain a statement of fact from the Department of Defense as to the considerations upon which is based the complete reversal of its policy with respect to Alaskan statehood. Unfortunately, so far we have had mere reiteration of the conclusion that the Defense Department was against statehood on "security" grounds without any facts to support such a conclusion. Therefore, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Territories which has initial responsibility for statehood legislation, I am appealing to you as the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces to give the Members of the Senate an explanation of why continuation of the 80-year- old inferior political status of the Territory is desirable for security reasons. It has been reported to me on several occasions that you would be willing to accept statehood if the area north and west of the Yukon, and the Aleutian chain, were excluded from the new state and thus left open for military withdrawal of all or part of that area. If the basic issue is