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

A 5 DISPATCHED March 31, APR By 1955 muy 1 1955 ng Dear Senator Jackson: L JACK MARTIN As indicated by your March nineteenth letter, the admission CARDED of the Territory of Alaska to statehood, the principle of which I have in the past publicly supported, has a number of troublesome aspects. Among these is the problem to which your letter principally refers -- that of providing adequately for our national defense needs. XOPT33 You are aware, of course, of the tremendous strategic im- portance of this region to our nation's defense. Our military programs and plans oriented to this region and to the threat facing us there are premised upon full freedom of Federal action both for defense and for peacetime policing action. Conversion of the Territory to a State cannot but raise diffi- cult questions respecting the relationship of the military to the newly constituted State authority. Neither the nation nor Alaska could afford any impairment of the freedom of move- XOF 147.5 ment and of action by our forces in large areas of this critical region. In the present state of world affairs, I believe that it would be imprudent to effect so fundamental a readjustment unless a formula can be devised and approved by the Congress XOF99 which will adequately meet these defense needs. I am in doubt that any form of legislation can wholly remove my apprehensions about granting statehood immediately. However, a proposal seeking to accommodate the many complex considera- tions entering into the statehood question has been made by CROSS CARD FOR STAFF SECRETARY