Great lines from Alaska's Governors

My job at the State Library sometimes requires delving into old legislative materials and speeches. Recently, I had to locate some of the "State of the State" speeches by prior governors. I found comments from two speeches I had to share; one is stirring, the other gave me a good laugh.


Gov. Egan's 1965 remarks on January 26, 1965 had some coverage of the 1964 Good Friday including this bit:

"To many outside Alaska, it appeared for a horrible moment that the State had ceased to exist.

But then the world learned the pioneering spirit of Alaska was undimmed. Totally deprived of the utilities and services which modern cities must have, Alaskans in those first terrible hours after the disaster fired up camp stoves and lanterns, melted snow for water, and sheltered and fed one another.

Familar with living close to nature, Alaskans quickly adapted to critical circumstances--and won the admiration of the nation and world. In terrible adversity, they showed the stuff they are made of-- and the federal administration and congress were moved to provide assistance on an unprecedented scale to help us help ourselves. Contributions from public and private groups, organizations, and individuals poured in.

Had Alaskans voiced despair instead of hope--fear instead of confidence in the future--reluctance instead of resoluteness--we would not now be on the threshold of a great new era of progress--we would not now be in consort with our sister states in formulating our endeavors towards the realization of the great society which lies ahead."

May we act with such courage and optimism when faced with that kind of adversity!

Governor Sheffield had a great one liner in 1983:

"In the past, it seem's Alaska's systems of checks and balances has worked this way: the Legislature writes the checks, and the Governor checks the balance."

So spoke Governor Bill Sheffield in his 1983 State of the State address to a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Tuesday, January 18, 1983, as printed in 1983, v.1 of the Alaska Senate Journal.