An engaged Alaskan democracy

60 years ago this week, a group of citizens created the Alaska we know today

Charles Wohlforth, Alaska Dispatch News, January 30, 2016

Vic Fischer’s wife convinced him that as a young man, a recent immigrant and a newcomer to politics, he needed to campaign for election by going door to door, an idea that made him quite uncomfortable.

Screwing up his courage, Fischer drove from Anchorage to the Matanuska Valley, a part of his district where he might have weak support. He walked up to a house, but chickened out and didn’t knock. At the next door, a woman came out who didn’t know there was an election. She listened politely.

Then Fischer got back in the car and drove home to Anchorage.

Fortunately, it was enough. Fischer was elected as a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention.

Sixty years ago today, the convention was wrapping up in Fairbanks. The anniversary of the signing will be Friday.

Read the rest of the article here.