Gruening, Ernest

Gruening, Ernest (1887–1974) U.S. senator; born in New York City. He graduated from Harvard Medical School but then proceeded to write and edit (1912–34). He edited the Nation (1920–23) and was territorial governor of Alaska (1939–53). He worked to get Alaska accepted as a state, writing The State of Alaska (1954), and became one of the new state's first two U.S. senators (Dem., Alaska; 1959–69). He cast one of the two votes in opposition to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution (1964) that committed the U.S. to pursuing the war in Vietnam, and he opposed U.S. policies there to the end. Alaska placed his statue in the U.S. Capitol.