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In 1939, [[Ernest Gruening]] was appointed governor of the [[Alaska Territory]], a position he held until 1953. Often called "the father of Alaskan statehood", he lobbied and advocated intensely for Alaska to become a state. When it did, he became its first senator elected to the United States Senate on November 25, 1958.<ref>{{cite web |title=Earnest Gruening |url=https://www.alaska.edu/uajourney/notable-people/fairbanks/ernest-gruening/ |website=UA Journey |publisher=University of Alaska}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper |last1=Green |first1=David B. |title=This Day in Jewish History – 1887: Alaska's First Governor Is Born |journal=''Haaretz'' |url=https://www.haaretz.com/jewish/.premium-1887-alaskas-first-governor-is-born-1.5302412 |date=February 6, 2015 |accessdate=October 7, 2018 }}</ref>
In 1906, Russian-Jewish immigrant and Fairbanks resident Abe Spring proposed that Jewish refugees fleeing [[Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire|Russian programs]] be settled in Alaska, Spring's idea was soon rejected by the [[U.S. Congress]] and was not seriously considered for decades.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alaska's Jewish community predates US settlement |url=https://www.adn.com/features/article/alaskas-rich-jewish-past-0/2012/02/12/ |website=Anchorage Daily News |publisher=Anchorage Daily News |accessdate=10 October 2018}}</ref> Over 30 years later, in the face of [[Nazi]] persecution of Jews in Germany, a similar idea was considered. Following [[Kristallnacht]], the [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] [[Harold L. Ickes]] proposed a [[Proposals for a Jewish state#Modern times|Jewish settlement]] in Alaska with the aim of both building up Alaska and its industry and creating an opportunity to allow in more German Jewish refugees. The resulting [[Slattery Report]] and the introduction of a bill to make the
During [[World War II]], Jewish GIs were among the tens of thousands of service members who were stationed in Alaska. The [[Elmendorf Air Force Base]] near Anchorage retained a Jewish chaplain between the 1940s and 1980s, changing every two years and rotating between [[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], and [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] leaders.<ref name="OrHatzafon" /> In 1974, Alaska’s only [[mikvah]] was established at Elmendorf Air Force Base for the Jewish chaplain’s wife and the broader community.<ref name="Mikvah">{{cite web |last1=Sue |first1=Fishkoff |title=Moose in the mikvah is no sweat for Alaskan Jews |url=https://www.jweekly.com/2001/06/08/moose-in-the-mikvah-is-no-sweat-for-alaskan-jews/ |publisher=''The Jewish News of Northern California''|date=June 8, 2001 |accessdate=October 7, 2018}}</ref> These chaplains often ended up serving the entire Jewish community in Alaska, travelling to cities, small towns, and outposts for a [[bar mitzvah]] or offering a learning opportunity.<ref name="Marcus">{{cite book |last1=Marcus |first1=Jacob Rader |title=United States Jewry, 1776–1985, Volumes 1-2 |date=1989 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |pages=76–77}}</ref><ref name="OrHatzafon" /> From the 1940s through the 1970s, Jewish military personnel outnumbered Jewish civilians in Alaska.<ref name="JVL" />
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