Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, July 7th, 1958, President Eisenhower signs the Alaska State Hood Act, allowing Alaska

to become the 49th State to join the Union.

It would officially become a state at the beginning of the next year, but Alaska had been working towards this moment for a long, long time ever since the territory really was purchased by the U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward, who was Lincoln's Secretary of State and then Johnson's as well.

So let's talk about how a territory becomes a state, which is an interesting story,

and certainly one that is made more interesting by the renewed talk

bubbling up about Washington DC possibly becoming a state so I'm joined as always

by Nicole Hammer of Columbia hello Nicky and our special this episode, the second of three is John Dickerson's 60 minutes,

the Slate Political Gabfest, and the new book is called The Hardest Job in the World, which I think is about

podcasting, is that right, John yes it's it's right it's an

extended examination of podcasting in the many perils yeah it is a book about the presidency

but John of course one of our favorite political reporters and a fan of

political esoterica. So I want to kick off this conversation about Alaska and Alaskan

Statehood with something that Seward said in 1868. and I'm going to read this quote, but, quote,

the political society to be constituted here,

first as a territory and ultimately as a state

or many states will prove a worthy constituency of the

republic.

So Nicki, we're talking, you know, 90 years before Alaska becomes a state, there's already

this vision for statehood and this real political

project.

...