http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/634182.html
Steve Haycox
December 26th, 2008
It seems it would be difficult to top this year in Alaska politics.
The surprise of Sarah Palin's emergence as a political media star
competes with the trial and election defeat of Sen. Stevens as
principal elements in what has been described as a great Alaskan
political earthquake. Without those twin tremors, passage of the gas
line bill by the Legislature and the awarding of the incentive
contract to Trans Canada, together with the extraordinary upheaval in
oil prices, would rightly have been the primary focus public
attention, along with the lesser importance of the 50th anniversary
of Alaska statehood. Any attempt to evaluate the significance of
these events, each itself dramatic enough, has been complicated by
the deepening global recession, an evolving, distorting backdrop.
Achieving perspective on any of them will take more time than an end
of year pause.
In an eerie, if incomplete, symmetry, 2008 is reminiscent of another
traumatic year in the history of the state, and the nation: 1968.
That year began, proceeded, and ended with disorienting shocks of
equal, perhaps even greater, impact than those of this year. In
February 1968 the success of the Tet offensive by the North
Vietnamese shook American complacency regarding assumptions of
military superiority and political wisdom. Following Eugene
McCarthy's unprecedented March 12 win in the New Hampshire
presidential primary election, President Johnson's announcement that
he would not seek and would not accept renomination underscored the
suddenly rudderless nature of American leadership. These developments
promised an energized election campaign and generated enormous growth
of the anti-war opposition movement.
Though most Alaskans did not know it at the time, these events would
soon become marginal, for on March 12, Richfield Oil Co. brought in
the confirmation well at Prudhoe Bay that demonstrated the vast size
of North America's largest crude oil deposit. Release of official
data in May confirmed the magnitude of the find.
In April, however, the nation had been thrown into trauma by the
assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in Memphis. Despite the
pleas of Robert Kennedy, who had announced his own candidacy for
president, rioting broke out in numerous American cities as the hope
of the civil rights triumphs of the mid-sixties seemed challenged,
and to some, dashed. There was little time for reflection, for in
early June, Kennedy himself was assassinated on the night of his
victory in the California primary.
Further riots followed throughout the summer in more than 100 cities
as despair overtook many black communities and neighborhoods; at
least 46 people died. America felt deeply riven, pro- and anti-war
groups increasingly committed to forcing their convictions on the
nation's people and the government. The rift mirrored imperfectly
what was called a "generation gap," young people sensing their
position on the cusp of broad cultural change, their elders skeptical
and, often enough, frightened.
Then in August came the Democratic national convention in Chicago.
Determined that his city would not be taken hostage by youthful
protestors, Mayor Richard Daley ordered his police to move
aggressively and with initiative against planned rallies and marches.
Thousands of young people were arrested, some beaten, many
temporarily jailed in a media circus that both alarmed and mesmerized
the nation. America seemed to be coming apart. The election of
Richard Nixon in November felt like an anti-climax.
But there was no anti-climax in Alaska, where residents learned on
the same day, Dec. 11, that the new president had selected their
governor, Walter Hickel, to be Secretary of the Interior, and that
Democrat "Bob" Bartlett, beloved senior U.S. senator and before that
16 years as Alaska's Congressional Delegate, had died following
complications from open-heart surgery. Before leaving for Washington,
D.C., Hickel appointed Ted Stevens to fill Bartlett's Senate seat.
Still trying to understand the implications of the extraordinary find
at Prudhoe Bay, now Alaskans grappled with the impact of Bartlett's
death, and his replacement.
1968 was a chaotic year, in America, and in Alaska.
Both nation and state survived, found a new equilibrium and
prospered. As time permits, and perspective gained, Alaskans will
view 2008 as an extraordinary year, as well, punctuated by the
election of Barack Obama. Only with insight will we discern its place
in the historical landscape.
--
Steve Haycox is a professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
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