John Franklin Alexander Strong

John Franklin Alexander Strong

John Franklin Alexander Strong (born October 15, 1856 in Salmon Creek , New Brunswick , †  July 27, 1929 in Seattle , Washington ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party and governor of the Alaska Territory .

Born in what is now Canada , John Strong graduated from a normal school in New Brunswick and subsequently worked as a teacher for a long time. He moved to British Columbia around 1889, leaving behind his first wife, with whom he also had children, without having been divorced. A little later he settled in Washington State and worked as editor of the newspaper "Whatcom County Independent". In 1896 he married his second wife, Annie, a concert pianist in Tacoma , making him a de facto bigamist .

The Klondike gold rush made him go to Alaska. There he worked as a journalist in various cities: from 1897 in Skagway , from 1898 in the meantime in Dawson in the Yukon Territory , from 1899 in Nome , from 1907 in Katalla and from 1910 in Iditarod . After the Iditarod Nugget was last published in August 1911, Strong and his wife went on a year-long trip around the world, mainly through Europe. Upon their return they were based in Juneau , where he launched another newspaper, the Alaska Daily Empire .

During this time, his political career began as a delegate of his territory to the Democratic National Convention in 1912 in Baltimore , where Woodrow Wilson was nominated as a presidential candidate. He had previously been considered as a Democratic candidate for the position of territorial delegate in the US House of Representatives . In May 1913, the newly elected President Wilson named him governor of the Alaska Territory. Strong held this post until April 18, 1918. He was succeeded by Secretary of the Interior Franklin Knight Lane suggested the resignation after it turned out that he - not - contrary to its own previous statements Kentucky was born, but in Canada and never had acquired US citizenship. Thus, at no time was he entitled to exercise the governorship.

Strong died of heart failure in Seattle on July 27, 1929 and was cremated thereupon.

Web links

• The Political Graveyard (English)
• John Franklin Alexander Strong in nndb (English)
• John Franklin Alexander Strong in the database of Find a Grave (English)