Walter Eli Clark

Walter Eli Clark

Walter Eli Clark (born January 7, 1869 in Ashford , Connecticut , † February 4, 1950 in Charleston , West Virginia ) was an American Republican politician . Between 1909 and 1913 he was governor of the District of Alaska and the Alaska Territory .

Walter Clark attended the public schools in his home country. In 1887 he graduated from Connecticut State Normal School from which today's Central Connecticut State University emerged . He then worked for some time as a teacher before he began studying philosophy at Wesleyan University , which he successfully completed in 1895. He then worked for some time in various cities and functions in the newspaper industry. He took part in the gold rush in Alaska and toured this area in 1903 and 1906. Politically, he joined the Republican Party. In 1909 he was appointed District Governor of Alaska by the then new US President William Howard Taft . He held this office until 1913, the end of the Taft administration. He owes his nomination for the office to his previous experience in Alaska. During his tenure, among other things, the eight-hour day and women's suffrage were introduced. However, Clark was opposed to the elevation of Alaska to US territory. He could not prevent this step in 1912 because the Congress had passed a corresponding bill. After Taft was voted out of office and Woodrow Wilson took office as the new US president, Clark lost his post in Alaska.

After the end of his political career in Alaska, Walter Clark settled in Charleston, West Virginia, where he worked in the newspaper industry. There he also made a name for himself as a rose grower. He founded the Charleston Rose Society in 1922 and was President of the American Rose Society in 1928 and 1929. He died on February 4, 1950.

Web links

• The Political Graveyard (English)
• NY Times report on President Taft's appointment of Clark as Governor of Alaska

• Walter Eli Clark in the database of Find a Grave (English)