B. Frank Heintzleman - Governorship

Governorship

Heintzleman was appointed to become Governor of Alaska Territory by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on March 11, 1953. Following confirmation, his term of office began on April 10 of the same year.

The primary focus of the new governor's administration was economic development. Toward this end he called for revised homesteading and land laws along with updated mineral leases, power licenses, and timber contracts. The Alaskan governor also joined with Hawaiian Territorial Governor Samuel Wilder King in a call for a 25-year tax holiday to promote industrial development in the two territories. Finally, Heintzleman opposed the native claim of "possessory rights" to millions of acres of land, wishing to open the land to development. This opposition led to a prolonged battle in the United States Court of Claims.

The leading political issue within Alaska at the time was the territory's gaining statehood. At the beginning of his term of office he felt Alaska's efforts to become a state were "a little premature". After a year, he revised his opinion and instead called for dividing the territory and only granting statehood to the settled southern and southeastern portion while leaving the unsettled northern and western sections a territory. This proposal angered enough territorial residents that a petition drive was organized asking President Eisenhower to remove Heintzleman as governor. By 1956, the Alaskan governor no longer opposed statehood and supported the creation of a state constitution. Heintzleman signed the bill establishing the Alaska Constitutional Convention.

Heintzleman submitted his resignation on December 18, 1956. His letter of resignation explain his departure by pointing out that he "had forty-six years of public service" and desired "to retire to less strenuous work". The timing, three months before the end of his term, was occasioned by the outgoing governor's desire to allow for his replacement to be in place before the next territorial legislature convened on January 28, 1957. Heintzleman's resignation became effective on January 4, 1957, when Territorial Secretary became Acting Governor. A permanent replacement was not named until May 9, 1957, when President Eisenhower nominated Michael Anthony Stepovich.