William Allen Egan (October 8, 1914 – May 6, 1984) was an American Democratic

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He served as the first

governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

from January 3, 1959, to 1966 and 1970 to 1974, as well as a shadow U.S. senator from

Alaska Territory The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; th ...

from 1956 to 1959. Born in

Valdez, Alaska Valdez ( ; Alutiiq language, Alutiiq: ) is a city in the Chugach Census Area, Alaska, Chugach Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. In 2020, the population of Valdez was 3,985, up slightly from 3,976 in 2010. It is the List of cities in Alask ...

, Egan is one of only two governors in the state's history (along with

Bill Walker Bill Walker may refer to: Australian rules football * Bill A. Walker (1886–1934), Australian rules footballer for Essendon * Bill Walker (Australian footballer, born 1883) (1883–1971), Australian rules footballer for Fitzroy * Bill J. V. Walke ...

) to have been born in Alaska. He was the Democratic nominee in the first five gubernatorial elections (

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Early childhood and adulthood

The child of a

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

family of six children in Valdez, Egan was raised by his mother, Cora (Allen), following his father William's death in an avalanche in 1920. By age 10, Egan was working in a local cannery, helping to support his struggling family. Thanks to the lack of driving laws in the

during the 1920s, Egan learned to drive at an early age, shuttling tourists around during summer months. By the age of 14, Egan was driving dump trucks for the

Alaska Road Commission The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, more commonly known as the Alaska Road Commission or ARC, was created in 1905 as a board of the U.S. War Department. It was responsible for the construction and improvement of many important Alaska h ...

. Following his graduation as a

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

from Valdez High School in 1932, he began an interest in politics. Egan's godfather,

Anthony Dimond Anthony Joseph Dimond (November 30, 1881 – May 28, 1953) was an American Democratic Party politician who was the Alaska Territory Delegate in the United States House of Representatives from 1933 to 1945. Dimond was also an early champion of A ...

, a local Valdez lawyer, two-time mayor and member of the

Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or reje ...

, ran as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

for the territory's nonvoting delegate to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

the same year. Despite the position's inability to vote due to

Tennessee Plan The Tennessee Plan is a system used to appoint and elect appellate court judges in Tennessee. It is largely patterned after the Missouri Plan, and an earlier version in Tennessee was called the Modified Missouri Plan. At the end of every judge's ...

, a nonvoting delegate could address other House members and lobby for both bills and statehood. Dimond won the race, introducing the young Egan, who viewed Dimond as his mentor, to territorial and federal politics. Dimond would send copies of the ''

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Ind ...

'' back to Egan in Valdez for him to read.

Political career

Following on his godfather's footsteps, Egan ran successfully as the Democratic candidate from Valdez in the Alaska Territorial House of Representatives in 1940, a post he would hold until 1945. He won three more terms to the House from 1947 to 1953. On November 16, 1940, Egan married Desdia Neva McKittrick (October 3, 1914 – January 19, 2011), a recent arrival to Valdez from

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. They had one child, a son,

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, where Alaska's own

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands ( ; ; , "land of the Aleuts"; possibly from the Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', or "island")—also called the Aleut Islands, Aleutic Islands, or, before Alaska Purchase, 1867, the Catherine Archipelago—are a chain ...

saw bloody combat between American and

Imperial Japanese The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From 1910 to 19 ...

forces, Egan continued his political career. While still serving in the House of Representatives, Egan was elected as Mayor of Valdez in 1946. In 1953, Egan was elected to the Alaska Territorial Senate, and, in 1956, he was elected Territorial Shadow Senator, serving alongside

Ernest Gruening Ernest Henry Gruening ( ; February 6, 1887 – June 26, 1974) was an American journalist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Gruening was the governor of the Alaska Territory from 1939 until 1953, and a United States Senator from A ...

Alaska's Constitutional Convention

Following the end of the war, the Territory of Alaska's political and geographical isolation was coming to an end. The construction of the

Alaska Highway