Today in History: January 3rd ALASKA ADMITTED INTO THE UNION: January 3, 1959 On January 3, 1959, President Eisenhower signs a special proclamation admitting the territory of Alaska into the Union as the 49th and largest state.The European discovery of Alaska came in 1741, when a Russian expedition led by Danish navigator Vitus Bering sighted the Alaskan mainland. Russian hunters were soon making incursions into Alaska, and the native Aleut population suffered greatly after being exposed to foreign diseases. In 1784, Grigory Shelikhov established the first permanent Russian colony in Alaska on Kodiak Island. In the early 19th century, Russian settlements spread down the west coast of North America, with the southernmost fort located near Bodega Bay in California.Russian activity in the New World declined in the 1820s, and the British and Americans were granted trading rights in Alaska after a few minor diplomatic conflicts. In the 1860s, a nearly bankrupt Russia decided to offer Alaska for sale to the United States, which earlier had expressed interest in such a purchase. On March 30, 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for $7.2 million. Despite the bargain price of roughly two cents an acre, the Alaskan purchase was ridiculed in Congress and in the press as "Seward's folly," "Seward's icebox," and President Andrew Johnson's "polar bear garden." Nevertheless, the Senate ratified purchase of the tremendous landmass, one-fifth the size of the rest of the United States.Despite a slow start in settlement by Americans from the continental United States, the discovery of gold in 1898 brought a rapid influx of people to the territory. Alaska, rich in natural resources, has been contributing to American prosperity ever since. ------------------------------------------------------------------ MORE GENERAL INTEREST 1521 Martin Luther excommunicated 1868 Meiji Restoration in Japan 1924 King Tut's sarcophagus uncovered 1967 Jack Ruby dies before second trial historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272953&day=10272968 AUTOMOTIVE 1921 Studebaker Quits Wagon Business historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=automotive&month=10272953&day=10272968 CIVIL WAR 1861 Delaware rejects secession historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil&month=10272953&day=10272968 COLD WAR 1961 United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=coldwar&month=10272953&day=10272968 CRIME 1990 The husband did it: Boston's controversial Stuart case historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=crime&month=10272953&day=10272968 ENTERTAINMENT 1952 Dragnet debuts historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=entertainment&month=10272953&day=10272968 LITERARY 1841 Herman Melville sails for the South Seas historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=literary&month=10272953&day=10272968 OLD WEST 1834 Stephen Austin imprisoned by Mexicans historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272953&day=10272968 PRESIDENTIAL 1938 Franklin Roosevelt founds March of Dimes historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=presidential&month=10272953&day=10272968 VIETNAM WAR 1968 McCarthy announces his presidential candidacy historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=vietnamwar&month=10272953&day=10272968 WALL STREET 1916 "The Lady from Westinghouse" historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=wallstreet&month=10272953&day=10272968 WORLD WAR I 1917 British nurse Marion Rice writes from a hospital on the Western Front historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwari&month=10272953&day=10272968 WORLD WAR II 1945 MacArthur and Nimitz given new commands historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=worldwarii&month=10272953&day=10272968