Heidi Alexander: “Senator Ted Stevens will be remembered as a patriot who flew the first cargo plane into Peking, as it was then called…”

“Senator Ted Stevens will be remembered as a patriot who flew the first cargo plane into Peking, as it was then called, at the end of World War II, and helped create and then serve the 49th State for a half a century. I have often thought that some day I should write a book about Senators--not about their gossip or their secrets--but about the things others don't know about the people we work with: About Jim Inhofe's flight around the world; about Ben Nighthorse Campbell's jewelry; about Barack Obama's and Mel Martinez's boyhood; about Jim Bunning's pitches. All of these things have nothing to do with politics. I always wanted to start with Ted Stevens. Some day I think I will write this book, including about how he flew a cargo plane into Peking at the end of World War II. It says a lot about the kind of life he led afterwards. No one did more to create Alaska as a State.”