Patty Murray: “Mr. President, let us vote for the 49th star in the flag. Those were the words from the great Senator from the State of…”

“Mr. President, let us vote for the 49th star in the flag. Those were the words from the great Senator from the State of Washington, Warren Magnuson, spoken on this floor in 1958, just before this body finally agreed to make Alaska one of the United States. Today, I am very pleased to join our colleagues from the north in Alaska to say a warm congratulations to the people of Alaska on this 50th anniversary of their statehood. Alaska's statehood, as you heard, was controversial a half century ago. But I think time has proven that the United States is a greater Nation thanks to the Land of the Midnight Sun. As Senator Murkowski has said, Washington State's Senators, Warren Magnuson and Henry Jackson, were some of Alaska's greatest friends. Their advocacy helped to sway this Senate that Alaskans were ready to join the Union. Today I want to give you a flavor of that debate at the time and their role in it. Back in 1958, Alaska's statehood had already been an issue for 42 years, and legislation to make it a State had been introduced in every Congress since 1943.”