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Number of Governors of Alaska by party affiliation^[1]

Party	Governors
Democratic	5
Republican	5
Alaskan Independence	1

The following is a list of Governors of the State of Alaska and the territories which preceded it: the Department of Alaska, District of Alaska, and Alaska Territory.

Nine people have served as governor of the state, though due to its long history as a U.S. territory, it had over thirty additional civilian and military governors since being acquired in the Alaska purchase. Two people have served as state governor twice, William A. Egan and Walter J. Hickel, the latter of which had nearly 32 years between his terms.

The four–year term of governor begins and ends on the first Monday of December.

The current governor is Republican Sarah Palin, the first woman to serve as governor of Alaska.

Prior to being purchased by the United States, Alaska was Russian territory; see Russian-American Company for the governors of Russian America.

Contents 1 Commanders of Department of Alaska 2 Governors of the District of Alaska 3 Governors of Alaska Territory 4 Governors of Alaska 5 Other high offices held 6 Living former governors 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 External links

The Department of Alaska was under the jurisdiction of the War Department and administered by U.S. Army officers from 1868 until 1877, when the Army was withdrawn from Alaska. The Treasury Department took control then, and Alaska fell under the purview of the U.S. Navy and Revenue Cutter Service, and was administered by the captains of naval vessels. From 1877 to 1879 there was no direct federal presence in the department.^{[citation needed]} Supposedly, the first American administrator of Alaska was Polish immigrant Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski. However, the Anchorage Daily News was unable to find any conclusive information to support or disprove this claim.^[A]

Commander	Term	Branch
Brevet Maj. Gen. Jefferson C. Davis	1868–1870	Army
Brevet Lt. Col. George K. Brady	1870	Army
Major John C. Tidball	1870–1871	Army
Major Harvey A. Allen	1871–1872	Army
Major Joseph Steward	1872–1874	Army
Captain George B. Rodney	1874	Army
Captain Joseph B. Campbell	1874–1876	Army
Captain John Mendenhall	1876–1877	Army
Captain Arthur Morris	1877	Army
none	1877–1879
Commander Lester A. Beardslee	1879–1881	Navy
Commander Henry Glass	1881	Navy
Lt. Cmdr. Edward P. Lull	1881–1882	Navy
Commander Henry Glass	1881–1882	Navy
Commander Frederick Pearson	1882	Navy
Commander Edgar C. Merriman	1882–1883	Navy
Commander Joseph B. Coghlan	1883–1884	Navy
Commander Albert G. Caldwell	1884	Navy
Lt. Cmdr. Henry E. Nichols	1884	Navy

In 1884, the Department of Alaska was redesignated the District of Alaska, an incorporated but unorganized territory with a civilian-controlled government.

#	Governor	Term	Party	Notes
1	John Henry Kinkead	1884–1885	Republican
2	Alfred P. Swineford	1885–1889	Democratic
3	Lyman Enos Knapp	1889–1893	Republican
4	James Sheakley	1893–1897	Democratic
5	John Green Brady	1897–1906		[2]
6	Wilford Bacon Hoggatt	1906–1909	Republican
7	Walter Eli Clark	1909–1912	Republican

In 1912, the District of Alaska was organized into Alaska Territory.

#	Picture	Governor	Term	Party	Notes
1		Walter Eli Clark	1912–1913	Republican
2		John Franklin Alexander Strong	1913–1918	Democratic	[3]
3		Thomas Christmas Riggs, Jr.	1918–1921	Democratic
4		Scott Cordelle Bone	1921–1925	Republican
5		George Alexander Parks	1925–1933	Republican
6		John Weir Troy	1933–1939	Democratic
7		Ernest Gruening	1939–1953	Democratic
		Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr.	1941–1944	Military	[4]
8		Benjamin Franklin Heintzleman	1953–1957	Republican
9		Waino Edward Hendrickson	1957 (acting)	Republican	[5]
10		Michael Anthony Stepovich	1957–1958	Republican	[6]
11		Waino Edward Hendrickson	1958–1959 (acting)	Republican	[5]

#	Picture	Governor	Took office	Left office	Party	Lieutenant Governor	Notes
1		William A. Egan	January 3, 1959	December 5, 1966	Democratic	Hugh Wade
2		Walter J. Hickel	December 5, 1966	January 29, 1969	Republican	Keith Miller	[7]
3		Keith Miller	January 29, 1969	December 5, 1970	Republican	Robert W. Ward	[8]
4		William A. Egan	December 5, 1970	December 2, 1974	Democratic	H. A. "Red" Boucher
5		Jay Hammond	December 2, 1974	December 6, 1982	Republican	Lowell Thomas, Jr.
						Terry Miller
6		Bill Sheffield	December 6, 1982	December 1, 1986	Democratic	Stephen McAlpine
7		Steve Cowper	December 1, 1986	December 2, 1990	Democratic	Stephen McAlpine
8		Walter J. Hickel	December 3, 1990	December 5, 1994	Alaskan Independence/ Republican	Jack Coghill	[9]
9		Tony Knowles	December 5, 1994	December 2, 2002	Democratic	Fran Ulmer
10		Frank Murkowski	December 2, 2002	December 4, 2006	Republican	Loren Leman
11		Sarah Palin	December 4, 2006	Incumbent	Republican	Sean Parnell	[10]

This is a table of congressional seats, other federal offices, and other governorships held by governors.^[B] All representatives and senators mentioned represented Alaska except where noted. * denotes those offices which the governor resigned to take.

Name	Gubernatorial term	Other offices held
John Henry Kinkead[C]	1884–1885 (district)	Governor of Nevada
James Sheakley[D]	1893–1897 (district)	U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
Ernest Gruening[E]	1939–1953 (territorial)	U.S. Senator
Walter J. Hickel	1966–1969, 1990–1994	U.S. Secretary of the Interior*
Frank Murkowski	2002–2006	U.S. Senator

As of August 2007, seven former governors were alive, the oldest being Michael Anthony Stepovich (1957–1958, born 1919). The most recent governor to die was Jay Hammond (1974–1982), on August 2, 2005.

Name	Gubernatorial term	Date of birth
Michael Anthony Stepovich	1957–1958 (territorial)	March 12, 1919
Walter J. Hickel	1966–1969, 1990–1994	August 18, 1919
Keith Miller	1969–1970	March 1, 1925
Bill Sheffield	1982–1986	June 26, 1928
Steve Cowper	1986–1990	August 21, 1938
Tony Knowles	1994–2002	January 1, 1942
Frank Murkowski	2002–2006	March 28, 1933

• List of Lieutenant Governors of Alaska

General

• Governors of Alaska by the National Governors Association.

Specific

• Office of the Governor of Alaska
• Past Governors of Alaska

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