Bob Bartlett


Edward Lewis Bartlett , known as Bob Bartlett, was an Alaska politician and a member of the Democratic Party.

Career

Bartlett was born in Seattle to Edward C. and Ida Florence Bartlett. After attending the University of Washington from 1922 to 1924, Bartlett graduated from the University of Alaska in 1925, then began his career in politics. A reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News until 1933, he accepted the position of secretary to Delegate Anthony Dimond of Alaska. Three years later he became the chairman of the Unemployment Compensation Commission of Alaska.
On January 30, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him secretary of the Alaska Territory. Beginning in 1945, Bartlett served as the delegate from Alaska to the 79th and the six succeeding Congresses. Continuing his civic service, he was president of the Alaska Tuberculosis Association and served as a member of the Alaska War Council. He labored constantly for statehood; upon Alaska's admission to the Union in 1959 he became the first senator from Alaska and served until 1968.
Bartlett possessed the reputation of a quiet man of achievement. The Library of Congress estimates that he had more bills passed into law than any other member in congressional history. Before statehood, he was writing legislation, such as the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956. Some of his bills included the Radiation Safety Bill and the Bartlett Act, requiring all federally funded buildings to be accessible to the handicapped.

Personal life

Death

Bartlett died following heart surgery on December 11, 1968, at Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
Bartlett was buried in Northern Lights Memorial Park, Fairbanks, Alaska.

Legacy

In 1971, the state of Alaska commissioned Felix de Weldon to create a bronze statue of Bartlett which resides in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol.
A substantial number of buildings, place names and more have been named after Bartlett in Alaska over the years. The most notable of these include Bartlett Regional Hospital, the hospital serving Juneau, Alaska, as well as Bartlett High School in Anchorage and Bartlett Hall at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.