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=                           Fred_A._Seaton                           =
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                            Introduction
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Frederick Andrew Seaton (December 11, 1909 – January 16, 1974) was an
American newspaperman and politician.  He represented the U.S. state
of Nebraska in the U.S. Senate and served as U.S. Secretary of the
Interior during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.


                             Early life
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Seaton was born in Washington, D.C., on December 11, 1909, the son of
Dorothea Elizabeth ('née' Schmidt) and Fay Noble Seaton.  He attended
the Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas. He graduated from
Kansas State University in 1931, and married Gladys Hope Dowd
(November 5, 1910 – January 5, 1999) in the same year. They had four
children: Donald Richard, Alfred Noble, Johanna Christine, and Monica
Margaret Seaton. In 1937, Seaton moved to Hastings, Nebraska, where he
was for many years the publisher of the 'Hastings Tribune'.


                          Political career
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Seaton was active in Republican politics. He served in the unicameral
Nebraska Legislature from 1945 to 1949.  He was appointed to the U.S.
Senate on December 10, 1951, by Gov. Val Peterson to fill the vacancy
created by the death of Kenneth S. Wherry. A Rockefeller Republican,
Seaton was senator for less than a year; he had to vacate the post on
November 4, 1952, when Dwight Griswold won the 1952 special election
to complete the Senate term. He was the second of six Senators to
serve during the fifteenth Senate term for Nebraska's Class 2 seat,
from January 3, 1949, to January 3, 1955.

Seaton served in various White House and subcabinet posts in
Eisenhower's administration, including Assistant Secretary of Defense
for Legislative Affairs, before he was appointed as the U.S. Secretary
of the Interior. He served in that office from June 8, 1956, until
January 20, 1961.  During his tenure, Alaska and Hawaii became the
49th and 50th states admitted to the Union. He was instrumental in the
passing of the Alaska Statehood Act, appointing and recommending
pro-Alaska politicians to high positions, such as Ted Stevens to
Senior Counsel to the Secretary of Interior (later becoming Solicitor
in 1960) and Mike Stepovich to Governor of the Territory of Alaska.

He ran for governor of Nebraska in 1962 but was defeated by the
incumbent Democrat, Gov. Frank B. Morrison (Olson, p. 335). Following
his defeat, Seaton became a strong advocate for campaign finance
reform in Nebraska.

Seaton died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 16, 1974, and is
interred in Parkview Cemetery in Hastings, Nebraska.


                          Further reading
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*"Seaton, Fred(erick) A(ndrew)" in 'Current Biography 1956.'
*James C. Olson, 'History of Nebraska', Second Edition. (Lincoln, NE:
University of Nebraska Press, 1966).


                           External links
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*[http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/S.html Papers
of Fred A. Seaton, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]
*[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000214
Congressional biography]
*[http://www.kshs.org/portraits/seaton_fred.htm "Fred Seaton"]
biography at Kansas State Historical Society Website
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*


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_A._Seaton