Bartlett and Gruening

In the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., every state is allowed to display statues of two outstanding citizens. The National Statuary Hall collection includes presidents, vice presidents, signers of the Declaration of Independence, framers of the United States Constitution, and other distinguished Americans.

The two Alaskans cast in bronze are Sen. E.L. "Bob" Bartlett and Sen. Ernest Gruening. Before they served as Alaska's first United States Senators, Bartlett and Gruening were the powerful one-two punch of the Alaska statehood fight in the 1940s and 1950s.

In the words of influential Speaker of the House of Representatives Sam Rayburn, when asked why he changed his mind in favor of Alaskan statehood, "I can tell you in two words, Bob Bartlett."