I’m surprised that the Forward, a Jewish newspaper, could have devoted a whole page to Alaska in its August 10 edition without once mentioning the great Ernest Gruening, who turned the territory into a state as one of the last territorial governors (1939-1953) and its first United States senator (1959-1969). The Vietnam War has faded into distant memory, but Gruening was one of only two voices in the Senate trying to prevent it from being carried forth. In those days, I believe, he was one of only three Jews in the Senate, and the only one not from the northeast.
As a longtime Forward reader, I ask myself how it is possible that Ernest Gruening has been forgotten by the Jewish press.
Joel M. Cohen
College Park, Md.
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