Ernest Gruening was born on February 6, 1887, in New York City to Emil and Rose Gruening. His first language was German because of his Prussian heritage, Prussia being a Germanic country at the time. Ernest attended both Drisler School and Sachs School in his early years. Later on, he graduated from Hotchkiss School in 1903, going on to attend Harvard in 1907 and Harvard Medical in 1912. Gruening gave up working in the medical field to study journalism. He reported for Boston America in 1912 and was the manager for the New York Tribune in 1917. In 1918, he served in the field artillery corps near the end of World War I. After the war was over, Gruening went back to writing, becoming the editor of The Nation, a popular magazine, from 1920…show more content… Having an interest in territorial topics, he became a territorial governor. He was very devoted to the economical development of Alaska and fighting discrimination against Alaska Natives. Only five years before Alaska became an official state, Gruening wrote a book titled “The State of Alaska.” This book made what he thought of as federal neglect of the territory a public issue.
On November 25, 1958, Gruening was elected to be one of the Alaskan senators for the United States government, where he served a total of ten years due to his reelection in 1962. He was one of the first U.S. Senators, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later on, he became president of an investment firm and a legislative consultant.
Gruening was very passionate about Alaska, and did many wonderful things for the state. He introduced a new tax system that was more beneficial for Alaskan people, unlike the old system that allowed the government to spend $4.1 million more than they earned. According to Au Claus Naske, Gruening, along with “Bob” Bartlett gave the movement to make Alaska a state a “vitality and dynamism which it had not possessed