page_title: Wally Hickel
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Wally Hickel / Later life
caption_attribution_description: English: Former Alaska Governor Walter Hickel and his wife, Ermalee, outside the Egan Center in Anchorage, Alaska.
context_page_description: Walter Joseph "Wally" Hickel was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician. He worked as a construction worker and eventually became a construction company owner/operator during Alaska's territorial days. Following World War II, Hickel became heavily involved with real estate development, building residential subdivisions, shopping centers and hotels. Hickel entered politics in the 1950s during Alaska's battle for statehood and remained politically active for the rest of his life.
  Hickel served as the second governor of Alaska, defeating incumbent and first governor William A. Egan in 1966. He served as governor until 1969, ending with his resignation upon his appointment to the position of United States Secretary of the Interior in the cabinet of President Richard Nixon. Hickel later served a full term as governor from 1990 to 1994 under the banner of the Alaskan Independence Party.
context_section_description: In 2006 he supported Sarah Palin in her bid to become governor of Alaska; however, in 2009, he stated that he didn't "give a damn what she does".
  In 2008, he called for the resignation of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, whom he had appointed to the Senate in 1968. His statement was made in light of the August 2008 federal indictment of Stevens related to the alleged receipt of improper gifts from Bill Allen, CEO of the VECO Corporation, an Alaskan construction company heavily involved in the Alaskan oil industry. Stevens was found guilty by a Washington D.C. jury of seven felonies in October 2008, narrowly losing his November election to Democrat Mark Begich, eight days later. Stevens' conviction was later set aside by the federal trial judge over the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. The Justice Department under Eric Holder declined to refile charges against the ex-Senator.
caption: Wally Hickel and his wife, Ermalee Hickel, outside the Egan Center in Anchorage in 2008.
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