Glenn Beck Tries to Rewrite Alaska’s History

Glenn Beck was on Fox & Friends this morning discussing upcoming tea parties as well as his version of how, why and when the United States acquired Alaska. Here’s what he had to say:

CARLSON: But nowhere in that bill is anything about reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

BECK: None… You know Donald Trump, I want to talk to this guy. When he was on the show just a few minutes ago I was thinking how can you not be laughing at us? How can the world not be laughing at us? We have all these resources. Why did we buy Alaska in the 1950s? We bought Alaska for the resources. And now we say no!

Here’s a little history lesson for Beck: Alaska was purchased from the Russians in 1867 for $7.2million. It became an unofficial territory in 1884, but after the gold rushes at the end of the century, Alaska officially became a U.S. territory in 1912. Statehood was approved in 1958. Oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay in 1968.

So, while Alaska officially became a state in the late 1950s, it was owned by the U.S. for much longer. Additionally, it was purchased about a hundred years before the oil discovery, so that could hardly have been the reason.

Original Story

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