Alaska historian and author Stephen Haycox died earlier this month at the age of 85.
Many considered Haycox to be Alaska's leading historian, having penned several books fundamental to understanding the state's history. That included "Battleground Alaska," which explored Alaska's complicated relationship with the federal government, and "Frigid Embrace," about how natural resource extraction in the state affected residents views of nature and relationships with Alaska Native people.
Haycox also helped start the history program at the University of Alaska Anchorage, and his editorials appeared semi-regularly in the Anchorage Daily News' opinion pages.
Former ADN opinion page editor Michael Carey says he was most impressed by the care Haycox took in researching and writing, and his judiciousness.
Below is the transcript of an interview with Carey on Alaska News Nightly. It has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Michael Carey: He was a very methodical, disciplined historian. In other words, he was in some ways the opposite of the modern influencer or blogger. He was very careful, and when there were people he disagreed with, he was very careful in his criticism.
He was a great believer in the great pageant of American democracy, that it goes on and the last chapter has not been written. He did not believe the last chapter has been written even when — and I think it was in June we talked about Trump and what he might mean to America — and he said, "Oh, America will get through this. It just will." Even though I disagreed with him at the time, or I tended to disagree with him.
Casey Grove: Certainly a lot of people have called him Alaska's leading historian. Why do you think people say that?
MC: Historians are not like ball players, where you can look up their average or how many home runs they hit. So these are largely matters of opinion. But in his case, he covered so much ground over so many decades and had so many different interests, and expressed them, not only in books, but in regular op-ed pieces.
He took up such a wide variety of Alaska history, and so much of it had happened during his lifetime. That's interesting, too. Most historians, especially if they're writing about anything before 1940, it didn't happen during their lifetime.
CG: Which is kind of an interesting thing about Alaska in particular, right?
MC: Yeah, right, yeah.
CG: Such a young state.
So, are there particular columns that he wrote that still stick with you?
MC: Well, what sticks with me was he took up the question of the role the federal government in Alaska. He liked to remind people that it wasn't all that they inflicted D2 (lands that were available for congressional designation) and land withdrawals and the national parks on us, that those were very popular ideas, not just with the nation, but with parts of the Alaska community, and that just blaming the federal government for our problems was not only unproductive, but just wrong. He was a great one for understanding complexity and taking it on. And he understood the federal government had a complex role here. He was a great one for understanding complexity and taking it on. And he understood the federal government had a complex role here.
CG: And kind of the point being that it's just more complicated than being, like, pro-federal government or anti-federal government.
MC: Yeah, and Steve was very good at those kind of nuances. He really cared about them, and he was really willing to entertain opposing views and explore them with people. And that's a very admirable characteristic. He was a lot better at it than I am.
CG: Speaking of entertaining other viewpoints, that was something that I read that was important in his work at the university as a history professor there.
MC: I think now that there's so many complaints about professors being ideologically driven, or as some members of Congress and members of the current administration have talked about, brainwashing our students. Steve, that just would have been completely foreign to him. I don't even think he would have known how to do it. On the other hand, he would have said, "Look, there are some basic, accepted facts."
CG: Yeah, that is interesting, like in the context of conversations we're having now about college professors.
MC: Yeah, and I mean, I am confident that if a very conservative student — and Steve was basically a liberal, let's just put it right out there — wanted to pursue some conservative analysis of Alaska society and the economy and the role of the oil companies, he would have entertained it. He'd say, "Sure, let's work on it."
CG: So one thing I wanted to ask you is just, you know, if Steve Haycox was here, and I were to ask him, "Why should people care about doing historical research or teaching history?" what do you think he would say?
MC: I think he would agree with the old timers who said, "If you don't know where you've been, you aren't going to know where you're going." He believed there was a continuum of American history and Alaska history, and we were on a place on it. We've been other places, we're going other places. Where? We don't know yet, although there might be indicators. But he would say it's really important to understand how we got here, because that, in some measure, will help us determine where we're going. And he would also say it's just interesting. People are just interesting. I think he would say that.
CG: Yeah. Well, I guess, last thing I wanted to ask you, because obviously we're talking here in the wake of his passing, any thoughts about him as a person that you knew, and, you know, what do you think he leaves behind?
MC: Steve Haycox leaves behind a fair-minded approach and analysis of Alaska history. That was his personal view, his personal value, that you have to be fair-minded and careful and analytical, and that not only do you have to be careful of social passions, the passions of the mob, you have to be careful of your own passions.
The other thing I'd like to say about him is I loved it that he was in the Navy and was in the Navy Band, and he told me that he'd played at "Anchors Aweigh" any number of times. And I said, "I'll bet you can play "Anchors Aweigh" in your sleep. He said, "Absolutely, I certainly can do that."
