Surprisingly, a constitutional lawyer by education, Vogler maintained
Alaska statehood violated the U.N. Charter which the United States signed. That charter declared signatory's territories must be allowed
self-determination and a vote on independence. "Old Joe" claimed
both Alaska and Hawaii were denied this. FDR had the clause placed in
the charter knowing such a vote would have to be held in Alaska.
Constitutionally, Vogler was also correct that Alaska statehood is illegal since the United States did not give territorial Alaskans the
option of independence when statehood was voted on. (If one studies the Alaskan newspapers of the late 1950s, there was discussion of becoming a commonwealth similar to today's Puerto Rico rather than becoming a state. There was no discussion of independence.)
Every Supreme Court ruling since Chief Justice John Marshall declared
Georgia's seizure of Cherokee lands in the 1820sillegal has maintained that signed treaties like the U.N. Charter are paramount over acts and laws passed by Congress including the Alaska Statehood Bill. But, with the Cold War on, neither Truman nor Eisenhower were going to take a chance of losing Alaska's strategic position, maintained "Old Joe."
The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is the vote we were entitled to1) Remain a Territory.
in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:
The party seems to have moved beyond the initial aspirations of its founder, Joe Vogler, who wrote that "the fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred of the United States." Mr. Vogler apparently died in a deal for plastic explosives gone bad, which stopped his appearance before the UN (sponsored by the Iranian government) to speak for Alaska independence. None of it seems too awful unless you are friendly toward it *and* want to be the US VP. I
don't think they've blown anyone up recently.
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