Frederick Andrew Seaton (December 11, 1909 January 16, 1974) was United States Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

 during Dwight Eisenhower's administration.

Biography

Seaton was born in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, but grew up and attended high school in Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the state of Kansas in the United States, at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. It is the county seat of Riley County and the city extends into Pottawatomie County. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 52,281...

. He graduated from Kansas State University

Kansas State University

Kansas State University, commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...

 in 1931, and in 1937 moved to Hastings, Nebraska

Hastings, Nebraska

Hastings is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. It is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and Clay counties. The population was 24,907 at the 2010 census...

, where he was publisher of the Daily Tribune

Hastings Tribune

The Hastings Tribune is a newspaper published in Hastings, Nebraska. The newspaper is put out six days a week, excluding Sundays. It serves ten counties in south central Nebraska and north central Kansas.It has a circulation of 11,145.-History:...

for many years.

Seaton was active in Republican politics. He was appointed to the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 in December 1951 by Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

 Governor Val Peterson

Val Peterson

Frederick Valdemar Erastus Peterson , also known as Val Peterson, was an American politician who served as the 26th Governor of Nebraska from 1947 to 1953; as director of the Federal Civil Defense Administration from 1953–1957; as U.S. ambassador to Denmark 1957–1961; and as U.S...

 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Kenneth S. Wherry

Kenneth S. Wherry

Kenneth Spicer Wherry was a Republican United States Senator from Nebraska.-Early life:He was born in Liberty, Gage County, Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi, in 1914...

. He served until November 4, 1952.

Seaton served in various White House and subcabinet posts in the Eisenhower administration before he was appointed United States Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

. He served in that office from 1956-1961. During his tenure, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 and Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 became the 49th and 50th states admitted to the Union.

Seaton ran for governor of Nebraska in 1962. He was defeated by incumbent Governor Frank B. Morrison

Frank B. Morrison

Frank Brenner Morrison served as the 31st Governor of the U.S. state of Nebraska from 1961 to 1967, representing the Democratic Party. He also ran for United States Senate in 1958, 1966 and 1970 but lost all three elections. He lost to Roman L. Hruska in 1958 and 1970 while in 1966 he lost to Carl...

 (Olson, p. 335). Following his defeat, Seaton became a strong advocate for campaign finance reform in that state.

Further reading

• "Seaton, Fred(erick) A(ndrew)" in Current Biography 1956.
• James C. Olson, History of Nebraska, Second Edition. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1966).

External links

• Papers of Fred A. Seaton, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Congressional biography
• "Fred Seaton" biography at Kansas State Historical Society Website