Clark S. Gruening ( ; born March 28, 1943) is an attorney and

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

politician from the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. He is chiefly known as the second of three persons to defeat the incumbent holder of Alaska's Class 3 United States Senate seat in the primary election. Clark Gruening was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, the son of Huntington Sanders "Hunt" Gruening, the second-born and (after 1955) only surviving son of

Ernest Gruening Ernest Henry Gruening ( ; February 6, 1887 – June 26, 1974) was an American journalist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Gruening was the governor of the Alaska Territory from 1939 until 1953, and a United States Senator from A ...

, who at the time of Clark's birth was governor of the

Territory of Alaska The Territory of Alaska or Alaska Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from August 24, 1912, until Alaska was granted statehood on January 3, 1959. The territory was previously Russian America, 1784–1867; the ...

. He grew up in Juneau, Alaska, where his father was an airline pilot and executive. Clark graduated from

Juneau-Douglas High School Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kalé High School (abbreviated JDHS or JDYKHS) is one of three high schools in Juneau, Alaska. It is one of two primary high schools for the Juneau School District, the other being Thunder Mountain High School. While Jun ...

in 1961. He received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

in 1965 and a J.D. from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

in 1969. He moved to Anchorage that same year. Gruening, an attorney outside politics, was elected to two terms in the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people per ...

starting in 1974. In the 1980 U.S. Senate election in Alaska, he ran in the Democratic primary, defeating incumbent Senator

Mike Gravel Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel ( ; May 13, 1930 – June 26, 2021) was an American politician and writer who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1969 to 1981 as a member of the Democratic Party, and who later in life twice ran for ...

. In 1968, Gravel had himself defeated Clark's grandfather,

, in the Democratic primary. Both election results were attributed to Alaska's blanket primary system, which was brand new in 1968 and eventually discontinued due to complaints by individual political parties that members of other parties had a hand in the selection of their party's nominees. Specifically, it was felt that Republicans and supporters of

Frank Murkowski Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re ...

voted in large numbers for Gruening in hopes of eliminating Gravel. Extremely unpopular with Alaskan voters at the time, Gravel nonetheless was felt to pose a more serious challenge to Murkowski, largely on account of his incumbency. Gruening went on to lose the 1980 general election to Murkowski.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=TRkfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RKcEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5069,2425536&dq=clark-gruening&hl=en

References

External links

Clark Gruening
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gruening, Clark 1943 births Alaska lawyers American people of German-Jewish descent George Washington University Law School alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives Politicians from Anchorage, Alaska Politicians from Juneau, Alaska Lawyers from Anchorage, Alaska Lawyers from San Francisco University of Oregon alumni