BEHIND THE SCENES: States of Mind

¶ Chances are better than ever that Alaska may become the 49th state this year. House Speaker Sam Rayburn, long an opponent, has been won over, and will urge Virginia's Howard Smith, Rules Committee chairman, to clear the way for an Alaska statehood bill. (Southerners still suspect that any new Democratic Senators from Alaska may vote against them in civil rights.) The Republicans are for statehood, thanks partly to the popularity of Alaska's energetic young (38) Republican Governor Mike Stepovich, and the prospect that Alaskan Senators might turn out to be Republican...

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