Alaska joined the Union as the 49^th state on January 3, 1959. Hawaii followed later that year to give us our present constellation of 50 stars on the old stars and stripes. Yes, we had that disagreement from 1861-1865 when eleven states thought it was best to break away from the Union and keep enslaving other human beings, but that question of succession without a fight ended when Abraham Lincoln and millions of courageous Americans decided that our Union was worth fighting — and dying — for.

On Friday, July 14, 2023, I crossed over the Canadian border into Alaska officially making it my 49^th state to visit, drawing ever closer to that elusive bucket-list goal of visiting each of our 50 states. The opportunity came with a National Trust Tour of Alaskan Glaciers and the Inside Passage, where I was privileged to serve as a study leader lecturer.

I’ll have a lot more to say (and show) about our tour but wanted to note the milestone passed and the one now on the near horizon. At the same time, I also want to use this post to touch on the value of seeing other places and hearing different perspectives.

One of the great things about traveling with National Trust Tours is that you meet such fascinating, curious, and smart fellow travelers. One of those individuals on this tour is a retired military historian. Over dinner one evening with Paul and Donna, the subject of Gettysburg and Normandy came up. Paul — the West Point graduate, retired infantry officer, and long-time military historian — mentioned that he thought all Americans should visit two places: Gettysburg, to understand how our nation was shaped and Normandy to see us at our best when presented to the rest of the world. I couldn’t agree more.

Gettysburg is not just about the three days of fighting on July 1-3, 1863. Paul mentioned that when he takes military groups on tours of the battlefield, he always ends it at the cemetery, so that he can talk about the Gettysburg Address. Tears immediately came to my eyes, because I grasped his point. It was at Gettysburg on a fall November day that Abraham Lincoln reshaped the story — and in fact the history — of our nation.

Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote eloquently about Lincoln’s ability to shape the master story of America in a way that was “deeper and simpler throughout his life. It was the narrative of our country, the birth of our democracy, and the development of freedom within our Union.”

“At Gettysburg, he challenged the living to finish ‘the unfinished work’ for which so many soldiers had given their lives — that ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.’ At the Second Inaugural, Lincoln asked his countrymen ‘to strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.’ These same words nourished Franklin Roosevelt. He drew upon them, he said, because Abraham Lincoln had set goals for the future ‘ in terms of which the human mind cannot improve.’”

And, of course, Franklin Roosevelt was president in 1944 when, on the beaches of Normandy, the U.S. showed what can happen when the world comes together to fight bigotry and hatred.

Saving the places where history happened has been my life’s work, and it is among the reasons I continue to explore this fascinating world with all its complexity and wonder.

The 50^th state on my bucket list? Nevada. I’ve been at the Las Vegas airport several times, but that doesn’t count under my rules. We’ll pick up Claire in Alameda at some point in the coming months and drive over to Lake Tahoe to take in more of the beauty and grandeur of this amazing country that, even with all its many flaws, remains one of the true hopes for the world.

More to come…

DJB

Image of Dawes Glacier from Zodiac by DJB