John E. Manders

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John E. Manders (1895-1973) was Mayor of Anchorage, Alaska from 1945-1946 and a leading voice among opponents of Alaskan statehood.

John Edgar Manders was born February 3, 1895 in Denver, Colorado to Robert Francis Manders and Letha Clementine Barnes Manders. In 1914, he married Henrietta Bertolas. He attended the University of San Francisco and the San Francisco Law School, and was admitted to the California Bar in 1918.

He practiced law in San Francisco until 1941, when he moved his practice to Anchorage, Alaska. In 1945, he was elected mayor of the city, serving a single one-year term.

He was a tax protestor, refusing to pay Federal income tax. [1] In the 1950s, he campaigned against statehood for the Territory of Alaska, arguing that it would increase the taxes of Alaskan citizens. In its place, he advocated commonwealth status for the territory. [2]

In 1958, after the U.S. Senate voted to admit Alaska as the 49th state, he quipped to Time Magazine: "Did you ever see anybody stop a crowd on its way to a hanging? Wait till the honeymoon is over and the taxes arrive ..." [3] In the ensuing special election, he made a bid for one of the new seats in the Senate, but he failed to gain the nomination of the Republican Party.

He died in Anchorage in 1973.