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Ted Stevens was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 18, 1923.
During WWII he was a pilot in the CBI (China-Burma-India) Theater, supporting the Flying Tigers of the 14th Air Force. He received 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 2 Air Medals. He also received the Yuan Hai Medal awarded by the Republic of China.
Following the war, he graduated from UCLA and Harvard Law School, and practiced law in Washington, DC. In the early 1950's he moved to Alaska. When he arrived in Alaska it was still a territory on the U.S. He practiced law in Fairbanks, and subsequently was appointed U.S. Attorney in Fairbanks in 1953, a position he held for 3 years.
In 1956, he transferred to Washington DC to work as legislative council and then as assistant to the Secretary of the Interior Fred Seaton. In 1960 he was appointed Chief Council of the Department of the Interior by President Eisenhower. While in Washington, Stevens worked hard for the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii to the Union.
Stevens returned to Alaska to practice law in Anchorage, and was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives In 1964. In his second term in Alaska's legislature, he became the House Majority Leader.
Following the death of E.L. Bob Bartlett in Dec. of 1968, Governor Walter Hickel appointed Stevens to fill the vacancy. Under Alaska law, Stevens sought election in 1970. He was subsequently elected to a full term in 1972, and re-elected in 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002.
Senator Stevens is married to Catherine Ann Chandler of Anchorage, a 4th generation Alaskan. They have 1 child and 11 grandchildren. Stevens also has 5 other children by his first marriage to Ann Cherrington, of Denver, now deceased. Three of Steven's six children reside in Alaska.
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