[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 7 (Thursday, January 21, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO BARRY W. JACKSON

 Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, on the occasion of his 80th 
birthday, January 27, I recognize the life achievements of a resident 
of Fairbanks, AK, Mr. Barry W. Jackson.
  As a young man, Mr. Jackson served in the Marine Corps during World 
War II and later retired as major. While still working on his law 
degree from Stanford University in 1957, he travelled to Alaska and 
obtained a clerkship with a territorial judge.
  After being admitted to the Alaska bar in 1959, he was hired as the 
city attorney for Fairbanks and later opened his own practice, 
concentrating on estate planning, personal injury, bankruptcy, family 
and real estate law.
  Mr. Jackson also used his legal talents in the Alaska State 
Legislature. He served in the State house of representatives in the 
Fourth and Sixth State legislatures from 1965 to 1966 and 1968 to 1970 
respectively, where he was a colleague of my late father, then State 
Senator Nick Begich. He served on the prestigious House Finance 
Committee and later in a leadership position as chairman of the House 
Judiciary Committee.
  Mr. Jackson also served the Alaska Democratic Party as a convention 
chair and later, was chair of the Interior Democrats. Last October, I 
was privileged to attend a banquet in Fairbanks where the Interior 
Democrats honored Mr. Jackson for his many contributions to Alaska.
  Perhaps his most significant career accomplishment was his work with 
Alaska tribes. Much of his legal career has been spent on Alaska Native 
social and justice causes.
  In 1967, he was legal counsel to the State-sponsored Alaska Land 
Claims Task Force. Among task force's finding was a recommendation that 
legislation be introduced in Congress that would convey land to Native 
villages, pay a monetary settlement, form corporations organized by 
villages and regions and form a statewide corporation. Subsequently, a 
bill was introduced in 1968 by Alaska Senator Ernest Gruening and Mr. 
Jackson testified before congressional committee hearings throughout 
the year.
  In the time leading to the passage of the Alaska Native Claims 
Settlement Act, ANCSA, in 1971, funding for attorneys grew short. 
Recognizing the monumental importance of the matter, Mr. Jackson took 
upon himself to work pro bono at great personal hardship to himself and 
his family. This deed typifies Barry's degree of dedication to a worthy 
cause.
  Many have judged the ideas in the 1968 bill to be the foundation for 
ANCSA. In the book ``Take My Land, Take My Life'' published in 2001, 
Mr. Jackson was credited as being the first person who considered the 
concept of corporations for Alaska Native tribes.
  Mr. Jackson is a tireless worker who still engages in his part-time 
private law practice. I wish Mr. Jackson a happy birthday, thank him 
for his military and legislative service and applaud him as one of the 
quiet, selfless contributors to the settlement of Alaska Native land 
claims.

                          ____________________