Burke Riley

Who was Burke Riley?

Burke Riley was an American legislator, lawyer and public official on territorial, state and national levels. He was a signer of the Alaska Constitution, elected as one of seven at-large delegates from the First Division.

Burke Riley was born in Swan Lake, Montana and grew up in Yakima, Washington. He graduated from Yakima Valley Community College and attended the University of Washington, but he ran out of money in 1937 and moved to Fairbanks, Alaska the following year. While in Fairbanks, he worked as a clerk in the Caterpillar department of Northern Commercial Company, serving the miners who worked the mining districts north of Fairbanks. One of these miners, Bob Bartlett, would later become his father-in-law. During World War II, he served in the United States Army Air Forces as a courier in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

After leaving the armed forces, Riley returned to Alaska, moving to Juneau. He passed the Alaska Territory's bar examination, and was later appointed assistant to territorial Governor Ernest Gruening. Later in the Gruening administration, Riley became the Secretary of Alaska from 1952 to 1953. This position, like that of the territorial governor, was appointed by the President of the United States. His term was cut short with the change of command from Harry S. Truman to Dwight D. Eisenhower.