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U.S. Medal of Freedom Recipient Frederick Andrew Seaton
(1909 - 1974)
Frederick Andrew Seaton was secretary of the interior under President Eisenhower from June 8, 1956, until January 20, 1961. Seaton graduated from Kansas State Agricultural College in Manhattan, Kansas, in 1931. While in college, he became a radio sportscaster for KSAC and WIBW and continued in that line of work until 1937. In 1931, he began his career in print journalism, becoming wire news editor of his father's Manhattan Morning Chronicle in 1932, city editor of the Mercury in 1933, and then associate editor of the Seaton group of newspapers (1933-1937). He was elected chairman of the Young Republicans in 1935, then vice-chairman of the Kansas Republican National Convention delegation in 1936; Seaton was also secretary to Alfred Landon, the Republican presidential candidate in that same year. In 1937, he became publisher of the Daily Tribune and president of his father's company. He was twice elected to the state legislature (1945-1949), though he was defeated on his third attempt. Seaton was named by Governor Val Peterson to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat on December 10, 1951. During the remaining thirteen months of the term, Seaton established his conservative credentials. He served in a number of capacities in the Eisenhower administration, including assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs (1953-1955), presidential administrative assistant for congressional liaison (1955), and deputy assistant to President Eisenhower (1955-1956), before being made secretary of the interior. Fred Seaton was awarded the Medal of Freedom on February 21, 1955 by Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson at the Pentagon. Seaton avoided the problems of his predecessor and struck a successful balance between conservationists and industry over the use of the nation's natural resources. He also set up a program to investigate the possibility of a desalinization program to eliminate water shortages. After his tenure in the Eisenhower administration, he ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Nebraska in 1962. Seaton continued to manage his publishing businesses but also remained active in party politics, serving as chairman of President Nixon's Committee on Timber and Environment. He died in 1974.
United States Senate Years of Service: 1951-1952
Party: Republican
Frederick Andrew Seaton, a Senator from Nebraska; born in Washington, D.C., December 11, 1909; attended the public schools in Manhattan, Kans., and Kansas State College at Manhattan; president of Seaton Publishing Co., Hastings, Nebr., and publisher of Hastings Daily Tribune; also interested in several daily and weekly newspapers and operating radio and TV stations; member, State senate 1945-1949; chairman of legislative council 1947-1949; secretary to Republican presidential candidate Alfred M. Landon in 1936; trustee of Hastings College and University of Nebraska Foundation; appointed on December 10, 1951, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Kenneth S. Wherry and served from December 10, 1951, to November 4, 1952; was not a candidate for election to the vacancy; Assistant Secretary of Defense 1953-1955; administrative assistant to President Dwight Eisenhower from February to June 1955, then made deputy assistant, in which capacity he served until May 1956; Secretary of the Interior 1956-1961; resumed the publishing business; died in Minneapolis, Minn., January 16, 1974; interment in Parkview Cemetery, Hastings, Nebr.
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Medal History
