Fred A. Seaton

Frederick Andrew "Fred" Seaton (December 11, 1909 – January 16, 1974) was an American newspaperman and politician. He represented Nebraska in the U.S. Senate and served as United States Secretary of the Interior during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.

Seaton was born in Washington, D.C. on December 11, 1909, the son of Dorothea Elizabeth (née Schmidt) and Fay Noble Seaton. He attended the Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas. He graduated from Kansas State University in 1931, and married Gladys Hope Dowd (November 5, 1910–January 5, 1999) in the same year. They had four children: Donald Richard, Alfred Noble, Johanna Christine, and Monica Margaret Seaton. In 1937, Seaton moved to Hastings, Nebraska, where he was for many years the publisher of the Hastings Tribune.

Seaton was active in Republican politics. He served in the unicameral Nebraska Legislature from 1945 to 1949. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate on December 10, 1951, by the Nebraska Governor Val Peterson to fill the vacancy created by the death of Kenneth S. Wherry. A Rockefeller Republican, Seaton was senator for less than a year; he had to vacate the post on November 4, 1952, with the election of Dwight Griswold.

Seaton served in various White House and subcabinet posts in Eisenhower's administration before he was appointed the Secretary of the Interior. He served that in office from June 8, 1956 until January 20, 1961. During his tenure, Alaska and Hawaii became the 49th and 50th states admitted to the Union. He ran for governor of Nebraska in 1962 but was defeated by the incumbent Democrat Frank B. Morrison (Olson, p. 335). Following his defeat, Seaton became a strong advocate for campaign finance reform in Nebraska.

Seaton died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 16, 1974, and is interred in Parkview Cemetery in Hastings, Nebraska.