( William Henry Seward 1801–72)
the US Secretary of State who persuaded the government to buy Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million. It became known as Seward’s Folly because many people thought it was foolish to pay so much for such an empty, frozen region. Seward was Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln (1861–5) and survived a murder attempt when Lincoln was killed. He then became Secretary of State under Andrew Jackson (1865–9). A town in Alaska is named after him.