Sew ‧ ard, William Henry /ˈsjuːəd $ -ərd/ BrE AmE
(1801–72) a US politician in the ↑ Republican Party who was ↑ Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. He helped to arrange the deal in which the US bought Alaska from Russia in 1867. At the time, many people thought Alaska was a bad piece of land to buy, and they called it ‘Seward’s Folly’.