John Rustgard
{{Short description|American politician from Alaska (1863–1950)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = John Rustgard
| image = File:John Rustgard.jpg
| office = 3rd Attorney General of the Alaska Territory
| term_start = 1920
| term_end = 1933
| predecessor = Jeremiah C. Murphy
| successor = James S. Truitt
| governor = Thomas Riggs Jr.
Scott Cordelle Bone
George Alexander Parks
| office1 = Mayor of Nome
| term_start1 = 27 April 1902
| term_end1 = 23 May 1904
| predecessor1 = W. H. Bard
| successor1 = H. P. King
| office2 = Nome City Attorney
| term_start2 = 1900
| term_end2 = 1909
| predecessor2 =
| successor2 =
| office3 = U.S. District Attorney in the First Judicial Division
| term_start3 = 1910
| term_end3 = 1914
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1863
| birth_place = Beitstad, Norway
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1950|2|12|1863||}}}}
| death_place = Babson Park, Florida, U.S.
| party = Republican
| children =
| education = University of Minnesota
}}
John Rustgard (21 October 1863 – 12 February 1950) was a Norwegian-American lawyer and politician who served as the 3rd Attorney General of the Alaska Territory as a member of the Republican party from 1920 to 1933. He remains the longest serving attorney general of Alaska to date.The Pathfinder of Alaska, November 1920 issue, p. 24{{cite web |url=https://law.alaska.gov/DEPARTMENT/ag_past.html |title=ATTORNEYS GENERAL OF ALASKA |publisher=alaska.gov |date= |access-date=11 July 2023}}
Early life
John Rustgard was born in Beitstad, Norway in 1863. He left Norway as a cabin boy on a clipper ship, and ended up settling in Minnesota. Rustgard attended school in Red Wing, Minnesota and earned a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1890. Afterward, Rustgard worked in Minneapolis as a schoolteacher from 1890 to 1892 before practicing law from 1892 to 1900. He married Alice Jane Adeane in 1902 and stayed with her until her death in 1924 before remarrying with Josephine Michaelson.
Political career
John Rustgard moved to Nome, Alaska in 1900, where he practiced law and became the City attorney for Nome for two terms until 1908. He also served a single term as Mayor of Nome from 1902 to 1904. Rustgard moved to Juneau in 1908 and served as the U.S. District Attorney in the First Judicial Division from 1910 to 1914 before returning to practice private law. In 1920, Rustgard was elected as the 3rd Attorney General of the Alaska Territory, a position to which he would get re-elected twice and serve until 1933 under three different Governors. Rustgard also ran in the Republican Primary for the office of Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Alaska Territory's at-large district, but lost to James Wickersham. During his time in Alaska, Rustgard also became a miner on the Seward Peninsula.{{cite web |url=https://alaskaweb.org |title=John Rustgard |publisher=alaskaweb.org |date= |access-date=11 July 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/collections/specialcollections/hmc-0955/ |title=Guide to the John Rustgard telegram 1912 |publisher=archives.consortiumlibrary.org |date=12 February 1912 |access-date=11 July 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://alaskabar.org/wp-content/uploads/Stephen-Haycox-The-law-of-the-land.pdf |title=The law of the land |publisher=alaskabar.org |date=1998 |access-date=11 July 2023}}
Later life and death
Following the end of his term as state Attorney General in 1933, Rustgard spent 18 months in Europe before retiring to Babson Park, Florida in 1936. Rustgard wrote a number of books, including: The problem of poverty (1936), Sharing the wealth (1937) and The bankruptcy of liberalism (1942). He also spent a great amount of time on the subject of sociology. Rustgard died at his home, Villa Sorgenfri, in Babson Park, Florida on 12 February 1950, he lies buried at Oaklawn Cemetery in Winter Haven, Florida.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/02/14/archives/john-rustgard-86-lawyer-scholar-onetime-attorney-general-of-alaska.html |title=JOHN RUSTGARD, 86, LAWYER, SCHOLAR; One-Time Attorney General of Alaska Who Wrote Books on Sociology Is Dead |work=The New York Times |date=14 February 1950 |access-date=11 July 2023}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=W. H. Bard}}
{{s-ttl|title=Mayor of Nome|years=1902-1904}}
{{s-aft|after=H. P. King}}
{{s-bef|before=Jeremiah C. Murphy}}
{{s-ttl|title=Attorney General of the Alaska Territory|years=1920-1933}}
{{s-aft|after=James S. Truitt}}
{{s-end}}
{{Alaska Attorneys General}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rustgard, John}}
Category:19th-century American lawyers
Category:20th-century American lawyers
Category:20th-century mayors of places in Alaska
Category:Alaska attorneys general
Category:American gold prospectors
Category:Lawyers from Minneapolis
Category:Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature
Category:United States attorneys for the District of Alaska
Category:Norwegian emigrants to the United States
Category:University of Minnesota alumni