Editing Ted Stevens (section)

==== Nomination ====
Stevens had been with Collins & Clasby for six months when Robert J. McNealy, a Democrat appointed as [[United States Attorney|U.S. Attorney]] for Fairbanks during the Truman administration,<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> informed U.S. District Judge Harry Pratt he would be resigning effective August 15, 1953,<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|224}} having already delayed his resignation by several months at the request of [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] officials newly appointed by Eisenhower. The latter had asked McNealy to delay his resignation until Eisenhower could appoint a replacement.<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|223}} Despite Stevens's short tenure as an Alaska resident and his relative lack of trial or [[criminal law]] experience, Pratt asked Stevens to serve in the position until Eisenhower acted.<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|224}} Stevens agreed. "I said, 'Sure, I'd like to do that,'" Stevens recalled years later. "Clasby said to me, 'It's not going to pay you as much money', but, 'if you want to do it, that's your business.' He was very pissed that I decided to go."<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> Most members of the Fairbanks Bar Association voiced their disapproval of the appointment of a newcomer, and members in attendance at the association's meeting that December voted to instead support Carl Messenger for the permanent appointment, an endorsement seconded by the Alaska Republican Party Committee for the Fairbanks-area judicial division.<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|224}} However, Stevens was favored by Attorney General [[Herbert Brownell Jr.|Herbert Brownell]], Senator [[William F. Knowland]] of California, and the [[Republican National Committee]],<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|224}} (Alaska itself had no Senators at this time, as it was still a [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|territory]]). Eisenhower sent Stevens's nomination to the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] on February 25, 1954,<ref name="biog"/><ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|225}} and the Senate confirmed him on March 30.<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/>