Editing Ted Stevens (section)

===U.S. Attorney===
==== 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"/>

==== Career as U.S. Attorney ====
Stevens soon gained a reputation as an active prosecutor who vigorously prosecuted violations of both federal and territorial liquor, drug, and prostitution laws,<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> characterized by Fairbanks area [[homesteader]] [[Niilo Koponen]] (who later served in the Alaska State House of Representatives from 1982 to 1991) as "this rough tough shorty of a district attorney who was going to crush crime".<ref name="Mitchell 2001"/>{{rp|225}} Stevens sometimes accompanied [[United States Marshals Service|U.S. Marshals]] on raids. As recounted years later by Justice [[Jay Rabinowitz (jurist)|Jay Rabinowitz]], "U.S. marshals went in with [[Tommy gun]]s and Ted led the charge, smoking a stogie and with six guns on his hips."<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> However, Stevens himself said the colorful stories spread about him as a pistol-packing D.A. were greatly exaggerated, and recalled only one incident when he carried a gun: on a vice raid to the town of [[Big Delta, Alaska|Big Delta]] about {{convert|75|mi|km|0}} southeast of Fairbanks, he carried a holstered gun on a marshal's suggestion.<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/>

Stevens also became known for his explosive temper, which was focused particularly on a criminal defense lawyer named [[Warren A. Taylor]]<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> who would later go on to become the [[Alaska Legislature]]'s first Speaker of the House in the [[1st Alaska State Legislature|First Alaska State Legislature]].<ref name="vot-taylor">[[Anchorage Times|Voice of the Times]]. (December 31, 2004). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110609200734/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AS&p_theme=as&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=allfields(%22Warren%20A.%20Taylor%22)%20AND%20section(all)%20AND%20date(2004)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=2004&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(%22Warren%20A.%20Taylor%22)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=_rank_:D&xcal_ranksort=4&xcal_useweights=yes "Test your legislative knowledge."] ''Anchorage Daily News''. Retrieved June 7, 2007.</ref> "Ted would get red in the face, blow up and stalk out of the courtroom", a former court clerk later recalled of Stevens's relationship with Taylor.<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/> Later on, a former colleague of Stevens would "cringe at remembering hearing Stevens through the wall of their Anchorage law office berating clients." Stevens's wife, Ann, would make her husband read self-help books to try and calm him down, although this effort was to no avail. As one observer remembered: "He would lose his temper about the dumbest things. Even when you would agree with him, he got mad at you for agreeing with him."<ref name="leader" />

In 1956, in a trial which received national headlines, Stevens prosecuted Jack Marler; a former [[Internal Revenue Service]] agent who had been indicted for failing to file tax returns. Marler's first trial, which was handled by a different prosecutor, had ended in a deadlocked jury and a [[mistrial (law)|mistrial]]. For the second trial, Stevens was up against [[Edgar Paul Boyko]], a flamboyant [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] attorney who built his defense of Marler on the theory of [[no taxation without representation]], citing the [[Alaska Territory|Territory of Alaska]]'s lack of representation in the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]]. As recalled by Boyko, his closing argument to the jury was a rabble-rousing appeal for the jury to "strike a blow for Alaskan freedom", claiming that "this case was the jury's chance to move Alaska toward statehood." Boyko remembered that "Ted had done a hell of a job in the case", but Boyko's tactics paid off, and Marler was acquitted on April 3, 1956. Following the acquittal, Stevens issued a statement saying, "I don't believe the jury's verdict is an expression of resistance to taxes or law enforcement or the start of a [[Boston Tea Party]]." Stevens then followed "I do believe, however, that the decision will be a blow to the hopes for Alaska statehood."<ref name="whitney-roadnorth"/>