Secretary of State Seward negotiated the purchase. Andrew Johnson was the president when it was made.
President Johnson. Alaska was known as Seward's Folly because Seward was Johnson's Secretary of State that negotiated the purchase for the United States.
Secretary of State Seward under the Andrew Johnson administration purchased it from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. This purchase was deemed "Seward's Folly."
Andrew Johnson's secretary of state was William H. Seward. Seward served as secretary of state under both Johnson's predecessor, Abraham Lincoln, as well as during Johnson's presidency from 1865 to 1869.
William H. Seward
He was William Seward, a holdover from Lincoln's cabinet.
He served as secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson.
William H. Seward, Andrew Johnson's Secretary of State, urged the purchase of Alaska. Its successful acquisition at the cost of $7,200,000 was the highlight of his tenure. The purchase, however, was not popular with the American people who viewed it mockingly as "Seward's Folly."
Vice President Andrew Johnson was an assassination target. Also targeted was Secretary of State William Seward. VP Johnson escaped his assassin by not being present at the expected time. Seward was knife- wounded but survived.
Andrew Johnson was from Tennessee.
The United States of America purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30th, 1867. The land was sold for approximately 2 cents per acre. The purchase was negotiated and carried out by William Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State (first under Lincoln, then under Andrew Johnson). Critics of the move ridiculed it as "Seward's Folly" and "Seward's Icebox".
Johnson