title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: "The Face of the Enemy" centres around the Delgado-era Master, but includes a cameo by a Koschei from an alternate timeline (specifically, the timeline the Third Doctor visited in "Inferno") who never became the Master. This version of Koschei is still a loyal Time Lord who becomes stranded on the alternate Earth after that universe's version of "The Web of Fear" destroyed his TARDIS. He is subsequently captured and forced to work for the fascist rulers, who keep him alive, in agony, using life support systems. When the Master, crossing over from the other universe, learns of this, he ends his counterpart's life in a rare moment of compassion.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: "Last of the Gaderene" by Mark Gatiss and "Deadly Reunion" by Terrance Dicks and Barry Letts are both close homages to the Delgado/Pertwee stories. In "Last of the Gaderene", the Master, disguised as Police Inspector Lemaitre, assists an alien race called the Gaderene to invade Earth, starting with a small village. In "Deadly Reunion", he attempts to control powerful forces through a cult, but finds himself at the mercy of a godlike alien. The Delgado Master also appears in "Verdigris" by Paul Magrs, a more parodic take on the Pertwee era. The eponymous genie spends much of the novel impersonating the Master, who is in fact controlling him: the real Master appears in the novel's epilogue, buying a Chinese takeaway.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The reason the Master is so emaciated when he appears in "The Deadly Assassin" is explored in John Peel's novel "Legacy of the Daleks", in which he attempts to capture the Doctor's granddaughter Susan Foreman, resulting in an out-of-sequence encounter with the Eighth Doctor when the Doctor receives a telepathic cry of distress from Susan and attempts to trace it back to before its origin. The Master is badly burned when she attacks him in self-defence and takes possession of his TARDIS. After Susan escapes, the dying Master is eventually found by Chancellor Goth on the planet Tersurus, which leads directly into the events of "The Deadly Assassin".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Ainley-era Master appears in the novel "The Quantum Archangel" by Craig Hinton, a direct sequel to "The Time Monster". In this novel, he poses as a Serbian businessman called Gospodar- prompting the Sixth Doctor to wonder if he's "running out of languages"- while attempting to subvert the power of the higher dimensions to turn himself into a god. However, it to be revealed that this plan was actually the result of the machinations of the Chronovore/Eternal hybrid Kronos trying to trick the Master into punishing the Chronovores for his lifetime of imprisonment, with one of the Master's pawns being transformed into the titular Quantum Archangel when she absorbs the higher-dimensional energy as the Master tests his equipment. As the novel concludes, the Master briefly regresses to his crippled and burned form while the Doctor absorbs more of the excess energy to delay the Quantum Archangel on her level, but the story ends with the Master having restored himself to physical health with a boost of the last dregs of higher-dimensional power (although he is apparently subsequently attacked by a group of chronovores).


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: "First Frontier" shows the Master (apparently the Ainley version) finally acquiring a new body, who according to McIntee is based on the cinema persona of Basil Rathbone, using nanites provided by the alien race known as the Tzun in exchange for his help in setting up their 'invasion' of Earth. This incarnation reappears in "Happy Endings" by Paul Cornell, Virgin Publishing's celebratory fiftieth Virgin New Adventures novel, once again trying to restore his ability to regenerate, suggesting that the Tzun nanites failed to sustain him long-term. After the broadcast of the television movie, some fans suggested that this is the incarnation briefly played by Gordon Tipple in the prologue, eventually succumbing once again to the cheetah virus in the first Eighth Doctor novel "The Eight Doctors".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Before the end of the Virgin Missing Adventures series, the Delgado version of the Master appeared in the novel "Who Killed Kennedy", depicting him setting up a complex plan to manipulate a journalist to bother UNIT by convincing him that they are part of a corrupt conspiracy, which, while published by Virgin, was not considered part of the Missing Adventures series.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The short story "Stop The Pigeon" by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker, and the Past Doctor Adventure "Prime Time", by Tucker, are probably set before "First Frontier" and feature the Ainley Master looking for a cure for the Cheetah virus.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Gallifrey and the Time Lords are destroyed in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novel "The Ancestor Cell", but in "The Adventuress of Henrietta Street" a mysterious stranger wearing a rosette appears who could have been the Master, somehow surviving the cataclysm. In Lance Parkin's "The Gallifrey Chronicles", a surviving Time Lord named Marnal appears, and it is implied that he may have been the Master's father, as he mentions being visited by his Time Lord son in the 70s, which matches up with the Delgado Master. In the same novel (and earlier, in "Sometime Never..."), the Doctor talks with a malign entity within the TARDIS' Eye of Harmony, which could have been the Roberts Master, throwing the true identity of the Man with the Rosette into doubt. The entity within the Eye refers to itself as an "echo", thus leaving scope for the real Master to be elsewhere. (In his "Doctor Who" chronology book "AHistory", Parkin suggests that Lawrence Miles intended the Man with the Rosette to be the Master, even if it was not explicitly stated.)


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Another version of the Master appears in "The Infinity Doctors" (also by Parkin), where he is known as the Magistrate and is, once again, the Doctor's friend, although when this takes place in continuity is unclear. Parkin has stated that the novel can fit into continuity and that its incarnation of the Master is based on Richard E. Grant.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: During the Faction Paradox arc that runs through the Eighth Doctor Adventures, a character known as the War King is featured, which is implied to be a future incarnation of the Master. The character is also referenced in "The Book of the War", published by Mad Norwegian Press when the "Faction Paradox" stories spun off into their own continuity. Later Faction Paradox stories confirm the Magistrate is the younger version of the War King, which had been implied in "The Taking of Planet 5".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Alastair Reynolds' novel "Harvest of Time" published in 2013 features the Roger Delgado incarnation, set after his capture at the end of "The Dæmons" and before he escapes from prison in "The Sea Devils". In the course of the novel, the Master is nearly erased from history by an ancient race known as the Sild, who have captured multiple incarnations of the Master to create a complex temporal manipulator by linking the Masters in a neural network, but the Doctor and the Master track the Sild to their origin, allowing the Master to take control of the Sild's network and turn it against them before his other selves rebel against his control, forcing him to allow the other Masters to escape.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The "Doctor Who Magazine" (DWM) 1992 Winter Special comic "Flashback" shows a young Master (here called "Magnus") and Doctor on Gallifrey. The Master plans to use a living entity to harness Arton Energy, only for the Doctor to thwart his plans.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master returns in a new body and guise, that of a street preacher, in the previously mentioned the "DWM" comic strip story "The Fallen", although the Doctor does not recognise him. The Master reveals himself a few stories later, in "The Glorious Dead". The Master had survived the events of the television movie by encountering a cosmic being named Esterath in the time vortex. Esterath controls the Glory, the focal point of the Omniversal spectrum which underlies all existence. The Master's scheme to take control of the Glory fails, and he is banished to parts unknown (see Kroton).


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In "Character Assassin" in "DWM" No. 311, the Delgado Master visits the Land of Fiction and steals part of the technology behind it, wiping out several nineteenth century fictional villains as he goes. He can also be seen in the following comic strips set during the Pertwee era:


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In the IDW publication "Prisoners of Time", a 12-issue series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of "Doctor Who", the Master (drawn based on Ainley's portrayal) plays a major part. He is the villain in No. 6 and No. 7, meeting the Sixth and Seventh Doctors, attempting to trap the Sixth Doctor in an Auton-staffed asylum and encountering the Seventh as he attempts to drain the energy from a pair of higher-dimensional beings. The Ainley Master is revealed to have teamed up with the Ninth Doctor's disgraced ex-companion Adam Mitchell, who is travelling through time kidnapping the Doctor's companions as revenge, the Master having presented himself as another 'victim' of the Doctor rather than the villain he truly is. His role in the plan after Adam abducts Clara Oswald culminates in an out-of-sequence encounter with the Eleventh Doctor, the Doctor observing that it has been a pleasantly long time since he saw this version of the Master. However, when the Eleventh Doctor manages to summon his previous ten selves to Adam's fortress to rescue their companions when Adam threatens to kill them all, the Master reveals that his true plan is to channel his stolen chronal energies through the Doctors' combined TARDISes, thus destroying the Universe. Horrified at the Master's evil scale and encouraged to take action by Rose and the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors, Adam stands up to the Master, sacrificing himself to disable the Master's equipment. The Master escapes, noting that he enjoyed the chance to cause further chaos, but his plan has been thwarted. This is the only story in any medium in which the Ninth and Eleventh Doctors encounter the Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: 2017 sees the return of Delgado's incarnation in "Doorway to Hell", a "Doctor Who Magazine" comic strip printed in DWM #508–511, set after the events of "Frontier in Space" from the Master's perspective. This depicts an out-of-sequence encounter between Delgado's Master and the Twelfth Doctor in the year 1973, with the Master initially assuming that the Twelfth Doctor is the Fourth who regenerated after an explosion in the TARDIS that left the Doctor trapped on Earth in this time, until the Doctor informs his foe that he is from far in the Master's future. At the story's conclusion the critically wounded Master regenerates inside his TARDIS after the Doctor and the human family he has been living with deflects an attack with the "artron energy" the family absorbed while the Doctor's TARDIS was healing in their garden.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Titan Comics published a series of comics which included a Master who was a contemporary of the War Doctor. This Master has the appearance of a young boy. In his final appearance, he regenerated into the Derek Jacobi incarnation seen in "Utopia".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master has made regular appearances in various audio plays produced by Big Finish. Geoffrey Beevers, Derek Jacobi, Michelle Gomez, Eric Roberts, John Simm and Sacha Dhawan have all reprised the role from the television series. While Mark Gatiss, Alex Macqueen, Gina McKee and Milo Parker portray versions of the Master original to Big Finish. Jon Culshaw has performed as the Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley incarnations of the Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master appears in the Big Finish Productions "Dust Breeding", where Geoffrey Beevers reprised the role. The story reveals that at some point after "Survival", the Master's Trakenite body is damaged when he attempts to take control of a psychic weapon trapped in the painting "The Scream", which returns him to his walking corpse state once again. He is presented using the alias Mr Seta, another anagram of Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In "Master", the origin of the Master and the Doctor's enmity is explored. As children, a school bully attempted to drown the Master but was killed by the Doctor in defence. Unable to cope with the guilt and grief, the young Doctor made a deal with Death to take away his pain, inadvertently transferring the memories and guilt of the murder to the Master. In the main plot, the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) has made another deal with Death to remove the Master's memory and let him live in peace for ten years, in exchange for the Master then becoming Death's Champion. Upon learning this, the Master absolves the Doctor of his actions as a child before having his memories restored and becoming Death's servant once again.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: An alternate-universe Master appears in the Big Finish audio play "Sympathy for the Devil", voiced by Mark Gatiss, as part of the "Doctor Who Unbound" series. In this version of events, an alternate Third Doctor — now voiced by David Warner — does not arrive for his exile on Earth until 1997. Without the Doctor's help, UNIT was unable to cope with a series of extraterrestrial disasters, and the political landscape of the planet changed drastically. Stranded on Earth, the Master worked as an advisor to the United Nations. This version of the Master later appears in Big Finish's "" range, opposite Warner's Doctor, when Bernice Summerfield is temporarily pulled into the "Unbound" universe. He later escapes to Benny's universe and is recruited by the Daleks to stop a plan by the War Master that threatens to destroy the universe.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Beevers returned to Big Finish in April 2022 to play another "Unbound" alternate version of the Master, opposite Colin Baker's alternate Doctor known as The Warrior, in the "Doctor Who Unbound" release - "Doctor of War: Genesis".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master was set to appear in the television story "The Hollows of Time", proposed for the show's 23rd season but ultimately never produced. When Big Finish adapted the story for their range, while Colin Baker and Nicola Bryant voiced their original roles as the Sixth Doctor and Peri, rights to the Master could not be obtained (and Anthony Ainley had died), so the role of Professor Stream (originally meant as the Master's alias—another anagram) was played by David Garfield and left ambiguous as to his true identity, the story presented as a semi-flashback with the Doctor and Peri's memories distorted so that they cannot clearly recall certain key details.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master, played by Geoffrey Beevers, returns in the Fourth Doctor audio plays "Trail of the White Worm", "The Oseidon Adventure", "The Evil One", "Requiem for the Rocket Men" and "Death Match". Beevers also appears in the fiftieth anniversary story "The Light at the End", where he attempts to erase the Doctor's travels by using an advanced weapon to erase the TARDIS from existence, and in the Companion Chronicle "Mastermind", which looks at how he stole a new body in the early twentieth century after his essence escaped from the Eighth Doctor's TARDIS, and survived by possessing a series of human hosts until he tricked UNIT into helping him regain access to his TARDIS.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Alex Macqueen plays a new incarnation of the Master – existing after Eric Roberts' incarnation (and the subsequent corpse form played by Beevers) – in the Seventh Doctor release "" pretending to be a future version of the Doctor before his true identity is revealed. He goes on to become a recurring antagonist in the Eighth Doctor's "Dark Eyes" series where it is explained that the Time Lords resurrected the Master to fight in an approaching conflict, implied to be the Time War. The events surrounding the Master's resurrection were depicted in the "Ravenous" series five years later.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Chris Finney plays a character named 'Keith Potter' in the story "The End of the Line" from the audio anthology "", later revealed to be an avatar under the control of the Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master, played again by Geoffrey Beevers, makes a cameo appearance in series 10 of the "Doctor Who" spin-off "Jago & Litefoot", and later featured as the main villain for the eleventh series.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: To mark forty-five years since the Master's first appearance, Big Finish released a trilogy of stories featuring the Geoffrey Beevers and Alex Macqueen incarnations of the Master in 2016. "And You Will Obey Me" features the Beevers Master encountering the Fifth Doctor, while "Vampire of the Mind" pits the Sixth Doctor against Macqueen's Master. In both stories, the two Masters are characterized very differently from their previous appearances. In the final story of the trilogy – "The Two Masters" – it is explained that the two Masters swapped bodies after the Macqueen Master went back in time and caused the event that gave the Beevers Master his emaciated corpse form. This results in a universe-destroying paradox fixed by the Seventh Doctor, returning the two Masters to their rightful bodies and erasing their memories of the events.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In December 2017, Derek Jacobi reprised his role as the Master for "The War Master", an ongoing series of audios set during the Time War, having originally appeared in the 2007 episode "Utopia". The first series ends with the Master using a chameleon arch to turn himself into an infant human, setting up the events of "Utopia". Subsequent series occur earlier in the War Master's life and depict him getting involved with various battles in the Time War, sometimes at the behest of the Time Lords and sometimes for his own ends. Mark Gatiss made a guest appearance as the alternate-universe Master in series four. Paul McGann briefly plays the Master in series five. Jacobi has also appeared as the War Master in several other Big Finish ranges, including "" and the first volume of "".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: James Dreyfus portrays an early incarnation of the Master opposite David Bradley as the First Doctor in "". Dreyfus also appears in the Second Doctor audio "The Home Guard" and the Seventh Doctor audio "The Psychic Circus".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In May 2018, it was announced that the fifth series of "The Diary of River Song" would feature the title character, River Song, encountering four incarnations of the Master. As well as Beevers and Jacobi returning, this release saw Eric Roberts and Michelle Gomez make their Big Finish debuts as their incarnations of the Master. This release explains how the Master (Roberts) was able to escape the Eye of Harmony, stuck in the time vortex until River's intervention enables him to escape back into the universe.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Like Jacobi, Michelle Gomez also performs her incarnation of the Master (renamed Missy) for an ongoing audio series. "Missy" premiered in February 2019 and featured The Monk played by Rufus Hound. The second series introduced a character known as The Lumiat – revealed to be the next incarnation of The Master, the immediate successor to Missy – played by Gina McKee. It is explained that, after her "poetic" death at the hands of her predecessor, Missy used an Elysian field to transfer her consciousness into a duplicate body created from her own dying cells and trigger regeneration. Motivated by her recent attempt at redemption, she edited the duplicate to remove all the negative aspects of her personality and became a benevolent force in the universe, adopting the title Lumiat. Missy encounters the Lumiat trying to undo some of her earlier incarnation's evil deeds. Sickened by her future self, Missy kills the Lumiat with a TCE and abandons her to regenerate, implying the process might cause them to return to evil. In the third volume, Gomez and Hound were joined by Gemma Whelan as the Meddling Nun – another incarnation of the Monk.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Beevers, Jacobi, Roberts, and Gomez appeared in the fourth volume of the Eighth Doctor series "Ravenous" in October 2019. In "Planet of Dust", the Doctor and his companions encounter the Burnt Master (Beevers) on the planet Parrak, where it is explained that he has once again returned to his emaciated corpse form following his time in the body of Bruce (Roberts) before being killed by the Ravenous. In "Day of the Master", the Eighth Doctor encounters the Bruce Master. At the same time, his companions Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair are confronted by the War Master (Jacobi) and Missy (Gomez), respectively. By the end of the story, the War Master, Missy, and the Bruce Master are sent by the Time Lords to the tomb where the Burnt Master is buried, using technology acquired earlier in the story to grant him a new regeneration cycle and, it is implied, turning him into the Alex Macqueen incarnation of the Master. The story also suggests the Bruce Master has his memory wiped and is flung into the time vortex by his future selves, ultimately leading him back to Parrak in his Burnt Master form to preserve the timeline.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: As part of the "Time Lord Victorious" multi-platform storyline, a pair of Short Trips stories introduced the Roger Delgado and Anthony Ainley incarnations of the Master to Big Finish – "Master Thief" by Sophie Iles and "Lesser Evils" by Simon Guerrier were released in October 2020 with Jon Culshaw serving as narrator and voicing both incarnations of the Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In January 2021, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Master's first television appearance, Big Finish released "Masterful", a three-part special written by James Goss uniting every living television and audio incarnation of the Master (other than Sacha Dhawan due to licensing). It saw John Simm reprise his role as the Harold Saxon version of the Master and introduced Milo Parker as a young incarnation of the Master. Beevers, Gatiss, Jacobi, Macqueen, Roberts, and Gomez all reprised their roles. Gina McKee makes a cameo appearance as the Lumiat and Jon Culshaw voices Kamelion impersonating the Ainley Master. In the story, the Saxon Master has killed the Doctor and taken control of the universe using an entropy wave that has destabilized his body and threatens to destroy the universe. He summons his previous selves in an attempt to steal their lives and heal himself. The intervention of Missy, the alternate-universe Master and Jo Grant thwarts Saxon's plans and, after discovering that the entropy wave is a sentient manifestation of the Master from the future – their final incarnation, a being of pure rage and insanity – the War Master kills his other incarnations (including himself) to cause a paradox and return the universe to normal. The special edition release included an original audiobook "Terror of the Master" written by Trevor Baxendale, narrated by Jon Culshaw, featuring the Delgado Master.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Roberts returned as the Master once again in March 2021 for a three-part special release entitled "Master!", featuring Chase Masterson as Vienna Salvatore. Following the events of "Ravenous", the Master is rescued from the vortex by a scientist named Lila Kreeg (Laura Aikman) – whom the Master had manipulated using a psychic link into freeing him – and steals the identity of a business magnate on twenty-third century Earth. Vienna is hired by the Daleks to assassinate the Master but, with Kreeg's help, succeeds only in sending the Master back into the time vortex. Masterson and Roberts returned for a second series - "Nemesis Express" - released in October 2022.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: At Big Finish Day 2022, it was announced that Sacha Dhawan will reprise the role of The Master from the television series for a new audio series - "Call Me Master".


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Eric Saward included Anthony Ainley's incarnation of the Master in his short story, "Birth of a Renegade," in the "Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Special" one-off magazine, published by "Radio Times" (and in the United States by Starlog Press) in 1983.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In "The Feast of the Stone," a short story by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright that follows on from the Scream of the Shalka, the story pivots around the nature of the android version of the Master, his reality as an extension of the reality of the TARDIS, and his relationship with the Doctor.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The Master is seen to escape the Eye of Harmony in the short story "Forgotten" by Joseph Lidster, published in "". The story ends with him left in 1906 in possession of a human male's body.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: Martha Jones' year long journey across a Master-controlled planet Earth is detailed in the short story collection "The Story of Martha", which was released on 26 December 2008.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In the "Doctor Who" short eBook "The Spear of Destiny" by Marcus Sedgwick, featuring the Third Doctor, the Master disguises himself as a Viking called Frey (Old Norse for Master) and tries to take the Spear of Destiny.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: In 2003, an android version of the character (resembling the Delgado version of the Master and voiced by Derek Jacobi) appeared in the animated webcast "Scream of the Shalka". This version of the Master exists as a companion to the Doctor, albeit a slightly sinister one. Exactly why the Doctor created an android duplicate of the Master is not stated, but it is revealed the Master was faced with the choice of permanent death or one last chance at life on a leash to make amends for the harm he had caused over the years. Able to pilot the Doctor's TARDIS but physically unable to leave the ship, this version's Master may have has some psychic abilities but if so they are far weaker than those he once possessed.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: To promote the audio series "Master!", Eric Roberts reprised the role of the Master onscreen for the first time since 1996 in a series of video prequels posted to social media by Big Finish Productions; starting with a Halloween-themed video in November 2020 and subsequent Christmas and Valentine's Day messages. In the final message, the Master is heard calling out to "Lila," a character from the audio series that the Master manipulates into granting his freedom from the vortex.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The "Doctor Who" role-playing game published by FASA in 1985 has two modules outlining the Master's personal history, a timeline of his activities, and an inventory of much of the equipment he has obtained during his travels. Most notably, the modules identify the Meddling Monk as an alias the Master has used in his early attempts to alter the history of Earth.


title: The Master (Doctor Who)

text: The actors who have played the role of the Master in the series and the dates of their first and last televised appearances in the role are:


title: Don Young

text: Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from the state of Alaska. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving Republican in congressional history, having been the U.S. representative for for 49 years, from 1973 until his death in 2022.


title: Don Young

text: Born and raised in California, Young moved to Alaska in 1959 after a stint in the U.S. Army. He worked various careers, including sailing and teaching, in the small city of Fort Yukon, where he was elected mayor in 1964. He entered state politics two years later, when he won a seat in the Alaska House of Representatives, and advanced to the Alaska Senate in 1970. In 1972, he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives against incumbent Democrat Nick Begich. Weeks before the election, Begich disappeared and was presumed dead in a plane crash, though he still posthumously won the vote. Young ran in a special election to fill the vacant post the following year, defeating Democrat Emil Notti. He was reelected to the seat 24 times.


title: Don Young

text: In Congress, Young chaired the House Resources Committee from 1995 to 2001 and the House Transportation Committee from 2001 to 2007. The Associated Press said that he was known for his "brusque" and "off-color" demeanor, and "The New York Times" described him as having "cultivated the image of a rugged frontiersman"; his prominent personality, long tenure, and position as his state's sole House member led to him occasionally being dubbed "Alaska's third senator".


title: Don Young

text: Young became the 45th dean of the United States House of Representatives in December 2017, after John Conyers resigned. He was the last serving member of Congress who was first elected during the Nixon administration.


title: Don Young

text: Donald Edwin Young was born on June 9, 1933, in Meridian, Sutter County, California, the second of three sons of Russell Lawhead "Cy" Young Sr. and Arlene Marcella Bucy. He earned an associate's degree in education from Yuba College in 1952 and a bachelor's degree from Chico State College in 1958. He served in the Army from 1955 to 1957.


title: Don Young

text: Young moved to Alaska in 1959, not long after it became a state. He eventually settled in Fort Yukon, then a city of 700 on the Yukon River, seven miles above the Arctic Circle in Alaska's central interior region. He made a living in construction, fishing, trapping, and gold mining. He captained a tugboat and ran a barge operation to deliver products and supplies to villages along the Yukon River. At the time of his death, Young still held his mariner's license. During winters, he taught fifth grade at the local Bureau of Indian Affairs elementary school.


title: Don Young

text: Young's political career began in 1964, when he was elected mayor of Fort Yukon, serving until 1968. He ran for the Alaska House of Representatives in 1964, but finished tenth, with the top seven candidates being elected for the multi-member district. He was elected to the State House in 1966 and reelected in 1968. Young served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1967 to 1971. He said he "loved" the job before he "got ambitious" and ran for the Alaska Senate in 1970. He served in the Alaska Senate from 1971 to 1973. He was elected to the two-member District I alongside long-serving Republican State Senator John Butrovich. He said he "hated" the state senate and, after encouragement from his first wife, ran for Congress in 1972.


title: Don Young

text: In 1972, Young ran for Congress against incumbent Democrat Nick Begich. Weeks before the election, Begich and Representative Hale Boggs were in a fatal plane crash, but Begich nevertheless won the election. Begich, whose body was never found, was declared legally dead in December 1972. Young won the resulting special election to fill the seat in March 1973. He was reelected 24 times, usually without significant opposition, although he faced strong challenges in the 2008 primary election and in the 1974, 1990, and 1992 elections. He won his 2016 primary with over 70% of the vote and defeated Democrat Steve Lindbeck and Libertarian Jim McDermott in the general election with 50% of the vote to win his 23rd term in office. He won again in 2018, against candidate Alyse Galvin, whose party was undeclared, with 52.6% of the vote.


title: Don Young

text: Young was the most senior U.S. Representative and, after Jim Sensenbrenner retired, the last member who has been in office since the 1970s. He was the second-highest-ranking Republican on the Natural Resources and Transportation and Infrastructure committees. He chaired the former from 1995 to 2001 and the latter from 2001 to 2007. Young was the subject of an extensive FBI investigation but was not charged with wrongdoing. He was subsequently the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe.


title: Don Young

text: Democratic State Senator Nick Begich was elected to the House of Representatives in 1970 to succeed Republican Howard Wallace Pollock, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor of Alaska. Young ran against Begich in 1972 and placed second in the August 22 open primary with 13,958 votes (25.60%) to Begich's 37,873 (69.45%). Begich disappeared in a plane crash on October 16, 1972 (along with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs of Louisiana), 22 days before the general election. Begich won the general election with 53,651 votes (56.24%) to Young's 41,750 (43.76%) but was declared dead on December 29.


title: Don Young

text: Young ran in the special election on March 6, 1973, and defeated Democrat Emil Notti, 35,044 votes (51.41%) to 33,123 (48.59%). He won a full term in 1974 with 51,641 votes (53.84%) to Democratic State Senator Willie Hensley's 44,280 (46.16%). He was sworn into the House of Representatives on March 14, 1973. He credited his victory to his leadership of the fight for the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System.


title: Don Young

text: Young was reelected with at least 55% of the vote in each of the next seven elections. He defeated former State Senator Eben Hopson with 71% of the vote in 1976, State Senator Patrick Rodey with 55.4% of the vote in 1978, Kevin "Pat" Parnell with 73.8% of the vote in 1980, and Dave Carlson with 70.8% of the vote in 1982.


title: Don Young

text: In 1984 and 1986, Young defeated Nick Begich's widow, Pegge Begich, 113,582 votes (55.02%) to 86,052 (41.68%), and 101,799 votes (56.47%) to 74,053 (41.08%), respectively. He defeated Peter Gruenstein with 62.5% of the vote in 1988 and then faced John Devens, the mayor of Valdez, in 1990 and 1992. Young defeated him by 99,003 votes (51.66%) to 91,677 (47.84%) in 1990 and then faced a serious challenge in 1992. He was challenged in the Republican primary by State Senator Virginia M. Collins and defeated her by 24,869 votes (52.98%) to 19,774 (42.12%). In the general election, he defeated Devens, 111,849 votes (46.78%) to 102,378 (42.82%). This was both the lowest winning percentage of his career and the only time he won without a majority of the vote.


title: Don Young

text: Young defeated former Alaska Commissioner of Economic Development and 1992 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Tony Smith with 56.92% of the vote in 1994, State Senator Georgianna Lincoln with 59.41% of the vote in 1996, and State Senator and former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives Jim Duncan with 62.55% of the vote in 1998. He defeated attorney Clifford Mark Greene with 69.56% of the vote in 2000 and with 74.66% of the vote in 2002, the largest winning percentage of his career. He received 213,216 votes (71.34%) against Thomas Higgins in 2004, the most votes he ever received in a single election. In 2006, he defeated writer, dramatist, and video production consultant Diane E. Benson with 56.57% of the vote.


title: Don Young

text: Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell announced his candidacy in the August 26 Republican primary. Parnell was strongly supported by Governor Sarah Palin and the Club for Growth. Young was endorsed by Mike Huckabee's political action committee, Huck PAC, in June.


title: Don Young

text: Young won by 304 votes (0.28%), and Parnell declined to seek a recount. Before the announcement of the unofficial results, both candidates had said that they would request a recount if they lost. The state of Alaska pays the costs of recounts when the difference is within a half percent, as it was in this primary election.


title: Don Young

text: Young faced a challenge from Democrat Ethan Berkowitz, the 46-year-old former minority leader in the Alaska House of Representatives. Don Wright, the Alaskan Independence Party nominee, also challenged Young. Young was reelected with 50% of the vote to Berkowitz's 45% and Wright's 5%. Berkowitz conceded on November 18.


title: Don Young

text: In 2010, Young ran for a 20th term. He was challenged in the Republican primary by John R. Cox and Sheldon Fisher, a former telecommunications executive, winning with 74,117 votes (70.36%). He defeated Democratic State Representative Harry Crawford in the general election, 175,384 votes (68.96%) to 77,606 (30.51%).


title: Don Young

text: In 2012, Young drew two challengers in the Republican party, but defeated them with 58,789 votes (78.59%). In the general election, he defeated State Representative Sharon Cissna by 185,296 votes (63.94%) to 82,927 (28.62%).


title: Don Young

text: In 2014, Young received 79,393 votes (74.29%) in the Republican primary against three challengers. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Forrest Dunbar, 142,572 votes (50.97%) to 114,602 (40.97%). Young was the only statewide incumbent in Alaska to win reelection that year, as Republican Governor Sean Parnell was defeated by Independent Bill Walker, and Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Begich was defeated by Republican Dan Sullivan.


title: Don Young

text: In 2016, Young received 38,998 votes (71.5%) in the Republican primary against three challengers. In the general election, he won with 50.32% of the vote against Democratic challenger Steve Lindbeck with 36.02% and Libertarian Jim McDermott with 10.31%.


title: Don Young

text: In 2018, Young defeated Alyse Galvin, an Independent candidate who had won the combined Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Libertarian Party and Alaskan Independence Party primary. He received 53.08% of the vote to Galvin's 46.5%.


title: Don Young

text: In 2020, Young ran for a 25th term. He won the Republican primary with 77% of the vote in a three-way race. In the general election, Young again defeated combined-ticket nominee Alyse Galvin with 54.4% of the vote.


title: Don Young

text: At the start of the 116th Congress, Young was the longest-serving current House member. Due to his long tenure in the House and that of former Senator Ted Stevens, Alaska was considered to have had clout in national politics far beyond its small population (it is the 4th smallest, ahead of only North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming). He was often called "Alaska's third senator". On March 5, 2019, he became the longest-serving Republican in congressional history, surpassing Joe Cannon.


title: Don Young

text: After the 1995 Republican takeover of the House, Young chaired the Committee on Natural Resources, which he renamed the Committee on Resources. The name was changed back by Democrats in 2006 and has since been retained by Republican chairs. He chaired the committee until 2001, then chairing the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure from 2001 to 2007.


title: Don Young

text: During a 1994 House debate touching on the question of Alaska Natives' right to sell sex organs of endangered animals as aphrodisiacs, he pulled out an 18-inch penis bone of a walrus, better known as an "oosik", and brandished it like a sword on the House floor at the face of the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.


title: Don Young

text: In March 1998, Young brought a bill to the House floor allowing voters in Puerto Rico to vote on continuing its commonwealth status or becoming either a state or independent. The legislation passed by a single vote.


title: Don Young

text: In the , Young helped secure $941 million for 119 special projects, including a $231 million bridge in Anchorage named Don Young's Way.


title: Don Young

text: In 2007, Young was investigated as a part of the Alaska political corruption probe for his ties to the oil and gas company VECO Corporation. He faced no charges.


title: Don Young

text: In July 2007, Representative Scott Garrett proposed an amendment to strike money in a spending bill for native Alaskan and Hawaiian educational programs. Young defended the funds on the House floor, saying, "You want my money, my money" and "Those who bite me will be bitten back." He also suggested that conservative Republicans such as Garrett lost the Republicans their majority in the 2006 election by challenging spending earmarks, and made several critical remarks about Garrett's state, New Jersey. Garrett did not ask for an official reprimand, but other conservative Republicans took exception to Young's claim that the funds in question were "his" money. Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee gave Garrett a standing ovation later in the day during the group's weekly meeting and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina compared Young's earmarks to "legal theft".


title: Don Young

text: In 2008, the United States Department of Justice investigated Young's role in steering $10 million into a Florida transportation project. In 2010, the investigation concluded with no charges against Young. In 2011, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a lawsuit seeking information on the investigation. Some documents were subsequently released, and a judge ordered the federal government to pay CREW $86,000 in legal fees.


title: Don Young

text: In 2010, when Democrat Charles Rangel of New York was censured for ethical violations, Young and Representative Peter T. King were the only two Republicans voting against censure.


title: Don Young

text: In 2012, Young endorsed then-Representative Mazie Hirono in the Democratic primary for the United States Senate.


title: Don Young

text: In March 2013, the House Ethics Committee created a special committee to investigate allegations that Young had improperly accepted gifts, used campaign funds for personal expenses, failed to report gifts in financial disclosure documents, and made false statements to federal officials. Young said, "it will go forever. I've been under a cloud all my life. I'm sort of like living in Juneau. It rains on you all the time. You don't even notice it." In 2014, the committee rebuked Young after finding he had failed to disclose gifts totaling over $60,000 between 2001 and 2013.


title: Don Young

text: In March 2013, Young used the ethnic slur "wetbacks" during a radio interview to describe Latino migrants who worked at his father's ranch when he was growing up. He issued a statement later that day saying that he "meant no disrespect" and that he "used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central California". Young later formally apologized for his remarks, saying, "I apologize for the insensitive term" and that "it was a poor choice of words."


title: Don Young

text: In May 2016, Young wrote a letter to the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives stating that for 25 years he had failed to disclose his inherited interest in a family farm in California on which he and other family members had signed oil and gas leases; Young said the omissions to his financial reporting were accidental.


title: Don Young

text: On May 4, 2017, though he had indicated two months earlier that he would oppose repeal of the Affordable Care Act, he voted for its repeal. Governor Bill Walker said Alaska "would be the most negatively affected if the proposed legislation is signed into law as is. Alaskans already pay the highest health care premiums in the country." U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski opposed the removal of the provision in the act that eliminated discrimination against those with preexisting conditions, saying it was not "what Alaskans are telling me they think is an acceptable response." It was estimated that annual policy costs for coverage under the state's exchange would rise by $12,599.


title: Don Young

text: In 2017, former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner told "Politico" that Young had once pinned him against a wall inside the House and held a 10-inch knife to his throat.


title: Don Young

text: In September 2017, during a House floor debate on an amendment to the 2018 government spending package for wildlife management and national preserves in Alaska, Young made critical comments about Representative Pramila Jayapal, including calling the 51-year old Jayapal "young lady" and saying that she "doesn't know a damn thing what she's talking about" and that her speech on the amendment "was really nonsense. It was written by an interest group". The exchange led to a temporary suspension of proceedings: upon their resumption, Young acknowledged in an address to the floor that his comments were "out of order" and apologized to Jayapal; she accepted.


title: Don Young

text: Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy rated Young among the most bipartisan members of Congress for the 115th and 116th Congresses.


title: Don Young

text: On May 19, 2021, Young introduced H.R.3361, the United States Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs Act of 2021, which would create a presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs who would represent the U.S. in matters relating to the Arctic before international bodies of which the U.S. is a member, foreign nations, and multilateral negotiations. No votes have been held on the bill. On November 5, 2021, Young was among the 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Former president Donald J. Trump castigated the 13 House Republicans who voted for the bill.


title: Don Young

text: Young believed that abortion should be legal only when the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape or when a woman's life is endangered by her pregnancy. Young's views on abortion were largely anti-abortion during his congressional career: he voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act while making exception for maternal endangerment and favored stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood. On the other hand, Young did not oppose using embryonic stem cells in scientific research.


title: Don Young

text: When then-U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order that rolled back Obama-era restrictions on Arctic oil drilling, Young commended Trump for "recognizing the importance of development in the Arctic OCS".


title: Don Young

text: The Arctic Refuge drilling controversy repeatedly brought Young into the national spotlight. He was a longstanding supporter of opening lands within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. He included provisions to that effect in 12 bills that have passed the House, but environmentalists concerned with the impact of road-building, pipelines and other development on the Arctic tundra landscape have successfully defeated such legislation in the Senate.


title: Don Young

text: On November 18, 2011, Young got into an argument during a Congressional hearing with Douglas Brinkley, a historian who teaches at Rice University in Texas, over the idea of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Young was not present for Brinkley's testimony, but still responded to it. He said his absence during Brinkley's testimony was attributable to a pre-scheduled vote on the House floor. Young called Brinkley's argument "garbage" and addressed Brinkley as "Mr. Rice". Brinkley responded with "ad hominem" remarks about Young's education, saying, "I know you went to Yuba College and couldn't graduate." Young's reaction, "I'll say anything I want to say! You just be quiet!", met with Brinkley's refusal and response that Young "didn't own [him]", saying that as a taxpayer, he paid Young's salary. The two continued arguing intermittently throughout the hearing, with the committee chair ultimately threatening Brinkley with removal.


title: Don Young

text: Young questioned public funding of the arts, but in his later years supported legislation increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).


title: Don Young

text: At an assembly at Fairbanks' West Valley High School in 1995, Young was answering questions about cutting federal funding for the arts. He said that such funding had "photographs of people doing offensive things", and "things that are absolutely ridiculous." When asked for an example, Young quickly replied "buttfucking", in reference to Robert Mapplethorpe's photographic exhibition "The Perfect Moment". After receiving criticism for the use of that obscenity, Young explained his choice of words by saying he had tried "to educate" teens.


title: Don Young

text: In 2005, Young and Stevens earmarked $223 million for building the Gravina Island Bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, which also contains Ketchikan's airport. The bridge would be used for access by emergency vehicles, as well as passengers. There is a small ferry for cars and passengers that travels the crossing in three to seven minutes and runs every half-hour. Critics assailed this as pork barrel spending at taxpayers' expense and "The New York Times" quoted Keith Ashdown, spokesman for the Taxpayers for Common Sense: "It's a gold-plated bridge to nowhere." "At a time when we have bridges and roads crumbling around the United States, and traffic congestion worse than ever, why build a $200 million project that will serve only a few hundred people?" The Gravina Island Bridge was awarded a Golden Fleece Award by that organization in 2003. After criticism from citizens and others in Congress, lawmakers de-funded the bridge and instead funneled the money to the Alaska Department of Transportation, allowing the governor of Alaska to build the Gravina Island Highway after the Alaska legislature funded the project with the directed monies.


title: Don Young

text: The Knik Arm Bridge was earmarked in the bill connects Anchorage to Point Mackenzie, a lightly populated area in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough that is less than four miles (6 km) across Cook Inlet from downtown Anchorage. Anchorage is accessible from Point Mackenzie only by an route around Knik Arm, much of which was an unimproved road. The demise of this second bridge project has been suggested for years.


title: Don Young

text: Part of the concern about the bridge is that if it were built, it would significantly enhance the value of property in which Young's son-in-law owned an interest. Young was listed as the third-worst congressman by "Rolling Stone", and dubbed "Mr. Pork" due to his involvement in the Gravina Island "Bridge to Nowhere".


title: Don Young

text: Young supported a number of efforts to reform cannabis laws. In 2019 he introduced the Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act. Other legislation Young introduced includes the CARERS Act in 2015 (to reschedule cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act) and the SAFE Banking Act in 2017 (to improve access to banking services for cannabis businesses). In February 2017, Young launched the Congressional Cannabis Caucus with Representatives Earl Blumenauer, Dana Rohrabacher, and Jared Polis. He toured several cannabis facilities in Alaska in October 2019.


title: Don Young

text: In 2020, Young was one of only five House Republicans to vote for the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act. The act aimed to "correct the historical injustices of failed drug policies that have disproportionately impacted communities of color"; it included provisions to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act, impose a federal tax on cannabis products, and use the proceeds of the tax to fund restorative justice programs.


title: Don Young

text: In 2021, Young introduced the Gun Rights and Marijuana (GRAM) Act to allow the ownership of firearms by people who use cannabis in accordance with state law. Also in 2021, Young introduced the Cannabis Reform for Veterans, Small Businesses, and Medical Professionals Act to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and direct federal agencies to develop regulations for cannabis similar to alcohol. Later in 2021 he was one of four original cosponsors of the Republican-led States Reform Act to legalize cannabis federally.


title: Don Young

text: Young voted for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which provided reparations for Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. He attended Reagan's official signing ceremony for the bill. Young also voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which clarified the 1964 civil rights act in response to several controversial U.S. Supreme Court cases.


title: Don Young

text: Young had previously said that he did not believe in anthropogenic climate change and that the idea of global warming is "the biggest scam since the Teapot Dome." Despite these public statements, Young signed a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that recognized the urgency behind combating climate change, writing, "We are confronting multiple and intersecting crises—the COVID-19 pandemic, an economy in turmoil, societal injustice, and, above all, the climate crisis—all of which demand swift and bold action." Young voted for the FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which identifies climate change as a national security threat. In a 2019 op-ed in "The Hill", Young took a conciliatory position on climate change, and called for policy changes that could reduce carbon emissions.


title: Don Young

text: Young voted for the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which included permanent reauthorization of the Land and Water Conservation Fund.


title: Don Young

text: Young supported exempting the Tongass National Forest from the Roadless Rule, saying, "An exemption will not only bring great economic benefit to Alaska but will also help bolster the long-term health of the Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is an invaluable natural resource and it requires active management. Unfortunately, the Roadless Rule has only prevented Alaskans from responsibly utilizing our resources."


title: Don Young

text: Young supported an increase in the federal gasoline tax to keep pace with the continued rise in gasoline efficiency of automobiles.


title: Don Young

text: At a town hall in Palmer, Alaska, on March 13, 2020, Young said of the pandemic, "This is blown out of proportion about how deadly this is." He continued, "It's deadly but it's not nearly as deadly as the other viruses we have ... I call it the hysteria concept", as well calling it the "beer virus" (referencing the similarly-named Corona beer). Young later clarified that he was attempting to urge calm. On March 17, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread rapidly in the U.S., he missed the vote on a $2 trillion bill to deal with pandemic, instead attending a National Rifle Association fundraiser. As public awareness of the pandemic's severity grew, Young walked back his comments. By March 25, in a video message, he said the impact of COVID-19 is "very real, growing", and was reshaping our daily lives. Urging Americans to stay home, he continued, "Weeks ago, I did not truly grasp the severity of this crisis, but clearly we are in the midst of an urgent public health emergency."


title: Don Young

text: On November 6, 2020, Young was photographed maskless at a birthday party for a staff member in an Anchorage restaurant. Numerous well-known political operatives who attended, including former Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, soon tested positive for COVID-19. On November 12, Young was diagnosed with COVID-19. He was admitted to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage that day and released on November 15, writing, "Very frankly, I had not felt this sick in a very long time, and I am grateful to everyone who has kept me in their thoughts and prayers." He confirmed to a "The Washington Post" reporter that "many" of his campaign staff had been infected, as well as his wife, who he said was asymptomatic.


title: Don Young

text: During the 2016 Republican presidential primary, Young originally supported Jeb Bush, and later John Kasich. In April 2016, he said, "I'm not supporting Donald Trump", and when asked about Trump's success in the primaries, said that it was due to "a bunch of idiots following a pied piper over the edge of the cliff" and that he blamed the people who voted for Trump. By December 2016, he was more supportive of Trump's accomplishments and proposed policies.


title: Don Young

text: In September 2019, Young called the investigation and the Trump impeachment inquiry "a waste of time". He voted against the first and second impeachments of Trump.


title: Don Young

text: On November 7, 2020, Young was one of the first Republicans to acknowledge and congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 presidential election. On January 6, 2021, Young affirmed Biden's victory by voting against the objections to counting electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania.


title: Don Young

text: Young was a strong supporter of Biden's nominee for United States Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. He called Haaland, a Democrat, a friend and said it was "a long time overdue" for the U.S. to have a Native American interior secretary. Haaland asked Young to introduce her at her confirmation hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Senator Joe Manchin, a crucial swing vote, cited Young's support of Haaland as a reason for his support.


title: Don Young

text: Young said he believed the Environmental Protection Agency should not regulate greenhouse gases, and that it kills jobs. He said, "Environmentalists are a self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots" who "are not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans." But Young supported omnibus spending bills that maintain current EPA funding levels despite calls from the Trump Administration to cut such funding.


title: Don Young

text: In 2019, Young and Debbie Dingell introduced legislation providing for a long-term reauthorization of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.


title: Don Young

text: Young said he wanted to see a clean repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), but said in March 2017 that he would not vote on an earlier version of the AHCA (a healthcare plan to repeal and revise parts of the ACA) because it would have too negative an impact on health care costs in Alaska.


title: Don Young

text: According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the AHCA would raise health care costs in Alaska more than in any other state, and by 2020, on average Alaskans would receive $10,243 less per year under the AHCA compared to the ACA for the same coverage, almost double the cost increase of any other state (the next being North Carolina with consumers receiving $5,360 less per year). Young said, "Nothing in this new bill addressed the real problems of health care."


title: Don Young

text: The AHCA would also stop the Medicaid expansion Obamacare provided, which gives health coverage to more than 27,000 of Young's constituents, about 3.7% of the Alaska population. For those reasons, Young was a key House member preventing the AHCA from going to a vote. When the AHCA did not pass, Young said it was a "victory for Alaska". But despite those statements, and being officially "undecided" because of the disproportionate impact on Alaskans, Young voted for the AHCA on May 4, 2017, without any significant changes to improving Alaska subsidies.


title: Don Young

text: An organization called Save My Care spent $500,000 to release a series of attack ads against 24 House members who voted for the AHCA, including one about Young that decried his vote, claiming it would raise health care costs for Alaskans.


title: Don Young

text: In 2007, Young voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (E.N.D.A.). In a 2014 debate, he said he would "probably" vote for E.N.D.A.


title: Don Young

text: In 2015, Young was one of 60 Republicans voting to uphold President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive order banning federal contractors from making hiring decisions that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.


title: Don Young

text: In 2015, Young issued a statement saying that while he believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, he recognizes that the law is settled on this issue, and stated that he accepts the Supreme Court decision ruling same-sex marriage bans as unconstitutional.


title: Don Young

text: In 2021, Young was one of 29 Republicans to vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. This bill expanded legal protections for transgender people, and contained provisions allowing transgender women to use women's shelters and serve time in prisons matching their gender identity.


title: Don Young

text: In 2021, Young was one of 33 Republicans to vote for the LGBTQ Business Equal Credit Enforcement and Investment Act.


title: Don Young

text: Young frequently earned the support of organized labor, and in the 116th Congress, voted in support of the pro-union PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to certify unions, augment how employers classify laborers and prevent laborers from being denied rights on the basis of their immigration status.


title: Don Young

text: Young voted to make lynching a federal crime and supported House passage of the First Step Act, which reforms sentencing laws to reduce recidivism and decrease the federal inmate population.


title: Don Young

text: In the aftermath of the 2020 protests related to the murder of George Floyd, Young voted for the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which would remove Confederate names from U.S. military installations.


title: Don Young

text: Young voted for legislation authorizing the creation of a Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys. In 2020, the bill was signed into law. The commission is intended to examine societal disparities that black men and boys face at disproportionately high rates.


title: Don Young

text: In 2021, Young cosponsored and voted for the EQUAL Act, which eliminates the federal sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine.


title: Don Young

text: On August 22, 2020, Young was one of 26 Republicans to vote for a $25 billion relief package for the U.S. Post Office.


title: Don Young

text: When asked about the fact that Alaska has the highest per capita suicide rate in the U.S., Young said that he believed it is at least partially the result of government handouts, and that "this suicide problem didn't exist until we got largesse from the government." He believed Alaska needs to cut public assistance programs.


title: Don Young

text: In response to an increase in suicides among active-duty service members at Fort Wainwright in 2019, Young called on the U.S. Army to investigate the cause of the increased suicide rate.


title: Don Young

text: On October 21, 2014, Young addressed an assembly of students at Wasilla High School shortly after a student there committed suicide. During a question and answer session, he said a lack of support from family and friends had caused the student's suicide. During the assembly, Young also recalled a story about drinking alcohol in Paris, and used profanity several times, officials from the school reported.


title: Don Young

text: When a student criticized Young for his comments on suicide, Young called him an "asshole". Young apologized for these comments on October 24, saying, "I am profoundly and genuinely sorry for the pain it has caused the Alaskan people."


title: Don Young

text: In the 116th Congress, Young helped introduce the BADGES Act to help solve the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. He was one of 33 Republicans to vote to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which included his amendment to help end violence against indigenous women.


title: Don Young

text: Young said he did not believe in conducting town halls (district meetings for officials to meet and speak with constituents in a town hall setting). When he was asked for a face-to-face meeting with his constituents in April 2017, an aide said, "The modern town hall has taken an unfortunate turn as a 'show' for the media and are [sic] unproductive for meaningful dialogue." Young's meetings in Alaska were primarily with elected officials, business groups, service clubs, and gatherings of Republicans. On April 20, 2017, residents started a town hall meeting by themselves, speaking to Young through a video camera with a color photo of Young to represent him.


title: Don Young

text: In Juneau, while speaking to the Alaska Municipal League in 2018, Young asked the crowd, "How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia because their citizens were unarmed." Facing criticism, Young's office insisted that his comments were taken out of context, stating, "He was referencing the fact that when Hitler confiscated firearms from Jewish Germans, those communities were less able to defend themselves. He was not implying that an armed Jewish population would have been able to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust, but his intended message is that disarming citizens can have detrimental consequences."


title: Don Young

text: In 2019, Young was the sole Republican to vote for the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in Customs and Border Protection Custody Act, which set minimum standards for Customs and Border Patrol detention facilities, including requiring health screenings and ensuring that basic needs of detained migrants, such as access to food and water for detainees, are met.


title: Don Young

text: In 1963 Young married Lula Fredson, who worked as a bookkeeper in Fort Yukon. She was a Gwich'in and the youngest child of early-20th-century Gwich'in leader John Fredson. She volunteered her time serving as the manager of Young's Washington, D.C. congressional office. They had two daughters and were members of the Episcopal Church. Lula died on August 1, 2009, at age 67.


title: Don Young

text: On August 17, 2014, Young announced his engagement to Anne Garland Walton, a flight nurse from Fairbanks. They married on June 9, 2015. She was 76 years old at the time.


title: Don Young

text: On March 18, 2022, Young was on a flight from Los Angeles to Seattle while traveling to Alaska. Toward the end of the flight, he lost consciousness, and was declared dead, aged 88, after the plane landed at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport. Also on the flight were his wife Anne Garland Walton and communications director Zack Brown.


title: Don Young

text: Young lay in state in the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall on March 29, 2022, before his memorial service. He was the 43rd person to have this honor since 1852.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by Hirst, Moginie and original bassist Andrew James as Farm: they enlisted Garrett the following year, changed their name in 1976, and hired Rotsey a year later. Peter Gifford served as bass player from 1980 to 1987, with Bones Hillman then assuming the role until his death in 2020. Midnight Oil have sold over 20 million albums worldwide as of 2022.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Midnight Oil issued their self-titled debut album in 1978 and gained a cult following in their homeland despite a lack of mainstream media acceptance. The band achieved greater popularity throughout Australasia with the release of "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" (1982) – which spawned the singles "Power and the Passion" and "US Forces" – and also began to attract an audience in the United States. They achieved their first Australian number one album in 1984 with "Red Sails in the Sunset", and topped their native country's singles chart for six weeks with the EP "Species Deceases" (1985).


title: Midnight Oil

text: The group garnered worldwide attention with 1987 album "Diesel and Dust". Its singles "The Dead Heart" and "Beds Are Burning" illuminated the plight of indigenous Australians, with the latter charting at number one in multiple countries. Midnight Oil had continued global success with "Blue Sky Mining" (1990) and "Earth and Sun and Moon" (1993) – each buoyed by an international hit single in "Blue Sky Mine" and "Truganini", respectively – and remained a formidable album chart presence in Australia until their 2002 disbandment. The group held concerts sporadically during the remainder of the 2000s and announced a full-scale reformation in 2016. The band released their 15th and final studio album, "Resist", on 18 February 2022, and announced an accompanying tour.


title: Midnight Oil

text: The band's music often broaches political subjects, and they have lent their support to multiple causes. They have won eleven ARIA Awards and were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2006. Midnight Oil's legacy has grown since the late 1970s, with the outfit being cited as an influence, and their songs covered, by numerous popular artists. Aside from their studio output, the group are celebrated for their energetic live performances, which showcase the frenetic dancing of Garrett. "Guardian" writer Andrew Street described Midnight Oil as "one of Australia's most beloved bands".


title: Midnight Oil

text: While studying at Australian National University in Canberra, vocalist Peter Garrett answered an advertisement for a spot in Farm, and by 1975 the band had started touring the east coast of Australia. By late 1976 Garrett had moved to Sydney to complete his law degree, and Farm changed its name to "Midnight Oil" by drawing the name out of a hat.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Important to their development was manager Gary Morris, who successfully negotiated favourable contracts with tour promoters and record companies and frustrated rock journalists. Guitarist Martin Rotsey joined in 1977 and Midnight Oil, with Morris, established their own record label, Powderworks, which released their debut eponymous album in November 1978. Their first single "Run by Night" followed in December. Founding bass-guitarist James, forced to leave due to illness in 1980, was replaced by Peter Gifford. Gifford was himself replaced by Bones Hillman in 1987. Through a long and distinguished career, the band became known for its driving hard-rock sound, intense live performances and political activism, particularly in aid of anti-nuclear, environmentalist and indigenous causes.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Aside from chart success, the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in 2001 listed both "Power and the Passion" and "Beds Are Burning" in the Top 30 best Australian songs of all time,


title: Midnight Oil

text: a chart in which Midnight Oil are the only artists to feature twice. In December 2002 Garrett announced that he would seek to further his political career and Midnight Oil disbanded, but they reformed for two warm-up shows in Canberra leading up to their performance, at one of the "Sound Relief" charity concerts, in honour of the victims of the 2009 "Black Saturday" fires in Victoria and floods in Queensland.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In 2010 their album "Diesel and Dust" ranked no. 1 in the book "The 100 Best Australian Albums" by Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In 1971 drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James, and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie were performing together. They adopted the name "Farm" in 1972, and played covers of Cream, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Led Zeppelin songs. They placed an advert for a band member; Peter Garrett (ex-Rock Island Line) became their new vocalist and synthesizer player and began introducing progressive rock elements of Focus, Jethro Tull and Yes, as well as their own material. Garrett was studying at the Australian National University in Canberra, so Farm was only a part-time band. They played for the northern-Sydney surfing community and, by 1975, were touring the east coast. In late 1976 Garrett moved to Sydney to complete his law degree. Farm then became a full-time group and changed its name to "Midnight Oil" by drawing a name out of a hat, leaving behind "Television", "Sparta", and "Southern Cross". The phrase "midnight oil" came from the Jimi Hendrix song "Burning of the Midnight Lamp".


title: Midnight Oil

text: After changing its name to Midnight Oil, the group began to develop an aggressive, punk-hard rock sound for their pub rock audiences. Guitarist Martin Rotsey joined in 1977 and Midnight Oil, with their manager Gary Morris, established their own record label Powderworks. In June 1978 they entered the Alberts Studio in Sydney with producer Keith Walker, from local radio station 2JJ, to record their debut eponymous album, "Midnight Oil", which was released by Powderworks in November 1978 and peaked at No. 43 on the Australian albums charts. Midnight Oil's first single "Run by Night" followed in December, but had very little chart success, peaking at No. 100 on the singles charts. The band built a dedicated fan base, initially restricted to Sydney, which was extended to other Australian cities through constant touring – performing some 200 gigs in their first year. They became known for their furious live performances, which featured the two guitarists Moginie and Rotsey, the drumming and vocals of Hirst and the presence of the towering, bald Garrett as lead singer.


title: Midnight Oil

text: The "Midnight Oil" LP disappointed some critics as it did not capture their powerful live performances, with undemanding playing and Garrett's vocals sounding stilted. Their second album "Head Injuries", released on Powderworks in October 1979, was produced by former Supercharge member Leszek Karski. It mixed solid guitar rock with progressive flourishes and was an improvement by highlighting the group's strengths and growth. It peaked at No. 36 and by mid-1980 had achieved gold status. In April 1980 founding bass guitarist Andrew James left because of ill-health and was replaced by Peter Gifford (ex-Huntress, Ross Ryan Band). Further interest in Midnight Oil was generated by the popular "Bird Noises" EP, also produced by Karski, which peaked at No. 28 on the Australian singles charts. One of its four tracks was the surf-instrumental "Wedding Cake Island" named after the rock outcrop in the ocean off Sydney's Coogee Beach. The band's third LP "Place without a Postcard", released by CBS Records in November 1981, was recorded in Sussex with English producer Glyn Johns (The Rolling Stones, The Who). Creative tensions between the band and Johns plagued the recording and the group were not totally happy with the outcome. Johns had an arrangement with A&M Records and they asked Midnight Oil to return to the studio to record material suitable for an American single release – they refused and returned to Australia. "Place without a Postcard" peaked at No. 12 on the albums charts and related singles "Don't Wanna be the One" and "Armistice Day" reached the Top 40 in Australia.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Driven largely by commercial pressures to stay with reliable chart-toppers and teenage pop sensations, the Australian music industry in the mid-1970s cast a dismissive eye toward most bands with an alternative outlook. Although consistently championed by Sydney alternative rock station Double Jay and its FM band successor Triple J, Midnight Oil was almost totally ignored by Australia's mainstream commercial radio stations in their early career. Manager Morris developed a reputation as one of the toughest managers and became notorious for banning critics or journalists, who were usually given free admission to concerts, for writing unfavourable reviews. Writer and critic Bruce Elder, in a mid-1980s newspaper review described their music as "narrow and xenophobic" and declared Midnight Oil were:


title: Midnight Oil

text: In retaliation, Morris banned Elder from Oils shows permanently. Elder later recanted, describing them as the only Australian band to have developed a truly Australian sound.


title: Midnight Oil

text: The frostiness of Midnight Oil's relationship with the traditional music media quickly saw the band develop a strong "street cred" and a reputation for making no compromises with the music industry. In the early 1980s the band was scheduled to appear on an episode of the all-powerful Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) TV pop show "Countdown" but on the day of the show they were "bumped" from the line-up. "Countdown" required artists to mime their songs during 'live' performances, Midnight Oil and Morris insisted they perform completely live and have their sound engineer supervising – neither side backed down. According to "Countdown" producer Michael Shrimpton, the band had arrived late for rehearsal and, due to the show's very tight schedule and budget, there was a strict policy that latecomers were not allowed to appear; and, as such, they were told they could not perform that day. In response, the group declared that they would never appear on the show, a promise they faithfully kept. "Countdown" presenter Molly Meldrum shaved his head bald, imitating Garrett, for its final show on 19 July 1987 and expressed regret that Midnight Oil had never appeared on the show.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Fans of the group were drawn to the band's "us and them" mindset, and fan loyalty to the Oils' ideas and music was fierce. Two venues at which they built significant fan bases from their early live performances were the Sydney northern beaches pub The Royal Antler at Narrabeen and the Bondi Lifesaver club near Sydney's Bondi Beach. Politically oriented rock of the style produced by the band was something of a new concept for the Australian music scene, and Peter Garrett quickly earned a reputation as one of the most charismatic and outspoken musicians in the country. He recalled that there were dangers in playing the pub scene:


title: Midnight Oil

text: Their Australian breakthrough and first international recognition came in 1982, with the release of "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1", which included the singles "Power and the Passion" and "Read about It". The album peaked at No. 3 and "Power and the Passion" peaked at No. 8. The album also includes their denunciation of American military interference in foreign affairs in "US Forces" and their critique of imperialist repression in "Short Memory". "10 to 1" was recorded in London during September and produced by Englishman Nick Launay, who had previously worked with acts including The Jam, XTC, Peter Gabriel, PiL, Gang of Four and The Birthday Party. Launay worked on several other major Australian recordings in this period including INXS' "The Swing", Models' "The Pleasure of Your Company" and The Church's "Seance".


title: Midnight Oil

text: The album remained in the Australian charts for 171 weeks. It retained their live energy but was more adventurous and radical than previous work. Their ascendancy was signalled by a series of concerts on the release of the album at Sydney's Capitol Theatre, one of which was filmed and recorded and later released on their 2004 "Best of Both Worlds" DVD. The band also played their first shows outside Australia during this time, with the album being released in the US on Columbia Records, where it charted in 1984 on the "Billboard" 200; in the UK it was released on CBS.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Midnight Oil undertook more politically motivated benefit concerts, including organising the Stop The Drop nuclear disarmament concert in 1983, which received a United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Prize. "10 to 1" was followed by "Red Sails in the Sunset" in October 1984, which was recorded in Japan, produced by Launay again. It peaked at No. 1 for four weeks on the Australian charts, and charted on the "Billboard" 200. Singles from the album were released in US and UK but had no chart success. Whilst the album showed an overreliance on technical wizardry, their lyrical stance was positive. The band continued to expand their sound and explore themes of politics, consumerism, militarism, the threat of nuclear war and environmental issues. The album cover by Japanese artist Tsunehisa Kimura featured a photomontage of Sydney – both city and harbour – cratered and devastated after a hypothetical nuclear attack. Live concert footage of "Short Memory" was used in the Australian independent anti-nuclear war movie "One Night Stand". A promotional video for "Best of Both Worlds", later on "Best of Both Worlds", received airplay worldwide on cable music TV station MTV.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Garrett ran as a Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) candidate for a NSW seat in the Australian Senate during the December 1984 federal election, Garrett obtained 9.6% of votes but was unable to obtain the required quota of 12.5%. In April 1985, Garrett, with some 30 other members, walked out of the national conference and resigned from the NDP claiming it had been infiltrated by a Trotskyist group. Although unsuccessful in that federal election, Garrett was now a recognised public figure.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In January 1985, Midnight Oil performed "Oils on the Water", a concert on Goat Island in Sydney Harbour to celebrate Triple J's tenth birthday, before a select audience of fans who had won tickets in a radio competition. The concert was filmed, simulcast on ABC-TV and Triple J, and released on video, which was remastered for their 2004 "Best of Both Worlds" DVD.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In December 1985 the four-track EP "Species Deceases" produced with Francois Kevorkian was released by CBS/Columbia; it peaked at No. 1 on the Australian singles charts for six weeks. "Species Deceases", featuring the track "Hercules", featured a return to their pub rock sound with hard hitting firepower. Midnight Oil spent several months in 1986 on the Blackfella/Whitefella tour of outback Australia with indigenous groups Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland, playing to remote Aboriginal communities and seeing first hand the seriousness of the issues in health and living standards. The tour was criticised by some journalists for being a one-off event instead of a long-term attempt to build bridges between communities. The band was galvanised by the experiences and made them the basis of "Diesel and Dust," released in 1987 and produced by Warne Livesey. The album focused on the need for recognition by white Australia of past injustices involving the Aboriginal nations and the need for Reconciliation in Australia. Peter Gifford left the band before the album's release due to extensive touring schedules, and was replaced by Bones Hillman, formerly of The Swingers.


title: Midnight Oil

text: "Diesel and Dust" peaked at No. 1 on the Australian albums charts for six weeks, No. 21 on the "Billboard 200 charts" in 1988, and No. 19 on the UK albums charts. "Beds Are Burning" was their biggest international hit single, peaking at No. 6 in Australia, and No. 17 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, No. 6 on the UK singles charts. "The Dead Heart" peaked at No. 6 in Australia, and charted on the Hot 100 and in the UK. "Put Down that Weapon" also charted in Australia, while "Dreamworld" charted on "Billboard"'s Mainstream Rock Tracks and at No. 16 on its Modern Rock Tracks.


title: Midnight Oil

text: At the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) 1988 Awards ceremony, Midnight Oil won "Best Cover Art " for "Diesel and Dust" and both "Best Single" and "Best Song" for "Beds Are Burning". A fracas developed between Morris, accepting awards for Midnight Oil, and former "Countdown" compere Ian Meldrum who was presenting: Meldrum objected to Morris making political commentary from the podium.


title: Midnight Oil

text: There were concerns about "Diesel and Dust" and Midnight Oil's attempts to express indigenous issues to white urban audiences – namely, the question "who holds the power to tell whose history?" The lyrics of "The Dead Heart" tell the story of colonisation from an indigenous point of view but some critics felt they reinforced the "primitive" stereotype. Use of the bullroarer was criticised as belonging to sacred rituals and therefore not appropriate for rock songs. "The Dead Heart" had been written in response to a request by organisers of the 1985 ceremony to return control of Uluru to its indigenous caretakers; Midnight Oil had originally resisted, arguing it would be more appropriate for an indigenous band to release the single. However, the organisers insisted, arguing that the band would reach a wider audience within the predominantly Caucasian urban centres. Midnight Oil requested that all royalties from the song go to indigenous communities. In addition, two indigenous groups, Warumpi Band and Gondwanaland, toured with them.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Following the 1988 American tour in support of "Diesel and Dust" with Australian band Yothu Yindi, Midnight Oil launched the "Building Bridges – Australia Has A Black History" album with various artists contributing, including Paul Kelly, Scrap Metal, Coloured Stone, Hunters & Collectors, James Reyne, The Saints, Crowded House, INXS and Yothu Yindi. All sales proceeds were donated to the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations.


title: Midnight Oil

text: During 1989–1993 and 1998–2002 Garrett was the President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, whilst during 1993–1998 he was on the International Board of Greenpeace. In 1990 Midnight Oil played an impromptu lunchtime set in front of Exxon headquarters in New York with a banner reading, "Midnight Oil Makes You Dance, Exxon Oil Makes Us Sick," protesting the Exxon Valdez oil spill the previous year.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In February 1990, "Blue Sky Mining", produced by Livesey, was released by CBS/Columbia. It peaked at No. 1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) albums charts. It stayed at No. 1 for two weeks in Australia and had Top 5 chart success in Sweden, Switzerland and Norway. It peaked at No. 20 on the "Billboard" 200 and No. 28 on the UK charts. The album was more defiant and outspoken; the single "Blue Sky Mine" describes asbestos exposure in the Wittenoom mine tragedy. The single peaked at No. 8 on the ARIA singles charts, top 15 in Norway and Switzerland, No. 47 on "Billboard" Hot 100 and No. 1 on both their Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks charts, and appeared on the UK charts. The second single, "Forgotten Years," was more moderately successful, reaching No. 26 on the ARIA singles chart, No. 97 in the UK, No. 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, and No. 1 on the Modern Rock Tracks.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In Sydney in 1990, while Midnight Oil were taking a break, Hirst joined up with guitarist Andrew Dickson, drummer Dorland Bray of Do-Ré-Mi, guitarist Leszek Karski (Midnight Oil producer) and bass guitarist Rick Grossman of Hoodoo Gurus to form a side project called Ghostwriters. The name refers to the practice of ghostwriting, wherein famous writers contribute under assumed names in order to remain anonymous. Ghostwriters' line-ups – both live and in the studio – changed considerably through the years, with only founders Hirst and Grossman being mainstays. Between successive album releases Hirst and Grossman returned to active involvement with Oils and Gurus respectively. Ghostwriters have released "Ghostwriters" (1991), "Second Skin" (1996), "Fibromoon" (1999) and "Political Animal" (2007).


title: Midnight Oil

text: At the 1991 ARIA Awards ceremony, Midnight Oil won 'Best Group' and an 'Outstanding Achievement Award' and 'Best Cover Artist', 'Best Video' and 'Album of the Year' for "Blue Sky Mining". Morris, accepting awards for Midnight Oil, was criticised for a speech lasting 20 minutes.


title: Midnight Oil

text: "Scream in Blue (Live)," their June 1992 live album produced by Keith Walker, contained material from concerts between 1982–1990, including "Progress" from their Exxon Valdez protest gig. It peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA albums charts; Top 50 in Austria, Sweden and Switzerland; and appeared on the "Billboard" 200.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Midnight Oil's " Earth and Sun and Moon" album, produced with Nick Launay, was released in April 1993 and also drew critical acclaim and international success, peaking at No. 2 on the ARIA albums charts, top 20 in Sweden and Switzerland, Top 50 on "Billboard" 200, and top thirty in the UK albums chart. The single "Truganini" referenced multiple issues, including the 'last' Tasmanian Aboriginal person, the treatment of Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira, the Australian flag debate, and republicanism. Liner notes for the single claimed "Truganini was the sole surviving Tasmanian Aborigine, the last of her race, when she died in 1876." The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, representing over 7000 contemporary Tasmanians, called for the single to be boycotted as it perpetuated a 'white' myth about the extinction of Aboriginal Tasmanians. Their Native Title claims hinged upon establishing links with ancestral lands. Morris responded with, "My suggestion to these people is to stop shooting themselves in the foot and let a band like Midnight Oil voice its appeal to White Australia on behalf of Black Australia".


title: Midnight Oil

text: Critics contended that Morris disparaged Indigenous Australians' ability to represent themselves and overestimated Midnight Oil's ambassadorial powers while diminishing their errors, while some indigenous activists saw benefit in Midnight Oil's highlighting of the issues. Nevertheless, "Truganini" released in March peaked at No. 10 on the ARIA singles charts, No. 10 on "Billboard" Mainstream Rock Tracks and No. 4 on their Modern Rock Tracks charts, and top thirty for the UK charts. Peter Garrett issued an apology for the mistake in the liner notes. The band performed the song along with "My Country" from the album on the American sketch-comedy series "Saturday Night Live" during the 8 May 1993 episode hosted by Christina Applegate.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In 1993, the band also participated in the Another Roadside Attraction tour in Canada and collaborated with The Tragically Hip, Crash Vegas, Hothouse Flowers and Daniel Lanois on the one-off single "Land" to protest forest clearing in British Columbia.


title: Midnight Oil

text: "Breathe" was released in 1996. It was produced by Malcolm Burn and had a loose, raw style with almost a low-key sound. It peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA albums chart, and had Top 40 success in New Zealand and Switzerland. They returned to No. 1 on the ARIA albums charts with the compilation "20,000 Watt R.S.L." in 1997 on Sony Records, which achieved 4×Platinum sales. Later album releases include the electro tinged hard rock "Redneck Wonderland" in 1998, live album "The Real Thing" in 2000 and the more stripped back "Capricornia" in 2002 again renuniting with producer Warne Livesey, all charted into the ARIA Top Ten.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Midnight Oil again brought the politics of Reconciliation to the fore during their performance at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics. Then Prime Minister John Howard had triggered controversy that year with his refusal to embrace symbolic reconciliation and apologise to Indigenous Australians and members of the Stolen Generations. But he had also said their reconciliation-themed single "Beds Are Burning" was his favourite Midnight Oil song. Midnight Oil performed the song at the ceremony with the word SORRY conspicuously printed on their clothes as a form of apology to Indigenous people for their suffering under white settlement and to highlight the issue to Howard, who was in the audience at the Olympic stadium as an estimated one billion people watched on television. Midnight Oil had consulted with tour mates Yothu Yindi and other Indigenous activists, so that their performance would bring popular protest to the world arena.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In 2001, when Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) surveyed 100 music industry people for their Top 10 Best Australian songs of all time, "Beds Are Burning" was voted No. 3 behind The Easybeats' "Friday on My Mind" and Daddy Cool's "Eagle Rock". At the 2001 APRA Awards ceremony "Beds are Burning" was shown on video and introduced by Australian Democrats Senator Aden Ridgeway as an Indigenous spokesperson on Reconciliation. "Power and the Passion" was also listed in APRA's Top 30 best Australian songs.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Garrett announced his decision to quit Midnight Oil on 2 December 2002, to refocus on his political career. In the 1984 federal election, Garrett had stood for the Australian Senate under the Nuclear Disarmament Party banner and narrowly lost. He won the seat of Kingsford Smith at the 2004 General Election for the Australian Labor Party and was selected as Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment, Heritage and the Arts. On Thursday, 29 November 2007, Prime Minister elect Kevin Rudd named Garrett as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. The other members of the band continued to work together but not under the Midnight Oil name, bringing the band's career to a close.


title: Midnight Oil

text: After a warm up gig the previous evening at the Manly-Warringah Leagues Club the band, including Garrett, reunited to perform at the WaveAid concert on 29 January 2005, to raise funds for the victims of the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The concert, which took place at the Sydney Cricket Ground, also included performances by Powderfinger, Silverchair, Nick Cave, John Butler Trio, Finn Brothers and others.


title: Midnight Oil

text: On 29 October 2006 Midnight Oil was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame with ARIA chairman Denis Handlin describing them:


title: Midnight Oil

text: Rob Hirst in his acceptance speech thanked his family, bandmates, and support from fellow Australians. He also lamented the fact that unlike the Vietnam war which had inspired some of the best protest songs ever written, very few had been written in reaction to the invasion of Iraq. "Flat Chat", another compilation album, was released in November and peaked at No. 21 on the ARIA album charts.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Rumours of an appearance by Midnight Oil at the Sydney leg of the Live Earth concert in July 2007 were false. However Ghostwriters, founded by drummer Hirst and Hoodoo Gurus bass guitarist Rick Grossman and including former Oils guitarist Martin Rotsey, performed six tracks including the Oils' song "When the Generals Talk", whilst Peter Garrett gave a speech introducing a reformed Crowded House.


title: Midnight Oil

text: Aside from Ghostwriters, Hirst has also been a member of Backsliders, performed with former Olympian Paul Greene, with fellow Backsliders member Dom Turner on "The Angry Tradesmen" and with Rotsey assisted on Jim Moginie's solo album "Alas Folkloric" in 2006.


title: Midnight Oil

text: On the evenings of 12 & 13 March 2009 a reformed Midnight Oil, with Garrett, played at the Royal Theatre in Canberra. The following day, 14 March they headlined the Sound Relief concert in Melbourne. This event was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) to raise money for victims of Victoria's February bushfire disaster. The event was held simultaneously with a concert at the Sydney Cricket Ground. All proceeds from the Melbourne Concert went to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire relief. Appearing with Midnight Oil in Melbourne were Augie March, Bliss N Eso with Paris Wells, Gabriella Cilmi, Hunters & Collectors, Jack Johnson, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson with Troy Cassar-Daley, Kings of Leon, Liam Finn, Crowded House, Jet, Paul Kelly, Split Enz and Wolfmother.


title: Midnight Oil

text: On 4 May 2016 it was announced on the band's website that Midnight Oil intended to reform and embark on a tour in 2017 (their first concerts in Australia since 2002 and their first world tour since 1997). Such plans were confirmed in February 2017, when the band announced "The Great Circle Tour", which kicked off in April. After three warm up concerts in their native Australia, the band toured Brazil, the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Singapore and New Zealand before going back to play a series of concerts around the whole of Australia. The band performed 77 concerts in 16 countries during the tour.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In March 2018, the band announced the release of a new documentary film entitled "Midnight Oil: 1984". Directed by Ray Argall, the film primarily consists of previously-unseen footage from the band's tour in support of "Red Sails in the Sunset". The film was given an Australian cinematic release in May 2018, an Australian DVD/Blu-ray release the following July and a limited North American and New Zealand cinematic release that August.


title: Midnight Oil

text: One of the Great Circle tour's final concerts was held on Armistice Day at The Domain, in Sydney on 11 November 2017. Both shows at the Domain (the band also performed there on 17 November) were filmed and recorded, being turned into the live album and film "Armistice Day: Live at the Domain, Sydney". The film was given a one-night cinematic release on 24 October 2018. On 9 November 2018, "Armistice Day" was released as a live album, as well as on DVD and Blu-ray.


title: Midnight Oil

text: In December 2018, the band announced a European and UK tour for June and July 2019. The band were also announced as the headlining act of the Big Red Bash festival, taking place in Birdsville, Queensland. In April 2019, the band announced headlining shows in Thirroul and Canberra as warm-up shows for their European tour. With the announcement came news that the band intended to record new material for a projected 2020 release.


title: Midnight Oil

text: On 7 August 2020, Midnight Oil released their first song in 18 years titled "Gadigal Land", with all earnings going to organisations promoting the "Uluru Statement from the Heart". The song featured poetry spoken in the Gadigal language. It is the first song from a mini-album titled "The Makarrata Project", whose name is related to one of the elements of the "Uluru Statement", a Yolngu word approximating a peace agreement or type of treaty. "Gadigal Land" peaked at number 5 on the Australian digital sales song chart.


title: Midnight Oil

text: "The Makarrata Project" was released on 30 October 2020 and reached Number 1 in the Australian albums chart on 6 November 2020.