Bob Bartlett was an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. Bartlett was born in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from the University of Alaska in 1925, Bartlett began his career in politics. A reporter for the Fairbanks Daily News until 1933, he accepted the position of secretary to Delegate Anthony Dimond of Alaska. Three years later he became the chairman of the Unemployment Compensation Commission of Alaska. On January 30, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him secretary of the Alaska Territory.
Beginning in 1945, Bartlett served as the delegate from Alaska to the 79th and the six succeeding Congresses. Continuing his civic service, he was president of the Alaska Tuberculosis Association and served as a member of the Alaska War Council. He labored constantly for statehood; upon Alaska's admission to the Union in 1959 he became the first senator from Alaska and served until 1968. Bartlett possessed the reputation of a quiet man of achievement. The Library of Congress estimates that he had more bills passed into law than any other member in congressional history.
Even before statehood he was writing legislation (sponsored by other Congressional Representatives), such as the Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956. Some of his bills included the Radiation Safety Bill and the Bartlett Act, requiring all federally funded buildings to be accessible to the handicapped. Bartlett died following heart surgery on December 11, 1968 at Cleveland Clinic Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Ted Stevens was appointed to replace him on December 24, 1968. In 1971, the state of Alaska donated a bronze statue of Bartlett to the U.S. Capitol's National Statuary Hall Collection.