William Henry Seward

William Henry Seward (1801–1872) was a prominent American politician who served as U.S. Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869 under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. He is best known for arranging the purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867, a transaction critics at the time called Seward's Folly. Earlier in his career, he served as Governor of New York and as a U.S. Senator.