Skip to content

Young at heart: Photos of Rep. Don Young on the Hill

Dean of the House and longest-serving Republican died on March 18

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is seen on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2017 prior to the swearing in of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States.
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is seen on the West Front of the Capitol January 20, 2017 prior to the swearing in of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Rep. Don Young, dean of the House, died Friday after serving nearly 50 years in Congress. In 2019, he became the longest-serving Republican in House history.

Young was known for his cantankerous yet warm personality, as well as being a staunch defender and promoter of his home state of Alaska. Here are some of the many photos from the CQ Roll Call archive of his long history on Capitol Hill.

Young is pictured in March 1973, his first year in Congress. (CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young, second from left, shows three colleagues from warmer climes — Reps. Bob Wilson, R-Calif., Spark Matsunaga, D-Hawaii, and Bill Young, R-Fla. — how to shovel snow on the Capitol steps in 1973. (Mickey Senko/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young, left, holds up a cutout of Alaska, showing its proper place above a map of the U.S. in 1973. (Mickey Senko/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young is seen with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., in 1994. (Laura Patterson/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A portrait by artist Charlen Jeffery Satrom hangs in the Resources Committee room in 2000, showing Young surrounded by Native Alaskan artifacts. (Emily Barnes/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young served as House Transportation chairman from 2001 to 2007. Here he speaks with Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., in June 2004. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young is pictured in his Rayburn Building office in October 2004. Young liked to display objects from Alaska. (Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call file photo)
In this photo from September 2008, Young talks about some of the decor in his office. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A gavel made out of a walrus penis, seen here in January 2010, was one of the items on display in Young’s Rayburn office. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young was well known for his bellicose personality. Here, he confronts an aide who tried to stop him from entering the side door of a House Republican meeting already in progress in the Capitol in July 2014. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young jokes with Sen. Dan Sullivan, a fellow Alaskan, in January 2015 before a news conference in the Capitol’s Senate studio. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young appears with Sullivan and Sen. Lisa Murkowski during a January 2015 news conference. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young wed Anne Garland Walton, a registered flight nurse from Fairbanks, in a private ceremony held on June 9, 2015, in the chapel of the Capitol. (Courtesy Rep. Don Young/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young and the Alaska congressional delegation speak to a group of students from their home state on the House steps in May 2018. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Young, center, appears with Murkowski and Sullivan, far right, during a ceremony unveiling a portrait of the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens in the Old Senate Chamber in October 2019. Also seen are, from left, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Recent Stories

In final month of the session, Congress looks to clean up loose ends, prepare for Trump

Private donations pour in for cash-strapped national parks

Trump announces plan to replace FBI director with Kash Patel

Trump’s USDA pick could focus on foreign investments in agricultural land

Angling for open Appropriations seats set to ratchet up

Trump names pick for NIH director