Hawaii during the early Cold War had a ton more naval personnel than it did later on.
Military voting tends to lean conservatively for the most part, although the binary party differences were not clear until later on. Still, the Republicans may have done a lot better in Hawaii if there was still the level of military personnel there that there was in the 40s and 50s.
As for Alaska, have the Democrats not go down the environmentalist path. Economically speaking, much like West Virginia and Kentucky, Alaska is a state that leans a bit to the left on workers issues and is very uncomfortable with the GOP's Eastern Establishment and Wall Street stuff, but even more uncomfortable with the social liberalism and environmentalism of the Democrats, which threatens jobs, values, etc.
Keep the Democrats moderate on social and environmental issues, and they will keep Appalachia and Alaska both.