Inouye 20-Page Commemorative Edition

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20-PAGE COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

INOUYE SEPTEMBER

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ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1973

“People have asked me how I want to be remembered, and I say very simply that I represented the people honestly and to the best of my abilities. I think I did OK.”

American icon

Power broker

Military man

From Moiliili keiki to World War II hero to senior statesman, Daniel K. Inouye lived a uniquely American life

In Washington, D.C., Inouye was known for his integrity, intelligence, compassion and enormous influence

Inouye, a Medal of Honor recipient, was central to turning Hawaii into a pivotal site in the Asia-Pacific region

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LASTING INFLUENCE

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / MARCH 14, 1977

Inouye describes his efforts to push for the return of Kahoolawe to civilian use in a public meeting at the Kamamalu Building in Honolulu.

The number of attendees doubled before the meeting ended, spilling over into the hallways and adjoining rooms.

Inouye’s impact on isles was unmatched

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what would be known as the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Those honors came at the cost of many lives, and Inouye lost his right arm to injuries suffered on the battlefields of Europe, for which he received a Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in combat. In 2000, the award was upgraded to a Medal of Honor, which President Bill Clinton conferred on him at the White House.

After attending college and earning a law degree as a beneficiary of the GI Bill, Inouye practiced law in Honolulu. Then, as labor disputes became the game-changer for Hawaii’s upwardly mobile working class, Inouye became part of the Democratic Party revolution that resulted from the upheaval.

With his election to the Territorial Legislature he launched his political career, a launch with a steep trajecWARTIME OFTEN OCCASIONS great change, and Inouye was part of tory. After statehood, Inouye was one of Hawaii’s first elected members of a generation that witnessed a social and political transformation in Hawaii Congress. A few short years later, in the 1962 elections, Inouye won the as a result of World War II. At 17 he saw the devastation of the seat in the U.S. Senate that he held for attack on Pearl Harbor, and he volun- the rest of his life.

Inouye never forgot the racism he teered to help in the medical rescue effort there. And just as some Ameri- faced as a veteran, even with his wartime honors. It clearly sensitized cans of Japanese ancestry on the him to the social changes ushered in West Coast were driven to internby the 1960s, and in 1968, against the ment camps, Inouye and other secbackdrop of Chicago protests, he deond-generation AJAs became part of AWAII has lost a stalwart and distinguished champion among the political leaders of the nation with the death of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, 88.

It is difficult to overstate the impact Inouye has had on Hawaii’s development and policy decisions, from statehood on through the decades. In his later years, he was seen as the state’s pre-eminent power broker; Inouye has been described in such terms for so long it almost obscures the lifetime of effort he had invested in building the foundations for change in the islands.

The reality into which he was born was radically different. The grandson of immigrants who left Japan to work in the sugar cane fields grew up in circumstances far removed from power and influence.

Although in recent years Inouye put some support behind the push for Native Hawaiian federal recognition, the senator generally was known less for groundbreaking legislation than advocacy for Hawaii in budgetary matters. Inouye was unabashedly proud of his record for THAT SPOTLIGHT RAISED his pro- bringing home the bacon in earmarks file, but it was really the Watergate in- for his home state, a record that was arrested when the practice fell out of vestigative hearings in the Senate favor under the Republican leaderthat gave him national prominence.

Because of his seniority — he was the ship of the U.S. House, where budget longest-serving senator after the late bills originate.

Still, his position as Senate ApproRobert Byrd — Inouye became president pro tempore of the Senate. That priations chairman meant a great deal to a small state that otherwise is meant he ranked third in line of sucin danger of falling below the radar cession to the White House, behind the vice president and the speaker of on Capitol Hill.

Certainly the senator’s death the House. leaves a void in the state’s power Inouye was the kingpin in the structure. And although discussions Hawaii Democratic Party hierarchy; about how to fill that are certain to ingaining his political favor, even if it tensify quickly, it’s right to take time was manifested behind the scenes, was considered essential to an ambi- out from the usual political skirmishes and acknowledge the imtious candidate. But he was not an mense importance of Daniel Inouye’s ideologue, preferring the more collegial alignments of past Senate genera- life and work on Hawaii’s behalf. He has earned that recognition. And it’s tions to the current tug-of-war. He unlikely in the foreseeable future that was part of the bipartisan “Gang of 14” that sought a compromise in judi- another leader will have an opportunity to leave such an indelible mark. cial confirmation clashes of 2005. He ——— was famously loyal to a Republican colleague, the late Alaska Sen. Ted This editorial originally ran in the Stevens, when he came under fire for Star-Advertiser on Tuesday, Dec. 18, ethics charges.

2012, the day after Inouye’s death.

livered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention.

Rather than defending the foreign policy of the U.S. government, he castigated the Vietnam War as “immoral” and cited the racial discrimination and violence in U.S. cities.

————— ON THE COVER

Photo taken Aug. 4, 1973, in Washington, D.C. His quote is from a letter he sent to Gov. Neil Abercrombie, dated Dec. 17, 2012, the day of his death.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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ENDURING LEGACY “His was the greatest success.”

Tom Coffman Hawaii author and historian, on Inouye’s role in securing federal funds that have helped the islands earn a place on the worldwide stage —————

NEW YORK TIMES / MAY 14, 2009

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye in his office in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington. Inouye, who served in Washington since statehood in 1959, was an enormously popular figure in Hawaii and was widely respected by fellow lawmakers for his conscience and integrity.

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HERO H AWAII

The beloved senator was a quiet yet staunch advocate for his home state ★★★

By Derrick DePledge DDEPLEDGE@STARADVERTISER.COM

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ANIEL KEN INOUYE, the grandson of Japanese immigrants, sacrificed his right arm for his country in combat during World War II and devoted much of his life as an unwavering voice for Hawaii in the U.S. Senate.

Inouye was a monumental force in Hawaii politics who represented the islands as a Democrat in Washington, D.C., with poise and dignity since statehood in 1959. He was the first Japanese-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and over nine terms he rose to become the Senate president pro tempore, third in

line to the presidency.

Inouye, who was given the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, for his bravery on the battlefield in Italy in World War II, had prominent roles in the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 and in congressional investigations into the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Inouye was a patriot who believed in military expansion yet had a soldier’s view of war. He was a respected voice on equality and civil rights who had experienced the stain of racism firsthand.

But the senator was probably best

known as an unapologetic advocate for Hawaii. For a half-century, Inouye directed billions in federal money that helped transform the islands from sugar and pineapple plantations into a prosperous state known worldwide for its tourism and strategic military value.

“There have only been a very few people who have been able to fulfill that role with great success. And his was the greatest success,” said Tom Coffman, a Hawaii author and historian.

Inouye never lost an election and earned more than 2 million votes during a political career that began with the historic Democratic takeover of

the Territorial Legislature in 1954 and ended with his ninth Senate victory in 2010. The senator, who was often uncomfortable with public attention, preferred to stay mostly in the background nationally but could be merciless when it came to using his influence for Hawaii.

“He’s long been known as a fierce protector of home-state interests,” said Christopher Deering, a political science professor at George Washington University in Washington, where Inouye went to law school. “He’s also been a highly respected inside player.”

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ENDURING LEGACY “All I wanted to do was carry a rifle.”

Daniel K. Inouye Describing his intense desire to join the war effort and prove his dedication to his country, in his 1967 autobiography, “Journey to Washington” —————

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / JULY 1959

Inouye was born in 1924 to a jewelry-clerk father and homemaker mother. He and his three siblings were raised in a hardworking household that emphasized discipline and family honor.

Inouye and his wife, Margaret, relax with their dogs and Inouye’s parents, father Hyotaro and mother Kame. Inouye was one of four children born to Hyotaro and Kame, who raised the family in McCully and Moiliili.

OFFICE OF U.S. SEN. DANIEL INOUYE

HONOR AND LOYALTY Inouye recalled that he did not wear shoes regularly until he reached McKinley High School. His father, a ORN in Honolulu on Sept. 7, jewelry clerk, and his mother, a homemaker, “were so caught up in 1924, at home on Queen Emma Street with the help of the adventure of raising a family, and a midwife, Inouye grew up in worked so hard to preserve and proMcCully and Moiliili, which were then tect it, that apparently they had no largely poor, working-class Japanese- time to worry about being poor.

“There was always enough to eat in American neighborhoods.

His father, Hyotaro, came to Hawaii our house — although sometimes as a young boy with his parents, who barely — but even more important there was a fanatic conviction that were lured by recruiters to work in the sugar plantations on Kauai. They opportunity awaited those who had had planned to stay only long enough the heart and strength to pursue it.”

Inouye learned to speak Japanese to pay off a $400 debt caused by a fire that had started in the family home in at home and attended Japanese a small village in Yokohama in south- school in the afternoons after his ern Japan. But they ended up making public school classes had ended. But he always saw himself as an Ameria new life in the islands over the can first and took the country’s revodecades it took to raise the money lutionary history and the democratic and send it back home to compenideals of the Founding Fathers as his sate the other villagers. own. He explained, with some degree His mother, Kame, was born on of pride, that he was thrown out of Maui to Japanese parents but orphaned as a young girl. She lived with Japanese school as a teenager for challenging a jingoistic priest. a Hawaiian family and, later, the Rev. His family, he wrote, had “a sort of Daniel Klinefelter, who led a Methodist orphanage and had a deep built-in eagerness to become part of the mainstream of American life.” respect for both Hawaiian culture and Christianity.

AS A TEENAGER, Inouye liked tropiInouye’s parents met at church and cal fish, homing pigeons and big-band always preached family honor and giants like Benny Goodman and Glenn discipline, a blend of Japanese tradition and Methodist sensibility. Inouye Miller. He also liked pool and cockwas the eldest of four children — sis- fighting, but said the closest thing he came to real trouble was being caught ter May and brothers John and Robert — and was named for Klinefel- underage at a pool hall.

Inouye wanted to be a doctor and ter and the biblical prophet Daniel. had taken a first-aid course from the In his 1967 autobiography, “JourAmerican Red Cross, but he was not ney to Washington,” written with emotionally prepared for what he saw Lawrence Elliott of Reader’s Digest, Continued from previous page

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the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

“All I wanted to do was carry a rifle,” he remembered.

His father gave him a simple piece of advice before he left for basic training on the mainland: “Don’t bring dishonor to the family.”

Drawn from nisei volunteers from different social backgrounds, the THE SURPRISE BOMBING, which he segregated 442nd had to overcome would later describe as a “monstrous tensions between the “Buddhabetrayal,” changed the direction of his heads” — brash young men from life. It also exposed him to the racism Hawaii, where much of the population was Asian or Hawaiian — and that infected the United States, even in a territory as diverse as Hawaii. He the “Katonks” — more reserved young men from the mainland, who felt no matter what Japanese-Ameriwere more culturally isolated and cans did to fight Japan and Germany lived in places where racism was in World War II, or the extent of their much more overt. At Camp Shelby in sacrifices at home, “there would alMississippi, there was bad blood, ways be those who would look at us fistfights and some real doubts and think — and some would say it about whether the nisei could work out loud — ‘dirty Jap.’” At the time, nisei were not allowed together as a combat unit. (The Katonks got their nickname for the in the military, so Inouye enrolled in premedical courses at the University sound of being whacked on the head.) of Hawaii at Manoa. When President Years later, Inouye told an interFranklin D. Roosevelt agreed in 1943 viewer for the 1992 book “Boyhood to let nisei volunteer for the war, to War,” a collection of anecdotes Inouye believed the president was about the 442nd by Dorothy Matsuo, speaking to him. “Americanism is a that the mood changed when the matter for the mind and heart,” Roosevelt said. “Americanism is not, and soldiers visited a Japanese internnever was, a matter of race or ances- ment camp in Arkansas. The Buddhaheads realized that some try.”

Katonks had volunteered even though their friends and families INOUYE was initially passed over by the Army because he was already were locked behind barbed wire.

“The Hawaiian asked himself that serving the war effort with the Red day, ‘Would I have volunteered?’” InCross. But he was so eager, and so driven by instinct to prove his loyalty, ouye said. “I would like to say, ‘Yes.’ But not having faced it, I can’t say that he quit the aid station and was what I would have done.” among the last chosen in Hawaii for after Japanese fighter planes filled the skies over Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941.

The Red Cross called him into service at an aid station at Lunalilo School, where he cared for the civilian victims of the attack on Pearl Harbor, including many who were injured by friendly fire.

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ENDURING LEGACY “Rarely has a nation been so well-served by a people it has so ill-treated.”

President Bill Clinton At a 2000 ceremony in which he belatedly bestowed the Medal of Honor on Inouye and 21 other Asian-American veterans —————

THE OFFICE OF SEN. DANIEL INOUYE

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / 1963

Above, Inouye speaks with Capt.

Henry T. Shibuya in Spesbach, Germany.

Inouye, in his Army uniform at left, was among the last recruits to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. As a first lieutenant in 1945, he heroically led his platoon in capturing a ridge from the Germans in Italy.

At top, Inouye, pictured before World War II, was first passed over by the Army because he was already helping the American Red Cross.

AP PHOTO / 442ND VETERANS CLUB

GO FOR BROKE I

NOUYE, a sergeant when the 442nd landed in Europe, was promoted to first lieutenant as the nisei moved through Italy, then France, then back to Italy in the waning days of the war. The 442nd won a reputation for courage — its motto was “Go for Broke” — and along with the nisei in the 100th Infantry Battalion would become among the most decorated units in U.S. military history.

In his own descriptions and in the recollections of others, Inouye was a leader who genuinely cared for his men and lost few in battle. He was not a saint. He acknowledged running a lucrative craps game.

He said he once used a church tower as an observation post. He said he took a wristwatch — which he gave away — and a gun off a German colonel. He lifted a silver ring off the hand of a dead French woman.

Inouye had been warned not to take risks, that the war was almost over, as he moved his platoon against the Germans dug in along a ridge at Colle Musatello near San Terenzo in northern Italy in April

1945. But Inouye had orders to take the ridge.

ACCORDING TO “Americans: The Story of the 442nd Combat Team,” a vivid account written by Army Maj. Orville Shirey in 1946, Inouye crawled up a slope and tossed two hand grenades into a German machine-gun nest. He stood up with his tommy gun and raked a second machine-gun nest before being shot in the stomach. But he kept charging until his right arm was hit by an enemy rifle grenade and shattered.

“And as I drew my arm back, all in a flash of light and dark I saw him, that faceless German, like a strip of a motion picture film running through a projector that’s gone berserk. One instant he was standing waist-high in the bunker, and the next he was aiming a rifle grenade at my face from a range of 10 yards,” Inouye wrote in his autobiography.

“And even as I cocked my arm to throw, he fired and his rifle grenade smashed into my right elbow and exploded and all but tore my arm off. I looked at it, stunned and disbeliev-

with the Medal of Honor. “Rarely has a nation been so well-served by a people it has so ill-treated,” Clinton said at the White House ceremony.

Inouye had multiple operations to treat his wounds and spent nearly two years of grueling rehabilitation on the mainland to learn how to function without his right arm, which had been amputated. He said he was fitted for a prosthetic arm and learned how to use it, but it never felt comfortable, so he preferred an empty sleeve.

Remarkably, three of the young soldiers who were treated at Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Mich.

— Inouye, Robert Dole of Kansas and Philip Hart of Michigan — would serve INOUYE was promoted to second with distinction in the U.S. Senate. Inouye liked to say that it was Dole, who lieutenant and, before he was diswould become the Republican majorcharged, to captain. He was nomiity leader and the GOP’s presidential nated for the Medal of Honor, the nominee in 1996, who planted the nation’s highest military award, but seed of a career in politics. received the Distinguished Service When Inouye finally had his Cross and the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster to go along with a Bronze Hawaii homecoming after the war, he Star. President Bill Clinton belatedly knew he would never be a surgeon. recognized Inouye and 21 other Asian-American veterans in 2000 Continued on next page ing. It dangled there by a few bloody shreds of tissue, my grenade still clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore.”

Inouye wrote that he pried the grenade out of his right hand and threw it at the German gunman, who was killed by the explosion. He then continued firing his gun until he was shot in the right leg and knocked down the hillside. Badly wounded, he ordered his men to keep attacking, and they took the ridge from the enemy.

Within a few days after the battle, the fighting was over in Italy. Less than two weeks later, Germany surrendered.

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ENDURING LEGACY “How many one-arm Japanese do you think we have in the Congress of the United States?”

Rep. Sam Rayburn The speaker of the U.S. House explaining to Inouye, Hawaii’s new representative, why Inouye was among the best-known lawmakers in Washington —————

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / 1961

Above, Oswald Kawahara, 5, greets Inouye and his wife, Margaret, with the U.S. representative’s hat, which Oswald had retrieved, upon the Inouyes’ arrival in Honolulu.

At right, Inouye and other officials looked on as President Dwight Eisenhower helped unfurl the new 50-star flag in Washington after signing a proclamation making Hawaii the nation’s 50th state.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / JULY 28, 1959

Supporters at Inouye’s campaign headquarters are jubilant as his Republican opponent for Hawaii’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives concedes defeat.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / AUGUST 21, 1959

PIVOTAL MOMENT the class of new lawmakers included future U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga and future Gov. George Ariyoshi.

FTER the war, Hawaii was on With Democrats unaccustomed to the brink of social change. power, the first few years after the Japanese-Americans were a takeover were often messy, with inthird of the state’s population, and ternal strife and grandiose visions of the nisei veterans soon realized their change. Inouye, who lost a bid for political potential. Republicans had House speaker but was selected madominated state politics since the jority leader, recalled writing U.S. overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii House Speaker Sam Rayburn, a Texas in 1893, but had grown stodgy as the Democrat, for advice. voice of the Big Five corporations Big ideas — equal opportunity, that still mostly ran the islands. The worker rights, access to health care, Democrats were largely controlled by better public schools — also took ORGANIZED LABOR was — and the International Longshore and still is — the motor within the Demo- root during the chaos.

Warehouse Union.

Inouye, who was elected to the Tercratic Party of Hawaii. JapaneseInouye enrolled in prelaw classes at UH under the GI Bill with an eye to- Americans brought race and class to ritorial Senate in 1958, gained politithe surface, along with the passion of cal experience and name recognition ward politics, not the courtroom. He that would position him for federal the nisei who had fought for their met Margaret Shinobu Awamura, a election after Hawaii became a state country and were not about to UH speech instructor who had in 1959. meekly return to the status quo. earned a master’s degree in educaMuch of Hawaii’s ruling class had Several nisei veterans banded totion at Columbia University in New York, and on their second date asked gether to form Central Pacific Bank to initially been against statehood, since serve a Japanese immigrant commu- the wealthy and privileged thrived her to marry him. under federal oversight as a territory. nity that had been isolated and stigAlthough their courtship was typiBut popular sentiment was in favor of cal of young Hawaii couples — he pro- matized during the war. Inouye bought into the bank with a minimum officially joining the union. posed while parked off the beach at share of $300 and became secretary.

Ala Moana — out of Japanese tradiNATIONALLY, SOME in Congress reDuring the 1954 campaign, some tion and respect for their parents, they Republicans portrayed Democrats as sisted statehood because of Hawaii’s allowed family friends to be matchracial makeup, particularly the large tools of the ILWU and even commumakers and arrange their marriage.

His wife was the breadwinner while nist sympathizers. Inouye became so number of Japanese-Americans.

Burns, by then a territorial delegate to furious at one event in Aina Haina Inouye finished classes at UH. He Congress, had to help mollify Souththat he used his disability as a politicompleted law school at George ern Democrats who worried the new cal weapon. “I held up my empty Washington University a few blocks Hawaii lawmakers would challenge right sleeve and shook it,” he wrote. from the White House, which Inouye racial segregation on the mainland.

“I gave this arm to fight fascists,” he chose so he could soak up the politiInouye had wanted to run for U.S. cal atmosphere of the nation’s capital. told the audience. “If my country Senate in the special election after When the couple came back home, wants the other one to fight commustatehood in 1959 but was persuaded nism, it can have it.” and the day after Inouye passed the by party elders to campaign instead The Democratic takeover of the state bar exam, he was appointed Legislature in 1954 was a pivotal mo- for the U.S. House. Inouye had promdeputy city prosecutor. Inouye had ised young attorney Patsy Mink, who already been volunteering for Demo- ment in Hawaii’s history, leading to more than a half-century of nearly un- had already declared for the House, crats in Washington and Hawaii and had become a disciple of John Burns, broken party rule. Along with Inouye, that he would not run against her in Continued from previous page

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a former Honolulu police captain who had stood up for the rights of Japanese-Americans during the war.

Burns, who would later become the state’s most revered governor, was a talisman for many young Democrats. He was an advocate for workers and civil rights and saw the political value of linking the union movement with the struggles of emerging Japanese-Americans. It was Burns who urged Inouye to run for the Territorial House in 1954.

the primary, so his decision to switch just before the filing deadline was awkward. Inouye beat Mink in the primary and then cruised in the general election, becoming the first JapaneseAmerican in the House.

Rayburn, who was notoriously gruff but had a soft spot for young men with promise, had trouble pronouncing Inouye’s name at first. The speaker told the new representative he was probably among the best known on Capitol Hill. “Why? Well, just think about it, son,” Inouye recalled Rayburn saying. “How many one-arm Japanese do you think we have in the Congress of the United States?”

In a House speech marking the third anniversary of statehood, U.S. Rep. Leo O’Brien, a New York Democrat, recalled the day Inouye was asked to raise his right hand and take the oath of office. “There was no right hand, Mr. Speaker,” O’Brien said. “It had been lost in combat by that young American soldier in World War II. Who can deny that, at that moment, a ton of prejudice slipped quietly to the floor of the House of Representatives?”

Inouye’s early display of party loyalty — of waiting his turn — paid off in 1962, when Democrats rallied behind him to replace the aging Oren Long, who was retiring from the U.S. Senate. His campaign against Benjamin Dillingham, a Republican from one of the state’s prominent families, showed how much Hawaii had changed politically since the war.

Inouye won with a stunning 69 percent of the vote.

At 38 he was a United States senator. He would never come close to losing an election.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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ENDURING LEGACY “Where else can a boy like Dan become like that? This is America.”

Kame Inouye Inouye’s mother, watching his keynote address at the 1968 Democratic National Convention on KGMB —————

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / 1968

“This is my country,” the young lawmaker said in his keynote address at the convention. “Many of us have fought hard to say that. Many are struggling today from Harlem to Da Nang that they may say it with conviction.”

Above, Inouye’s keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was broadcast live in Hawaii.

At left, Inouye meets with President John F. Kennedy and Vice President Lyndon Johnson. After Johnson became president, he urged Hubert Humphrey to consider Inouye for his vice presidential running mate in the 1968 election.

NEW YORK TIMES / 1968

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1962

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ROPHETICALLY, given Inouye’s eventual mastery of Senate rules, his first speech in the Senate was to save the filibuster. The same Southern Democrats who had been suspicious of statehood had used the filibuster — a unique procedural tool — to stall new civil-rights laws. Senators can use filibusters to take control of the floor and literally talk bills to death by refusing to yield until there is a two-thirds’ vote. But some liberals wanted to change the rules to allow filibusters to be broken by a majority vote.

Inouye was thinking of Hawaii, not civil rights or Southern Democrats, when he spoke in favor of a strong filibuster. The tool — which can only be overcome by the votes of 60 of the chamber’s 100 senators — can be an instrument of equality, giving senators from Hawaii the same power to stop legislation as senators from bigger states like New York or California.

“I represent a small state,” Inouye explained to a local reporter. “There may come a time when a proposal before the Senate seriously threatens our state. When and if that time comes, I would not want to see the small voice of Hawaii choked off by parliamentary maneuvers.”

Inouye thought of Rayburn as a mentor in the House and aligned himself with U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson, another powerful Texas Democrat and Rayburn protégé, even before he arrived in the Senate.

Inouye had campaigned for Johnson in his unsuccessful run against U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts for the 1960 Democratic

presidential nomination, learning a crude lesson about identity politics.

Inouye was dispatched to a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People rally in Los Angeles to speak for Johnson. He was prepared to explain why a young Japanese-American was for a son of the segregated South, but the black leaders — unimpressed — kept him waiting backstage for more than four hours. Finally, they told Inouye they wanted Johnson or nobody.

“It was a bitter experience and I tasted the bitterness in my mouth all the way out of that place,” he wrote.

WHEN KENNEDY was assassinated in 1963 and Johnson — the vice president — became president, Inouye had a closer tie with the White House.

Inouye was in harmony with Johnson’s Great Society social programs, which were aimed at fighting poverty and ending racial injustice. He also agreed with the president on the need for the Vietnam War. As a young senator from a faraway state, Inouye’s connection to the White House and the establishment Democrats who ran the Senate, especially U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield of Montana, would help him advance in a chamber where personal relationships mean everything.

In the late 1960s, as Vietnam was beginning to tear the country along generational lines, the Democratic Party also needed someone like Inouye. His youth, his racial background and his military heroism made him a compelling figure. The

senator’s name was even floated by Mansfield as a potential vice president to Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota as the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago approached.

Inouye was given the convention’s keynote address, a prime spot usually reserved for rising stars who personify the party’s message. Although the convention will be remembered historically for the violent street clashes between anti-war protesters and Chicago police, Inouye’s appearance on the national stage was a milestone for Hawaii.

Local sponsors paid $7,500 so KGMB could televise the speech via satellite, the first time people in the islands were able to view a convention speech live. Bob Krauss, The Honolulu Advertiser’s popular columnist, watched with Inouye’s parents in their Coyne Street home. “Where else can a boy like Dan become like that?”

Inouye’s mother, Kame, said proudly.

“This is America.”

Inouye described the Vietnam War as immoral. But he defended Johnson’s plan for peace through political negotiation with the Viet Cong rather than escalated military force or immediate withdrawal. He recognized the racial and social upheaval in the inner cities and the anger of the antiwar movement but warned against the temptation to cut down establishment institutions. “This is my country,” he said. “Many of us have fought hard to say that. Many are struggling today from Harlem to Da Nang that they may say it with conviction.”

In the months and years that followed, as Democrats lost the White House to President Richard Nixon and public support for the war collapsed, Inouye’s views on Vietnam shifted. While the senator would always be a fierce ally of the military, after Vietnam he was much more skeptical about the justification used for war.

“This was a war with racial overtones,” he told an interviewer from consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s Congress Project. “Would My Lai have happened in Paris?”

ON THE 40th anniversary of his speech in Chicago, in an interview with the Advertiser, Inouye described how Johnson had led him to believe at the convention that he would be offered the vice presidential slot. Inouye said he told Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, that he was not interested.

The senator’s account was later corroborated when telephone recordings of Johnson’s last months in office were released publicly.

Johnson, according to a CBS News transcript, told Humphrey that Inouye could help answer any doubts on Vietnam. “He answers Vietnam with that empty sleeve. He answers your problems with Nixon with that empty sleeve. He has that brown face,” Johnson said.

“I guess maybe it’s just taking me a little too far, too fast,” Humphrey responded. “Old, conservative Humphrey.”

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ENDURING LEGACY “Watergate is not a partisan tragedy. It is a national tragedy.”

Daniel K. Inouye The senator became a familiar name when he served on the select committee investigating the Watergate scandal —————

ASSOCIATED PRESS / MAY 19, 1973

ASSOCIATED PRESS / OCTOBER 1973

Above, Inouye is applauded by AFL-CIO President George Meany after calling for the resignation of President Richard Nixon in a speech before the labor organization in Miami Beach, Fla. Inouye, a key member of the Senate select committee investigating the Watergate scandal, said Americans had suffered enough. At top, Inouye questions witness James McCord during the hearing on Capitol Hill. To Inouye’s right is Democrat John M. Montoya of New Mexico.

At right, Inouye stuck by his friend and confidant Henry Giugni, a former Honolulu police officer and liquor inspector, when it was revealed that Giugni engaged in improper contribution practices.

OFFICE OF U.S. SEN. DANIEL K. INOUYE

A TRUSTED VOICE Continued from previous page

I

NOUYE had a reputation in the Senate for integrity and intelligence, and he was picked by Mansfield, over his initial objection, as one of seven senators to serve on a select committee to investigate the Watergate scandal that engulfed the Nixon administration in the early 1970s.

Nixon and his aides were accused of a pattern of corruption that became public after the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel and office complex.

The Watergate hearings were nationally televised and made the senators, including the distinctive Inouye, household names. Inouye would appear on national and international news and talk shows, and he was rated by the public as among the most favorable for his fair yet some-

times blunt interrogation.

At one hearing, Inouye, unaware a microphone was still on, was overheard saying, “What a liar,” after the testimony of White House domestic affairs aide John Ehrlichman. The senator at first denied the remark, then said he was speaking to himself. But the misstep was overshadowed a week later when John Wilson, the attorney for White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, was asked by reporters how he felt about the probing questions of U.S. Sen. Lowell Weicker, a Connecticut Republican.

“Oh, I don’t mind Senator Weicker,” Wilson said. “What I mind is that little Jap.” Inouye did not appear to capitalize on his new popularity or use Watergate for partisan advantage after Nixon resigned in 1974 rather than face impeachment. He told Hawaii island Democrats in one speech that

“Watergate is not a partisan tragedy. It is a national tragedy.”

INOUYE’S fame from Watergate led to scrutiny of his own campaign finances. Henry Giugni, a former Honolulu police officer and liquor inspector who had been a confidant of Inouye’s since the Territorial Legislature, failed to report a $5,650 contribution to the senator from shipping magnate and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Giugni also admitted accepting an illegal $5,000 contribution to Inouye from an oil industry lobbyist.

Inouye stuck by his friend — who later became the Senate’s sergeant-atarms and an influential lobbyist — and his reputation did not suffer from the mistakes.

Senate leaders again turned to Inouye when, after embarrassing disclosures that the CIA and the FBI had

spied on Americans, they created a select committee on intelligence to oversee government surveillance.

The senator said the fear of government eavesdropping was so pervasive that he had seen other senators use pay telephones in case their office phones were bugged.

In one speech on government spying to the American Civil Liberties Union, Inouye warned of a danger to civil liberties that he would repeat more than three decades later when President George W. Bush increased domestic surveillance after the Sept.

11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Perhaps the most disturbing of all aspects of government data collection is the surreptitious surveillance and intelligence operations to collect information on innocent citizens whose political views and activities are opposed to those of the administration,” he said.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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ENDURING LEGACY “It has had a major impact on my life, which has become a living hell.”

Daniel K. Inouye Claims of sexual harassment were publicized in his Republican opponent’s campaign ads, staining the senator’s 1992 re-election effort —————

ASSOCIATED PRESS / JULY 13, 1987

Inouye, chairman of the Senate select committee probing the Iran-Contra affair, gestures to reporters in Washington that the day’s session of the hearing would be cut short. Inouye decided to have Lt. Col. Oliver North return the next day after tempers began to flare during the questioning.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / JULY 8, 1987

Above, Inouye shades his eyes with a sheet of paper as Brendan Sullivan, North’s attorney, speaks during the IranContra hearing on Capitol Hill.

At left, North, a Marine who wore his uniform and medals throughout the hearings, is sworn in by Inouye, whose back is to the camera. Inouye sported his Distinguished Service Cross lapel pin in a sly response to North’s attire.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / JULY 7, 1987

STRUCK BY SCANDAL I

NOUYE’S national prominence seemed to peak in the 1970s and 1980s. His name had surfaced as a possible vice presidential contender, but he would always dismiss any aspirations beyond the Senate, where he had friends and power.

He was becoming one of the Senate’s “old bulls” — conscious of its history and traditions, and protective of its intricate procedures and the value placed on seniority.

It was Inouye who took the uncomfortable but necessary job as advocate for U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams, a New Jersey Democrat, when the Senate sought to expel him after his bribery convictions in the Abscam scandal. Williams had been caught on videotape trading his influence for an interest in a titanium mine with an undercover FBI agent posing as an Arab sheik.

Inouye, who essentially served as Williams’ defense attorney on the Senate floor, said the Senate had only previously expelled senators for treason. Williams resigned in 1982 to avoid expulsion.

The entry on Inouye in the 1984 “Politics in America,” a snapshot of the nation’s political landscape published every two years by Congressional Quarterly, said the senator’s “role in developing legislation has not matched either his seniority or his popularity.”

But Senate leaders again came to Inouye with a politically sensitive assignment. He was asked to lead a select committee to investigate the Iran-Contra affair, a scheme by the

Contra would, like after Watergate, come with some backlash. The senator was criticized for inserting $8 million into a foreign operations bill to build parochial schools in France for North African Jews. Inouye had become among Israel’s most important LIKE WATERGATE, the committee’s allies in the Senate and had spoken against the historic injustices to hearings were televised nationally Jews, so his support for the schools and put Inouye in the spotlight. The committee found that Iran-Contra was was not out of character. But it turned out he had received a $1,000 “characterized by pervasive dishonesty and inordinate secrecy.” The sen- campaign contribution from a friend, New York real estate developer Zev ator conducted the probe with grace Wolfson, who was on the board of the and uncovered some damaging revecharitable group that would oversee lations, but the trail never quite reached President Ronald Reagan and the federal money going to France.

Inouye at first defended the approthe public’s verdict was much more indifferent than it was after Watergate. priation as proper but later apologized and asked that the money be Lt. Col. Oliver North, the telegenic withdrawn.

Marine at the center of the scandal, The timing of his uneven reviews wore his uniform and medals to the on Iran-Contra and the bad press on hearings and was a sympathetic figthe Jewish schools was not ideal. ure to many Americans. As a sly Inouye, at 64, was interested in replaccounterpunch — and perhaps to reing U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virmind viewers that he, too, was a patriot — Inouye wore his Distinguished ginia as majority leader after the 1988 elections. Senate Democrats were Service Cross lapel pin.

Mike Royko, the legendary Chicago looking for a national spokesman — a newspaper columnist, wrote that Ino- fresher face who could communicate effectively on television — and while uye came across as an “inscrutable Inouye had a cadre behind him, they Buddha.” But the senator scored when he publicly scolded North, who would choose U.S. Sen. George Mitchell of Maine. Mitchell, who led had admitted lying to Congress, for the party’s Senate campaign commitsuggesting that lawmakers often tee when Democrats took back the leaked sensitive information. “I can Senate in 1986 and had blossomed also understand why North looked during the Iran-Contra hearings, won more subdued at that point than he has during the entire hearing,” Royko 27 of the 55 Democratic votes. Inouye and U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston of wrote. “He knew he was being Louisiana each had 14. chewed out by a genuine hero.”

The leadership defeat was a disapInouye’s higher profile from IranReagan administration to trade arms for Iranian-held U.S. hostages and use some of the proceeds from arms sales to help finance a Contra rebellion against the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

pointment to Inouye, but not nearly as personally painful as an episode that would soil his 1992 re-election campaign. His Republican opponent, state Sen. Rick Reed of Maui, obtained a tape recording of Inouye’s longtime hairstylist, Lenore Kwock, claiming Inouye had pressured her into sex in 1975 and later sexually harassed her.

REED WAS criticized — by Kwock and the leaders of his own party — for going public with the steamy allegations in campaign advertisements.

Inouye denied the claims and won reelection with 54 percent of the vote, the lowest victory margin of his career. But Inouye was stung when nine other women told a state lawmaker after the election that they were also sexually harassed by the senator.

Women’s rights groups asked for a Senate Ethics Committee investigation, while Inouye called the anonymous new charges “unmitigated lies.”

Kwock, who said she had forgiven Inouye, refused to cooperate with Senate investigators. The senator’s other accusers never came forward publicly, so the inquiry was dropped.

Inouye insisted the accusations had no impact on his effectiveness in the Senate, which was torn at the time by sexual harassment allegations against U.S. Sen. Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican who would eventually resign in disgrace.

“But it has had a major impact on my life, which has become a living hell,” Inouye told a local reporter.

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ENDURING LEGACY “I’m not embarrassed or ashamed by what they call earmarks.”

Daniel K. Inouye His ability to funnel billion of dollars in federal funds into Hawaii earned him both praise and criticism —————

ASSOCIATED PRESS / SEPT. 1, 2004

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, left, Inouye and Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim take part in a ceremonial whack at the old Hilo Hospital, which was demolished to make way for the islands’ first state-run veterans care home. Inouye obtained federal funding for project construction.

CHAMPION FOR ISLES cruise ship company, went bankrupt after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, costing taxpayers millions.

U.S. Sen. John McCain, an Arizona ISTORIANS might debate Republican who often clashed with whether Inouye made the Inouye on federal spending, called most of his power nationally, but there is no dispute over his influ- the “Project America” loans “one of the most incredible boondoggles in ence on Hawaii.

From his first days in the House af- recent history.”

Citizens Against Government ter statehood to his last as one of the Waste typically ranked Inouye and Senate’s senior members, Inouye fought to make sure the islands were Stevens as among the worst for what it called “pork,” federal spending that not shortchanged when it came to federal spending. Inouye was a voice is earmarked by lawmakers for local for sugar, pineapple and shipping, for projects or that does not go through the formal presidential budget rehighways, airports and harbors, for quest or congressional authorization the East-West Center, for the University of Hawaii and, most significantly, process.

Yet both men saw the criticism as a for the military. The senator worked to help make Hawaii the most impor- compliment, proof they were just as tant strategic location for the military skilled as any of their colleagues from more established states, if not more in the Pacific, and the military became, along with tourism, the founda- so, in the deal-making of the Senate.

“I’m not embarrassed or ashamed tion of the state’s economy.

From a perch on the Senate Appro- by what they call earmarks,” Inouye told a reporter. priations Committee, and through Inouye stood by Stevens, and even collaboration with his good friend raised money and campaigned for his U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Rere-election, after Stevens was indicted publican, Inouye was able to deliver federal money no matter which politi- in 2008 by a federal grand jury for not disclosing gifts from Alaska oil comcal party controlled Congress or the pany executives. Stevens lost his reWhite House. The pair also held top election campaign, but a federal posts on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, judge later set aside his conviction, which has control over maritime, avi- citing prosecutorial misconduct.

When Inouye realized his coveted ation and other federal policy issues goal of becoming chairman of the Sencritical to the islands. ate Appropriations Committee in 2009, Inouye, who was reserved and dethe moment was bittersweet because liberative, and Stevens, who was agStevens was no longer by his side. gressive and abrasive, considered each other brothers in arms for their INOUYE was known mostly for underdog states. bringing home federal money, but he Some of Inouye’s attempts to help Hawaii backfired. Inouye and U.S. Sen. also used his influence to change federal policy to benefit Hawaii, promote Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, civil rights and preserve native culsupported “Project America,” which tures. involved federal loan guarantees for Inouye helped get an exemption to two new cruise ships that were to be constructed at a Mississippi shipyard federal health and pension law so Hawaii could have the landmark Prefor use in Hawaii. The effort failed afpaid Health Care Act of 1974, which ter American Classic Voyages, the Continued from previous page

H

Akaka, a Hawaii Democrat, Inouye helped win historic passage of a resolution signed by President Clinton in 1993 formally apologizing for the U.S. government’s role in the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii. In a Senate floor speech, Inouye said the resolution was not a step toward Hawaiian independence, but rather a reconciliation between the federal government and a people who had been wronged.

“It was authored by my friend from Hawaii because he loves America,” Inouye said of Akaka, who is of HawaiTHE SENATOR urged the Navy to ian and Chinese ancestry. “It is betransfer the historic battleship USS cause of our love for this nation that Missouri to Hawaii for a memorial at Pearl Harbor. He obtained an exemp- this resolution was presented, to make it possible for all of us, even aftion to federal maritime law that alter 100 years, to cleanse one of our lowed Norwegian Cruise Line to pages, to make it a bit brighter.” operate its foreign-built cruise ships The senator also supported under U.S. flags in Hawaii, which reAkaka’s Native Hawaiian federal vived cruises between the islands. recognition bill, which would create a Inouye helped set in motion the process that eventually led President process for Hawaiians to form their Reagan in 1988 to apologize and pro- own sovereign government similar to vide $20,000 each to the survivors of Native Americans and Native Alaskans.

Japanese internment during World Some Hawaiians have doubted War II, an injustice that gnawed at Inouye’s commitment to sovereignty, Inouye since he was a young GI. The senator secured $20 million for while others believed that, given his a center on preserving democracy at personal history, he was uncomfortthe Japanese American National Mu- able with the anti-American tone prevalent in some of the movement’s seum in Los Angeles. extremes. Some Hawaiians also reAppalled by the federal government’s treatment of Native Americans sent the senator’s role in the military after learning their history as a leader expansion of the islands, including on the Senate Indian Affairs Commit- military training on land Hawaiians consider sacred. tee, Inouye became a passionate adBut Inouye empathized with the vocate for Indian self-determination Hawaiian struggle and helped steer and was among the main forces bemillions in federal money annually to hind the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall Hawaiian education, health and cultural programs. “I’ve tried my best, alin Washington. though it’s impossible, to put myself Inouye slipped language into a defense spending bill that fulfilled a gov- in their shoes,” Inouye told Heather Giugni for her 2003 biographical film ernment promise and provided on the senator. “And when I do that, I $15,000 — $9,000 for noncitizens — somehow get the feeling that if I were to Filipinos who fought on behalf of the United States during World War II. in their position, I may be screaming also.”

Working with U.S. Sen. Daniel

requires companies to provide health insurance to employees who work more than 20 hours a week. The senator won an exemption from federal environmental law that allowed construction to go forward on H-3, the interstate that linked Honolulu and Windward Oahu. He worked on an effort to require the Navy to clean up its firing range and return the island of Kahoolawe to the state so it could be restored as a Hawaiian cultural site.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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ENDURING LEGACY “None of us walk on water. The day will come for all of us.”

Daniel K. Inouye Reflecting on the death of longtime U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, in August 2009 —————

JAMM AQUINO / AUGUST 2009

Above, Inouye, left, and fellow U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka shake hands before Akaka departs a hearing at the state Capitol. The lawmakers discussed the Senate Appropriations Committee’s current activities and how various areas of government are using federal stimulus money.

At left, Inouye married Irene Hirano in a small, private ceremony at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, Calif., four years ago. Inouye’s first wife, Margaret, died in 2006.

GEORGE F. LEE / FEBRUARY 2008

Above, Inouye shares a laugh after casting his vote in Hawaii’s Democratic caucus at Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Waikiki. The state saw a record turnout in the contest between Honolulu-born Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton; Inouye backed Clinton throughout the 2008 presidential primaries, calling Obama too inexperienced.

COURTESY PHOTO / MAY 24, 2008

FOREVER AN ICON I

NOUYE, by his own preference, rarely spoke on the Senate floor in his later years and often shunned the national news media. Some of his friends would say it was Japanese and Hawaii style to stay humble and avoid self-promotion, to get things done quietly. But some might forget that Inouye co-wrote his autobiography at 43 and seemed to enjoy the national media attention when he was younger.

As an elder statesman, Inouye became more of an icon, a symbol Democrats would often turn to when their valor or patriotism was challenged. After President Bush questioned the Democrats’ commitment to national security in the months before the war in Iraq, some Democrats said the president owed senators like Inouye an apology.

Inouye, whose outlook on war had changed sharply after Vietnam, opposed the Persian Gulf War with Iraq in 1991 and voted against giving Bush the authority to use force against Iraq before the second invasion in 2003.

“I can assure you this is not a time for Democrats and Republicans to say I have more medals than you, and I have lost more limbs than you, and we have shed more blood than you,” Inouye said in a Senate speech in September 2002. “This is not the time for that. This is a time in which we should be working together, debating this issue. As the senator from West

Inouye avoided public talk about his legacy and liked to say that no one is indispensable. Other senators of his stature have monuments to their success — the airport in AnINOUYE ALSO BECAME an icon chorage is named for Stevens; a highback in the islands. The party he had way, federal building and a statue at helped create to smash the Republithe state Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., can status quo in 1954 had itself beare among the many honors for Byrd come complacent and entrenched.

— but Inouye resisted.

The senator, his aides, and his allies As he watched contemporaries in business and labor were often the pass, he would sometimes reflect on last word on party strategy, candihis own mortality. After U.S. Sen. date selection and internal disputes.

Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts But they could not always hold comDemocrat who served with Inouye for peting factions together. nearly 47 years, died in August 2009, Linda Lingle’s victory in 2002, the Inouye said, “None of us walk on wafirst time a Republican had taken ter. The day will come for all of us. I Washington Place in four decades, hope I can do it as nobly as he has.”

THE INOUYES, with their son, Ken, and former U.S. Rep. Ed Case’s DemoAkaka, speaking about his colhad always been protective of their cratic primary challenge to Akaka in 2006, were signs that the state’s polit- family life and their home in Bethesda, league’s spirit, once told local Democrats the story about a fading Md. But the senator talked frankly ical culture had changed from under about the loss of his wife. “She was my black-and-white photograph of a Inouye.

When Hawaii-born U.S. Sen. Barack inspiration, and all that I have accom- young Inouye with four other nisei soldiers of the 442nd before they plished could not have been done Obama of Illinois ran for the Demowere sent off to the front in Italy. without her at my side,” he said. “We cratic presidential nomination in One of the other veterans in the 2008, Inouye said he was too inexperi- were a team.” photo, who had not seen Inouye In May 2008, Inouye married Irene enced and faithfully stuck with U.S. since the war, had brought the picHirano, a former president and chief Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New ture to a meeting with Inouye in executive of the Japanese American York through the primaries. Obama Washington.

National Museum, whom he had drew record numbers of Democrats Inouye looked at the photo and reto the party’s usually overlooked cau- known for more than two decades. alized that the only soldier who was “The most important reaction is the cuses in the islands and easily beat one from my son,” the senator told a not smiling was the only one who was Clinton despite Inouye’s preference.

For a younger generation, or for re- local reporter. “And he said, ‘Dad, you dead.

“And I’m still smiling,” the senator outdid yourself.’” cent mainland transplants, Inouye told his friend as he leaned back in Ken and his wife, Jessica, made was often viewed more as a remote his chair. “And intend to do so for Inouye a grandfather when they had figure of official Washington than an quite a while.” a daughter, Maggie. island boy with an easy smile.

Virginia said, it is American to question the president. It is American to debate the issues.”

But anyone who had lost personal touch with the senator was able to see his human side after his loyal friend Giugni died in November 2005 and his beloved wife, Maggie, died at 81 in March 2006.

“I needed someone to maybe bounce off ideas, or someone who felt confident enough to be critical when it was justified, and he was the one,” Inouye said of Giugni. “I told him, that’s the nature of our relationship and our friendship. If you can’t do that, I don’t want you around me, because I can have dozens of people who can brown-nose you, if you know what I mean. They’re all over the place.”

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THROUGH THE YEARS

THE WAR YEARS: 1943-1947

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1899: Burdened with family debt, Asakichi Inouye and his wife, Moyo, agree to migrate from a village in Yokohama, Japan, to Hawaii as contract laborers and send money home to his parents. The Inouyes live at McBryde plantation in Wahiawa, Kauai, with their son Hyotaro. Hyotaro, who supported himself to receive a high school degree at age 25, worked as a file clerk for Theo H. Davies & Co. Ltd.

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1923: Hyotaro Inouye marries Kame Imanaga, the daughter of a Japanese immigrant plantation field laborer. Imanaga, born to Japanese immigrants, became an orphan after her father’s death but was cared for

by Hawaiian families, briefly by the church-run orphanage Susannah Wesley Home, then by the Rev. Daniel Klinefelter’s family, associated with the River Street Methodist Church.

1959

1964

1974

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1987

Members of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa of Minnesota meet with Inouye for a peace pipe ceremony to thank him for introducing legislation honoring their tribe.

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DEC. 7, 1941: Imperial Japan attacks military bases on Oahu, including Pearl Harbor. Inouye, 17, served as a Red Cross volunteer at Lunalilo School that day and later as a medical aide. Martial law is declared, and some 1,500 Japanese in Hawaii, mainly aliens, were arrested and confined in special compounds. Internment of Japanese residents was more widespread in the continental United States.

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1942: Inouye graduates from McKinley High School. Inouye would later recall walking barefoot to school to save his shoes for special occasions.

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1943: Inouye enlists in the U.S. Army, cutting short his medical studies at the University of Hawaii, after the United States allows Japanese-Americans to serve in the military. Inouye serves with E Company of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a group consisting of Americans of Japanese ancestry that would become the most decorated unit in U.S. military history. He is promoted to sergeant in less than a year.

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / OCTOBER 1964

Inouye, his wife, Margaret, and his son, Ken, returned home to Hawaii for a visit in 1964.

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SEPT. 7, 1924: Daniel Ken Inouye is born in Honolulu, the oldest of four children, and raised as a Methodist. In his autobiography “Journey to Washington,” Inouye described his family home on Queen Emma Street as “a teeming Japanese ghetto with two-family houses pressed one on the other…” His mother named him after the prophet Daniel and Klinefelter. His mother also shared with him the story about how Hawaiians had taken her into their home when she was an orphan, instilling in him an understanding and appreciation for the multiethnic community in Hawaii.

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STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / AUGUST 1973

A lifetime member of the Musicians Union, Inouye plays his version of “Danny Boy” at his $100-a-plate fundraiser.

OCTOBER 1944: The 442nd rescues the Texas 141st Infantry Regiment surrounded by Germans in the Vosges Mountains in France. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the rescue of the “The Lost Battalion” is recorded in U.S. military annals as one of the great ground battles of World War II. Two other Texas regiments had tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to rescue the 141st, before the soldiers of the 442nd were called in to do the job.

The 442nd rescued the 211 besieged Texans in three days of fighting that included hand-tohand combat and left nearly half of its Japanese-American soldiers either dead or wounded. Inouye is promoted to lieutenant.

APRIL 21, 1945: Inouye leads a charge against a series of German machine-gun nests on a hill in San Terenzo, Italy, and is severely wounded, forcing the amputation of his right arm. His actions during the battle earn him a Distinguished Service Cross, Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1991

Inouye flashes a shaka during a parade in Honolulu commemorating the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ï

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1946: In the rehabilitation hospital in Atlantic City where he is among whites rehabilitating from war injuries, Inouye begins learning to speak proper English, turning pidgin-English “dat” into “that,” by an officer with a master’s degree in English. Another officer teaches him how to eat with silverware.

He also begins reading literature by Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolfe and learns about wine and how to play bridge.

His education helps set the foundation for him to think seriously about running for political office, according to his autobiography “Journey to Washington.” He meets Capt.

Sakae Takahashi, a wounded veteran with another JapaneseAmerican unit, the 100th Battalion, who became the first Asian in the Territory of Hawaii Cabinet. Inouye later serves as best man at Takahashi’s wedding.

SUMMER 1946: He moves to Battle Creek, Mich., to undergo training and study as part of his final rehabilitation.

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MAY 1947: Inouye is honorably discharged as a captain after undergoing rehabilitation. During his stay at medical facilities, he meets Robert Dole and Philip Hart, wounded veterans who would also become U.S. senators.

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1949: Marries Margaret Shinobu Awamura, a third-generation Japanese-American and a speech instructor at the University of Hawaii.

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1950: Graduates with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Hawaii.

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1952: Graduates from the George Washington University School of Law in Washington, D.C. Returns to Hawaii and works as a deputy prosecuting attorney for the City and County of Honolulu.

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1954: Elected to the Territorial House as one of many Democrats who wrest control of the Legislature from Republicans.

With Inouye’s help, Sakae Takahashi founds Central Pacific Bank to provide loans to minorities, including JapaneseAmericans.

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1958: Elected to the Territorial Senate.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

1987

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1992

2006

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ASSOCIATED PRESS / JULY 1987

Rep. William Broomfield, R-Mich., pretends to rap Inouye during a break in the Iran-Contra hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington.

OFFICE OF U.S. SEN. DANIEL K. INOUYE

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1973-1974: Rises to national

prominence as a member of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities assigned to investigate the burglaries of the Democratic National Committee’s Watergate offices during President Richard Nixon’s 1972 re-election campaign. The committee plays an important role in confirming a White House cover-up that eventually leads to Nixon’s resignation. Ï

1987-1989: Leads a committee investigating the Iran-Contra affair involving officials of President Ronald Reagan’s administration in the secret sale of arms to Iran to fund anti-Sandinista forces, or contras, in Nicaragua.

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1993: Sponsors Title X, returning the island of Kahoolawe to the state of Hawaii. The legislation allowed the funding of some $400 million for the Navy to remove unexploded ordnance and other hazards and a plan to manage the reserve.

The work from 1998 to 2003 was then the largest removal of ordnance ever done by the Navy.

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JUNE 21, 2000: Receives the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II along with 21 other Asian-American veterans.

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / MARCH 1963

Inouye and Peanuts, one of his dogs.

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1959: Hawaii becomes the 50th state, and Inouye is elected as Hawaii’s first congressman. He is the first American of Japanese ancestry to serve in the U.S. House.

1962: Elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first American of Japanese ancestry to serve in the U.S. Senate.

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1964: The Inouyes have a son, Daniel Ken Inouye Jr.

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1967: Inouye publishes an autobiography about his early life, “Journey to Washington,” with Lawrence Elliott.

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1968: Delivers keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Inouye with son Ken, daughterin-law Jessica Carroll and granddaughter Maggie. Ï

2006: Inouye’s wife, Margaret,

dies. Ï

2008: Marries Irene Hirano, president of the U.S.-Japan Council, a nonprofit group in Washington.

Ï

DEC. 17, 2012: Inouye dies at 5:01 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (12:01 p.m. Hawaii time) at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, with wife Irene, son Ken and wife Jessica, and granddaughter Maggie, at his side. His last word is “aloha.”

OFFICE OF U.S. SEN. DANIEL K. INOUYE

Inouye and his second wife, Irene Hirano.

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POWER BROKER “He really was a huge figure in what is fast becoming a bygone era in the Senate.”

Norm Ornstein Congressional scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, on Inouye’s leadership and impact in Washington —————

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2009

Inouye, center, joins other U.S. senators at the Capitol in Washington to announce agreement on the $789 billion economic stimulus measure aimed at lifting the nation out of recession. The lawmakers surrounding Inouye, from left: Susan Collins, R-Maine; Ben Nelson, D-Neb.; Max Baucus, D-Mont.; Inouye; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

Authority without airs Inouye exercised his immense influence in Washington with integrity and respect

By John Yaukey Special to the Star-Advertiser

WASHINGTON >> Had Shakespeare penned a drama of modern American politics, U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye would have played the deceptively quiet, but wise power broker — an owl amid the preening peacocks of Capitol Hill.

In the marbled hallways of Washington, the friendly, black-haired baritone was at once fearfully called “the godfather” and, affectionately, “Zeus.”

Those who write the first draft of history have already begun to cast him as such: a man who wielded immense power not only over the nation’s spending, but also its national security and many other veins of policy.

But Inouye’s authority was always tempered with reserve and a deep compassion that rumbled through his slow, deliberate cadence.

His vast network of influence came not only from his position and credentials — a Medal of Honor winner and major figure in modern events including the Watergate hearings — but also from his style of leadership.

after a stint in the House, he came in as an outsider to the world’s most exclusive club of white men. He left Monday having written new chapters in the book of Washington power. Silence was often his news release; a grin, his comment to a leading question.

“He was a senator’s senator,” said U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.

HE CERTAINLY was in the trenches.

All senators who lead committees pull levers of power. But Inouye was uniquely positioned to influence directly forces that affected Hawaii, the nation and the world.

His well-known chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee gave him as much control over the nation’s purse strings as anyone in Washington, including the president.

The president writes and submits budgets to Congress. But for years, Inouye has been one of the final editors of the multitrillion-dollar document. In a budget of roughly $3 trillion over the past few years, he was TO HEAR his colleagues and observers of American government tell among an insider few who decided where $1 trillion in discretionary it, he had an iron fist of will if he spending went. needed it, but preferred the velvet His leadership of the Senate’s glove, the handshake, the greeting.

So many senators spoke of his tute- spending subcommittee on defense lage, learning the ropes under him in gave him even more authority to decide what got spent and where. Now the world’s most deliberative body, under the man who had served there at roughly $700 billion a year, defense spending has long been one of the almost from the time of an old war largest single slices of the budget pie. they had only read about.

Nothing got into that budget withHis identity and his integrity — not out scrutiny from the bespectacled his position — were his power Chairman Inouye. But plenty was source. added by the stroke of his pen.

“He was a man of remarkable inAs Inouye’s prominence rose in the tegrity, and people appreciated that,” spending committees of Capitol Hill, said Norm Ornstein, a congressional scholar at the American Enterprise In- so too did Hawaii’s fortunes. For more than a decade, Hawaii’s return stitute, a Washington think tank. “He on federal taxation was among the built relationships of trust. He really top among states. was a huge figure in what is fast becoming a bygone era in the Senate.”

IN FISCAL 2010, Hawaii got $317.18 With the imminent retirement of per capita, according to Taxpayers U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, plus Inouye’s death, Hawaii will now lose a century for Common Sense, a respected watchdog group. In second place was of legislative experience and clout in North Dakota with $200.33.

Washington.

“He certainly was an unabashed On Tuesday, Akaka choked back pursuer of earmarks,” said Steve Ellis, tears and said of his colleague and vice president of the watchdog brother, “This will be the first day group. “But it went beyond earmarks that he will not represent Hawaii for Hawaii. He got funding for resince it became a state.”

From statehood in 1959, Inouye had search, university systems, veterans’ benefits, a number of things.” been Hawaii’s man in Washington.

This caused some friction between First elected to the Senate in 1962

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1959

Inouye and Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain, who labeled him as a habitual abuser of federal spending.

But that was just a flare-up among two men whose war records — McCain a Vietnam War prisoner — bound them as closely as any senators.

“I didn’t always agree with him on appropriations,” said McCain, who was among the first on the Senate floor to rise in praise of Inouye after he died. The former fighter pilot called his friend “a uniquely brave legislator.”

A force in national defense, Inouye helped shape the U.S. strategic position in the Pacific as the Pentagon began retooling more than a decade ago for the rise of China and its deep-water navy.

But for all his vaunted prowess as a bringer of bacon to Hawaii, Inouye drew respect because of the fires he had walked through.

And they only started with his war days.

As a young senator with a law degree, he seemed to plow headlong into the toughest issues of the day.

This only deepened his résumé

U.S. Rep.-elect Inouye sat on the Capitol steps with William Miller, House of Representatives doorkeeper, a day after arriving in Washington in August 1959. The 34-year-old Inouye was in Washington for the proclamation of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state later that month and would remain there — shifting to the Senate in 1962 — until his death. and widened his path into Washington’s centers of power.

Inouye gained national recognition for his service on the Senate Watergate Committee.

He was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1975 to 1979.

That led to running the Iran-Contra investigations of the 1980s, in which the White House sought illegal funds to fight a secret war in Central America.

Something long ago had given Inouye a taste for the good fight.

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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MONEY MAN “He had this amazing vision, and it always came back to the individual, to the family.”

Patrick DeLeon Inouye’s former chief of staff, on the senator’s tireless efforts to secure federal funding for state projects —————

Listening to community helped major projects become reality

By Alan Yonan Jr. ayonan@staradvertiser.com

S

EN. DANIEL K. INOUYE earned a reputation for delivering bigbudget projects to Hawaii, such as the H-3 freeway and major military facilities. But the impetus for many of the federally funded initiatives he shepherded through Congress grew out of his everyday interactions with constituents in the community.

When Inouye was delivering a speech on Hawaii island, a member of the audience slipped him a note explaining that his young granddaughter had difficulty breathing when emissions from Kilauea volcano were particularly strong. Hawaii’s senior senator responded by helping channel funding to the Centers for Disease Control to study the effects of volcanic emissions on Hawaii island residents.

“The CDC put together a project with the University of Hawaii medical school that found emergency-room visits rose 80 percent during times of high volcanic activity,” said Patrick DeLeon, Inouye’s longtime chief of staff who retired last year. “It was listening to the little person from which many of these bigger things evolved.”

Inouye also had a knack for connecting with community leaders to determine what programs were needed to strengthen Hawaii’s stature in areas such as education, public health, technology and agriculture.

It was his conversations with Dr. Terrence Rodgers, founder of the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, that inspired Inouye to push for programs enabling nontraditional and disadvantaged students to pursue medical careers.

“He created a whole new track of Native Hawaiian medical students,” DeLeon said.

INOUYE FOLLOWED a similar approach in helping fund a long list of projects. Among them were the College of Pharmacy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the Hawaiian studies program at UH-Manoa, the Women in Technology statewide workforce development initiative, the Ford Island Bridge, the Hawaii Energy and Environmental Technology Initiative, the Papa Ola Lokahi program for Native Hawaiian health care, military housing privatization and the Hale Koa Hotel at Fort DeRussy used by activeduty, reserve and retired military members.

“He would determine what was needed and how to get it done. He had this amazing vision and it always came back to the individual, to the family,” DeLeon said.

Inouye’s commitment to education both at the national and local levels paid dividends for Chaminade University.

The senator was instrumental in helping the university secure federal funding used to launch its nursing program in 2010, said Brother Bernard Ploeger, Chaminade president. The funding was provided under a five-year, $500,000 Title III grant, for which Chaminade qualified because 13.5 percent of its students are of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

The threshold to qualify for the program is 10 percent Native Hawaiian enrollment.

Once the grant is exhausted, the nursing program will be sustained by funding from tuition, Ploeger said.

INOUYE’S SUPPORT for establishing the federally funded U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo illustrated his commitment to agriculture in Hawaii and the rest of the region, said Dennis Gonsalves, the center’s director.

The $53 million center that was proposed in 1996 and opened in 2007 brought together under one roof work that the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been doing separately on each of the major Hawaiian islands.

“Sen. Inouye wanted to build PBARC as a legacy for Hawaii’s farmers. Funding for state programs goes up and down with the economy, but having the USDA funding means we

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / DECEMBER 1963

At top, the 1964 national March of Dimes Child, 5-year-old Mary Lou Graves of Flint, Mich., spends a moment with Inouye during a tour of the U.S. Senate.

At left, Inouye toured the new Ford Island Child Development Center in October with Navy Capt. Jeffrey James, commander of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, and Adm. Frank Ponds, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific.

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE / OCTOBER 2012

can focus on the long term,” Gonsalves said. “To the credit of Sen. Inouye, when he saw sugar plantations and pineapple begin to go down, he knew that Hawaii would need help. So he utilized earmarks to build this research center. It’s another one of the huge impacts that Sen. Inouye had on the state.”

One of the center’s major focuses is in work to develop insect-control treatments that allow farmers to ship their products out of state, Gonsalves said.

PBARC also has a team of researchers working on ways to control the coffee berry borer, a beetle that officials fear could severely damage Hawaii’s $27 million coffee-farming industry. One of the strategies researchers are exploring is a way to

have the coffee bean ripen in a shorter period of time before the beetle can do its damage, Gonsalves said.

“We’re also looking at ways to make use of agricultural waste — things like turning waste papaya fruit into biofuels and high-protein feed.

It’s a way of offsetting the high cost of farming in Hawaii.”

INOUYE’S WORK on the energy front included obtaining federal funding for a host of programs in Hawaii. He helped secure $14.8 million to develop hydrogen-powered fuel-cell vehicles in Hawaii, $5 million in annual funding for the Hawaii Energy and Environmental Technology Initiative and about $5 million annually for the Hawaii Renewable

Energy Development Venture.

Inouye spoke at a meeting of the HREDV in October and announced that for the next four years he would be concentrating on energy, said Mark Glick, administrator of the state Energy Office of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Inouye also would meet once a quarter with Glick, DBEDT Director Richard Lim and other members of the local energy community to see what projects needed funding, Glick said.

“He certainly was on top of it.

Watching him I saw that he not only had a good grasp of things, but the vision to move things forward. He understood he had the ability to make things happen.”

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MILITARY MIGHT “That camaraderie of being a soldier never left him.”

Lt. Gen. Frank Wiercinski Head of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, recounting conversations he would have with Inouye during his visits to Washington —————

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2008

Inouye attends the 67th-anniversary ceremony commemorating the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Isles’ profile elevated in pivotal Asia-Pacific Hawaii’s role in the region was nurtured with federal funding and facility upgrades

By William Cole wcole@staradvertiser.com

T

HERE was no greater friend and ally to Hawaii’s considerable military might than U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, say those who knew and worked with him.

Inouye “saw the importance of the Pacific long before anybody else did.

He saw that’s where the eventual (military) buildup would have to come,” said Bill Paty, a D-Day veteran, Oahu resident and emeritus civilian aide to the secretary of the Army.

Inouye helped posture Hawaii militarily for the Pacific “pivot” or “rebalance” before both became buzzwords at the Pentagon and a mainstay of U.S. defense strategy.

Lt. Gen. Frank Wiercinski, head of the U.S. Army in the Pacific, said Inouye was a son of Hawaii, a Japanese-American patriot who served in World War II, a Medal of Honor recipient and a statesman who was the senior member of the U.S. Senate.

“But the thing that defines him in all that is he is a great human being,” Wiercinski said.

In 1968, Inouye called the Vietnam War “immoral.” He voted in 2001 for the use of force in Afghanistan, but against it in Iraq in 2002.

“I think he was a man of conscience,” said retired Army Gen. David Bramlett. Inouye didn’t confuse the instruments of national power — the military — with what it was called upon to do, he said.

“We did what our nation asked us to do. He didn’t confuse the role of the military with the fairness or unfairness, or justice or injustice of war,” said Bramlett, who served in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division.

When Inouye spoke out against Vietnam and Iraq, “I think it was sensitivity to the price of it,” Bramlett said. “But once a battle was joined, I never sensed anything less than support for those that were called upon to do their duty.”

Inouye is credited with shepherding through Congress the Army’s Stryker vehicle brigade at Schofield

Barracks and F-22 Raptor fighters and C-17 cargo carriers at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Each project brought additional military capability to the U.S. presence in the Pacific, and added millions to Hawaii’s economy.

It was Inouye who announced in 2007 that the Hawaii, Texas and North Carolina were to be the first batch of new Virginia-class submarines headed for a new home port in Hawaii and duty in the Pacific.

OFFICIALS SAY he was responsible for hundreds of millions in upgrades over the past 10 years at the Pearl Harbor shipyard, the state’s largest industrial employer, and directed more than $950 million in improvements to the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai to support state-of-the-art missile defense testing and systems.

Inouye said last April that the U.S. would move as many as 2,700 Marines from Japan to Hawaii as the Pentagon scaled back a massive Marine Corps buildup project on Guam.

With those projects have come jobs and key economic support.

A RAND Corp. study determined that Defense Department expenditures in Hawaii during the fiscal years 2007 to 2009 averaged $6.5 billion a year in 2009 dollars — $4.1 billion for personnel and $2.4 billion for procurement.

Those expenditures were associated with $12.2 billion worth of Hawaii’s output — 18 percent of Hawaii’s 2009 gross domestic product — and 101,000 jobs.

When Inouye spoke about the military — usually tersely, which was his style — people sat up and listened to every word because he effected so much change.

David Carey, president and chief executive of Outrigger Enterprises Group and chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii’s Military Affairs Council, saw Inouye’s clout on annual trips to Washington, D.C., by

U.S. ARMY / 1963

Capt. Acoba, left, and Lt. Col. Hoseman, right, escorted Inouye at a U.S. Army base near Ramstein, Germany. the business group.

“When we go to the Pentagon and when we go to the rest of the Hill, because Sen. Inouye has been associated with Hawaii, it elevates the attention that we get as a state and for the military activity that we’ve got here,” Carey said. “You are definitely listened to. You are not ignored.”

Inouye’s military influence reached out in so many ways.

“He will be a great loss to the security of the Asia-Pacific region, where he was instrumental, I think, crafting up U.S. policy and strategy for the region,” said Charlie Ota, vice president for military affairs for the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

Ota said another key area of Inouye’s influence, using the military’s presence in Hawaii, was in research and development.

INOUYE WAS BEHIND the development of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research, Ota said.

The Hawaii Technology Development Venture under it, funded by the Office of Naval Research, sought to expand the ability of Hawaii-based small businesses to develop advanced technologies related to Defense Department programs.

Year after year, Inouye’s office sent

out news releases detailing the myriad projects that he supported for Hawaii.

In May the Senate Appropriations Committee headed by Inouye approved $366 million for military construction projects here.

“Today, as America’s defense posture shifts to account for the challenges in the Asia-Pacific, the military’s mission in this region is as important as it was when I served in the Army many years ago,” Inouye said in a statement at the time.

“These measures provide the funding necessary to build the infrastructure and housing we need in Hawaii to support our men and women in uniform,” he added.

The list included $29 million for an Army automated infantry platoon battle course at Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii island, $85 million for combat aviation brigade barracks at Wheeler Army Airfield, $82.6 million for an MV-22 Osprey hangar and infrastructure at Kaneohe Bay and $24 million for a SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 waterfront operations facility.

Past campaign material said “having witnessed the horrors of war firsthand, Dan Inouye has committed himself to doing everything within his power to prevent war” by fortifying national security and providing “the

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

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UPI / 1959

Inouye donned an Army uniform again during a 1959 visit with U.S. troops in Korea. Maj. Gen. Harry P. Storke, commander of I Corps, escorted him on his tour. Inouye also visited the 1st Cavalry Division, the Turkish Brigade and the Royal Thailand Company. best possible assistance” to American servicemen and women.

Inouye was wounded at least three times and lost his right arm charging German machine-gun nests in Italy in 1945.

Paty, who knew Inouye from the start of his political career after the war, said his soldiering past helped define Inouye the politician and his support of the military for the rest of his life.

“There is nothing like the support when you go to combat, and in his case he lost an arm,” Paty said. “The band of brothers there inherently prevails.”

Kerry Gershaneck, a senior associate at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies and former congressional and public affairs officer for the Pearl Harbor shipyard, said Inouye’s death is a real blow to the state.

“We’ve lost, clearly, the leading statesman and the most effective advocate for the state of Hawaii in Washington, D.C.,” Gershaneck said.

Among Inouye’s accomplishments, Gershaneck said the senator laid the foundation for U.S. Pacific Command to remain in Hawaii with the opening in 2004 of a more than $150 million new headquarters at Camp Smith called the Nimitz-MacArthur Pacific

STAR-ADVERTISER FILE / 1964

Inouye visits Hawaii cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., during an annual gathering.

Command Center.

Projections are that this year and next year, the shipyard is “going to be sitting very well” with military construction projects, Gershaneck said.

“He (Inouye) knew best the importance of setting up the shipyard so in the long run it had the modern facilities, it had the trained workforce, that we needed to compete with the other

shipyards in the 21st century,” he said.

Politics, not just military necessity, plays a part in which military programs get funded and where. Hawaii will now be at a disadvantage without Inouye’s seniority and leadership, Gershaneck said.

“Within the Pentagon it isn’t just political clout. People can read a map

and they know … the importance of Hawaii,” he said.

“There will always be advocates for the importance of Hawaii within the Department of Defense,” Gershaneck said. “But it helps tremendously when you have senior members of Congress from Hawaii on the political side.”

The Defense Department already has been cutting back, and Gershaneck said common sense says that “we have to be quite concerned” about a loss of funding coming into the state.

Wiercinski, the three-star general who heads up U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter, said Hawaii and the nation lost a great patriot in Inouye.

Wiercinski said he also feels the loss of a fellow soldier and friend.

“Every time I was in (Washington), he would ask me to just come and sit with him and talk with him,” Wiercinski said. “Of course, a lot of the conversation was always about ‘What do we need to do for the military? What do we need to do for the Army?’ But then, for the last 15 minutes or so, we’d drift to, ‘I remember my time as a soldier,’ and we’d talk about being a soldier. That camaraderie of being a soldier never left him, and I think he enjoyed talking about that more than the business end of it.”

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TRIBUTES

President Barack Obama Our country has lost a true American hero. …

The second-longest-serving senator in the history of the chamber, Danny represented the people of Hawaii in Congress from the moment they joined the Union. In Washington he worked to strengthen our military, forge bipartisan consensus and hold those of us in government accountable to the people we were elected to serve. But it was his incredible bravery during World War II — including one heroic effort that cost him his arm but earned him the Medal of Honor — that made Danny not just a colleague and a mentor, but someone revered by all of us lucky enough to know him.

Vice President Joe Biden Everyone in the Senate not only admired Danny Inouye, but they trusted him. We all knew he would do the moral thing regardless of the consequences — whether it was passing judgment on a President during Watergate or on another President in the Iran Contra hearings. And Danny always remembered where he came from — and how hard his family had to struggle. From having to fight for the right to fight for his country in the all Japanese-American 442nd, to his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1968, he always spoke of the country’s struggles with racism and bias, and his call for a “new era of politics.” And to his dying day, he fought for a new era of politics where all men and women are treated with equality.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sen. Daniel K. Akaka

U.S. secretary of state

D-Hawaii

No matter what barrier was in his way, Danny shattered it. He was the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in history and the first Japanese-American to serve in the House of Representatives and Senate.

He was a soldier, a Medal of Honor recipient and a hero. But … he never lost his humility and compassion.

(He was) a tireless advocate for the disenfranchised, minorities and women throughout the country. He spent his life working for a brighter future, and we are all better off for it.

It is very difficult for me to bid aloha to my good friend, colleague and brother, Dan Inouye. Sen. Inouye was a true patriot and American hero. … His legacy is not only the loving family he leaves behind; it can be seen in every mile of every road in Hawaii, in every nature preserve, in every facility that makes Hawaii a safer place. …

He leaves behind him a list of accomplishments unlikely to ever be paralleled. … Every child born in Hawaii will learn of Dan Inouye, a man who changed our islands forever.

★★★

NEW YORK TIMES

IN MEMORIAM Condolences posted via Facebook on staradvertiser.com. More comments can be found at staradvertiser.com: • Back in 1963 I wrote you about my dislike for the military base I was stationed and in 5 days you had me shipping out to Germany and that move started my career to where I am today. You also came to Hughes Aircraft Co. and told our president of the company to hire more people from Hawaii. You have been an inspiration in my whole life. Thank you very much Senater Inouye. My deepest prayers are with you.

— Stanley Ibrao • In my view, Senator Inouye stands for so many important moments in our history: First and foremost the 442nd and the important part the combat team played in WW II. I remember Senator Inouye as a person who always fought for the overcoming of prejudice and racism; and who always worked for the advancement of the state of Hawai‘i and our nation. His family and friends and colleagues are in my prayers.

— Kristin Luana Baumann

• My memorable moment for me to • Fought a war for a country that had • We have lost a great hero and dediSenator Daniel K. Inouye was durhis family locked up in an interncated US SENATOR that represented ing my Freshman Year at Damien ment camp. Hell of a man! Those the state of HAWAII for all these Memorial High School in the 1981were in fact men. I'm not sure they years! You have accomplished mon82 school year! I met Senator Inmake them like that anymore. umental tasks and created a better ouye during a cloudy and rainy day — Kevin Edwards place for all to live in Hawaii and we at Thomas Square Park for the Ancherish all the fond memories of nual Damien Day Parade march in your unselfish dedication and inspi• God Bless You, Senator Dan Inouye.

April of 1982! To my astonishment, I ration to everyone. With Deepest [1924-2012] You were one of Amerpresented my right hand to him for Sympathy and Condolences to the ica’s Greatest Public Servants — in a traditional greeting hand shake Inouye Family — Aloha and Mahalo!

War and in Peace — throughout only to see that Senator Inouye did— Wesley Nakahara your lifetime. Hawaii was most fortun’t have his right arm! I apologized nate to have you in Congress since to him, but he laughed with an unthe first days of Statehood in the • There are no words to express how derstanding humor as he told me, U.S. House and then the U.S. Senate much you were loved here in Hawaii.

“That’s okay! I forget simple things until today. American Indians and Your endless efforts and acts of valsometimes!” Senator Inouye’s huAlaskan Natives have had few our shaped our Island and made us mor was very impressionable as I Greater Friends and Advocates in who we are today! You were a gentle shook his hand with my left hand! the Congress, the Government and soul with a big heart and your voice This was my greatest memory of the Nation. We’ll miss your many which always spoke words of kindhim aside his outstanding and dedivisits to Western Washington, ness will truly be missed beyond cated efforts in serving the people Franks Landing, and Seattle to rejoin measure! You truly represented of Hawaii very well altogether! We’ll your dwindling WWII Veterans unit.

Hawaii and we are truly grateful for definitely miss you Senator Inouye!

Our sorrow is deep. Our Prayers are all you have done for us. This is truly — Ryannew Atmospera Azada with your wife and family. a sad day today! God bless your fam— Hank Adams ily during this difficult time. Thank you Senator Dan for being a part of history. Fly like angels.

— Madeline Mendes

COMMEMORATIVE EDITION

Gov. Neil Abercrombie The Senator gave everything. He knew the true meaning of “Go for Broke.” He left us with a legacy of honor and service to the people of Hawaii, to the people of this nation, without parallel. The senator recently made clear to me his love and affection for us all. He said, “I represented the people of Hawaii and this nation honestly and to the best of my ability.

I think I did OK.” I’m sure we all believe he did OK. Our responsibility is to not just carry on, but carry through on his total devotion and commitment to Hawaii and its values.

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Retired Gen. Eric Shinseki

Sen. Harry Reid

Shimon Peres

U.S. secretary of veterans’ affairs

Senate majority leader (D-Nev.)

President of Israel

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye stood among the “greatest” of our “Greatest Generation.” Recipient of the Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest award for valor; distinguished service as a longserving member of the U.S. Senate; and role model to generations of Americans of Asian-Pacific Islander heritage, especially those growing up in his beloved Hawaii.

Sen. Inouye made public service a noble and honorable calling. Dan Inouye’s courage on the battlefield and in Congress, his passion for making a difference in the lives of average Americans, and his intense modesty spoke volumes about a remarkable American who embodied the bedrock values and quiet virtues of our nation.

My dear friend Sen. Daniel Inouye, the senior senator from Hawaii, was one of the finest men I have known in my lifetime. He was one of the most distinguished senators this body has ever seen. … Sen. Inouye’s son once asked him why — after being called “enemy aliens” and after being held in internment camps — he and the members of the famed 442nd fought so heroically. Sen. Inouye told his son that he fought “for the children.” For children, there could be no finer role model than Sen. Inouye.

We in Israel feel we have lost a steadfast friend of our country and people. We shall forever remember his unflagging commitment to Israel’s well-being, its security and economy, and defense-related projects that he supported (which) were instrumental in saving Israeli lives, for which we are grateful. He will always hold a special place in our hearts.

★★★

W

E ARE ALL heartbroken to learn of the passing of this American hero. His legacy of self-sacrifice, service and aloha will never be replicated. … For all of his accomplishments, he never lost his sense of aloha or his love for Hawaii.

Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz ------------------Sen. Dan Inouye served the people of Hawaii and our country with great dignity and honor. A true statesman, his lifelong work has left an indelible mark on Hawaii and he leaves behind a legacy that we will never forget.

Shan Tsutsui State Senate president

-------------------

ASSOCIATED PRESS

HIGHEST HONOR Above, Inouye’s widow, Irene Hirano, gazed upon his casket Thursday as it lay in the U.S. Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. Colleagues and aides lined the area five deep to bid farewell to the revered senator in a morning ceremony that included remembrances by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Vice President Joe Biden.

At left, Inouye’s flag-draped casket was placed upon the same catafalque, or platform, that bore the coffin of President Abraham Lincoln. Only 31 people have rested in the Capitol rotunda. The last senator to be so honored after dying in office was Minnesota’s Hubert Humphrey — who in 1968 was urged to pick Inouye to be his vice presidential running mate — in 1978.

Biden said each person who has lain in state in the Capitol had a quality that was uniquely American. For Inouye, it was a moral compass that allowed him to do extraordinary things as a solider and as a senator. “I’ve never met a man or woman in that period with as much physical and moral courage as Daniel Inouye,” Biden said, referring to Inouye’s years in the Senate. “I never met a man with as much loyalty to his country, to his family and to his friends.”

• Thank You for being a “pathfinder” for all Asians in America. I will never forget you and all your sacrifices to prove our worthiness in America.

— Leland K Sun • Dear Senator Inouye: I had the privilege of meeting you on a few occasions and you were always so kind and gracious, quietly brilliant, and profoundly humble. I referred to you as “Uncle Dan” and while you would have welcomed being addressed in such a manner, I was always too awestruck to address you in any way other than Senator Inouye. You were a prime example of “how to be” — a good Japanese, a great soldier, an exemplary public servant. From the bottom of my heart … Mahalo nui loa.

— Stacey Shimabuku

• Mahalo for your support of the US Army in Hawaii and most importantly your support of the Army’s Ecosystem Management Program.

Under this program, we are able to protect over 100 endangered species as well as many Hawaiian cultural sites, as well as sustain the military mission and garner community support. You helped us get this program started and sustained it through tough times. You were a great believer and practitioner in ‘malama aina’ and you will truly be missed.

— Alvin Char

——— For more condolence messages, or to post your own, go to www.staradvertiser.com/specialprojects/2012/inouye.

On behalf of the House of Representatives, words cannot express the profound impact Sen. Inouye had upon our state and our nation. He helped shape our state since statehood, and devoted his life to public service, for which Hawaii will be eternally grateful. He has truly been a great hero for our people, past and present, and he will remain one of the great historical figures in Hawaii’s history for time immemorial. We are deeply saddened by the news of the senator’s passing and extend our prayers and condolences to his wife, Irene Hirano, and his son, Ken Inouye, and his family.

gave us hope and a strong belief that we can make things happen. He always encouraged me to look at all sides of the issue and to stand firm on a decision once it’s made. And above all he reminded me to do everything with aloha. So now we say “aloha” to you, Sen. Inouye, and mahalo for your many, many good works — which will benefit us for generations to come.

Bernard P. Carvalho Jr. Mayor, Kauai County

------------------Beyond the titles, beyond the power and the influence, what most stands out is his thoughtfulness, his kindness and how he treated everyone with respect and aloha. I will never forget that lesson. … He taught all of us how to conduct ourselves as public servants.

Billy Kenoi Mayor, Hawaii island

------------------We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Ever since Sen. Inouye began his career in public service in 1954, he has always championed the interests of Hawaii’s people. His service to Maui County, the state and the entire nation will never be forgotten. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones during this very difficult time.

Rep. Calvin Say State House speaker

Alan Arakawa

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Mayor, Maui County

He was larger than life and had an impact far beyond his beloved island state. In his own life he shattered many barriers, more than deserved the Medal of Honor, and always fought for his positions and for Hawaii. He was a true hero and was the foundation of Hawaii’s economy.

His ability to get things done is legendary, unsurpassed, and he always crossed partisan lines.

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For all of us at Central Pacific Bank, Sen. Inouye holds a special place in our hearts, not only as a former director of the board, but as one of the bank’s key founding members. Inouye, a distinguished war veteran who saw how difficult it was for his fellow comrades to obtain loans upon returning home, had the foresight to conclude that the time had come to form a bank that could provide such services not only to the Japanese, but Sam Slom to all communities. Sen. Inouye exemState Senate minority leader plified true leadership, and was ad------------------mired and beloved by many. He leaves behind an enormous legacy, From the time he served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team until one which we should all be very his final days in the United States Sen- proud of. ate, he was a dedicated public servant who will be greatly missed by John C. Dean Hawaii and the nation. Senator InoPresident and CEO, Central Pacific Bank uye provided invaluable support to ------------------the federal court in a myriad of ways over the decades he served in the The walking on of Sen. Daniel InoSenate. uye leaves a hero-sized void in his native state of Hawaii, the U.S. Senate Chamber and across Indian Country.

Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway It is with a heavy heart that we honor U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii this man, who was such a beloved ------------------leader, warrior and advocate. Sen. It’s hard to imagine Hawaii without Inouye was one of us and championed American Indian and Alaska Naour beloved Sen. Inouye. He was a tive issues. true gentleman, an honored veteran He raised the level of dialogue on and a man of the highest integrity. He protecting tribal sovereignty, cultural wasn’t a politician; he was a statestraditions and government-to-governman. I had come to know him over the past few years as a generous and ment relationships. He served the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs kind mentor who was always there for Kauai and made it known that the with honor and respect. He will be missed immensely, and we at the door was open for any request we Cherokee Nation are keeping his fammight have. Kauai held a special ily in our thoughts and prayers. place in his heart as he had family ties on Kauai and spent part of his childhood here. He truly set the foun- Bill John Baker dation that Hawaii rests on today. He Principal chief of the Cherokee Nation

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DANIEL K. INOUYE

H O N O L U L U S TA R - A D V E R T I S E R > > F R I D AY 1 2 / 2 1 / 1 2

IN HIS OWN WORDS

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 1973

Inouye shares a quiet moment with his son, Kenny, 9, as they stroll through the backyard of their Washington, D.C., home.

There would remain ties of tradition and sentiment with the old country, but there would never be any confusion about my parents’ allegiance: they were Americans, the proud distillation of the union between the girl from Maui and the boy from Kauai whose forebears had been Buddhists.”

Inouye’s 1967 autobiography, “Journey to Washington” ——— “And then we saw the planes. They came zooming up out of that sea of gray smoke, flying north toward where we stood and climbing into the bluest part of the sky. And they came in twos and threes, in neat formations, and if it hadn’t been for that red ball on their wings, the rising sun of the Japanese empire, you could easily believe that they were Americans, flying over in precise military salute.”

On Dec. 7, 1941; “Journey to Washington” ——— “I don’t know how it got started, but pretty soon our pidgin English expression, ‘Go for broke!’ became the combat team motto. What did it mean?

To give everything we did everything we had; to jab every bayonet dummy as though it were a living, breathing Nazi; to scramble over an obstacle course as though our lives depended on it; to march quick-time until we were ready to drop, and then break into a trot.”

On the 442nd Regimental Combat Team; “Journey to Washington” ——— “The doctors looked at me; they're mumbling among themselves. Two minutes later a chaplain comes up — opening words: 'God loves you.' I said: 'I know that. I love him too,’” Inouye recounted with a chuckle. “‘But I'm not ready to meet him yet!’”

On the aftermath of being shot three times in combat

“I closed my eyes. So that was that. From now on they could call me Lefty. I think that was the first moment I thought of myself as an amputee. But it’s a funny thing — neither then, nor during all of the long months of rehabilitation, did I consider myself a cripple or an invalid.

It just never became part of my thinking. It isn’t part of my thinking today.”

“Journey to Washington” ——— “I gave this arm to fight fascists. If my country wants the other one to fight communists, it can have it. What are you prepared to give?”

At a 1953 campaign debate for the Hawaii Territorial Legislature ——— “I doubt we can blame all the trouble of our times on Vietnam. Whether we know it or not, the marching feet of youth have led us into a new era of politics, and we can never turn back.”

At the 1968 Democratic National Convention ——— “I hope that the mistakes made and suffering imposed upon Japanese-Americans nearly 60 years ago will not be repeated against Arab-Americans whose loyalties are now being called into question.”

May 17, 2003, commencement address at the University of Hawaii at Hilo ——— “The people of the United States were stunned.

(President Richard) Nixon projected this squeakyclean image, and suddenly we found ourselves listening to this language that would even make a stevedore blush. Those expletive-deleteds convicted him. His own words convicted him."

June 1997, reflecting on the secret White House tapes in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s. Inouye served on the Senate Watergate Committee.

“Democracy is not a goal we can achieve; it’s something else, way out there. It will always need protection and tending. It is our work toward that goal that helps makes life fair and balanced for everyone and ensures opportunities for all citizens.”

April 2011 ——— “(There exists) a shadowy government with its own Air Force and its own Navy, its own fundraising mechanism and the ability to pursue its own idea of the national interest, free from all checks and balances, and free from the law itself.”

July 1987, as co-chairman of a Senate-House committee investigating the Iran-Contra scandal ——— “Rights guaranteed by the Constitution were sacrificed under the cloak of national security. This has been a common occurrence in the United States, and I think the time has come when we should put a stop to this. In the name of national security, it has been fashionable to deny other Americans their constitutional rights.”

April 11, 1988, on reparations for the illegal internment of Japanese-Americans in World War II ——— “On this day, let us remember all those who have had the courage to put on the uniform and sacrifice for our great nation. Our way of life has always, and will always be, protected and preserved by volunteers willing to give their lives for what we believe in.”

Dec. 7, 2012, on Pearl Harbor Day

Compiled by Star-Advertiser staff. For more Daniel K. Inouye quotes, go to staradvertiser.com/inouyeinhisownwords.