Senator Daniel K. Inouye, 1924-2012
December 17th, 2012Daniel Inouye passed away today at the age of eighty-eight. He’s been a senator from Hawaii for as long as I can remember — for almost as long as I’ve been alive — having been first elected in 1962. He was the most senior member of the United States senate, a man who came from poverty, served heroically in World War II, had a large role in the push for statehood, and elected to the Senate at the age of thirty-eight.
In middle school I remember reading his autobiography, Journey to Washington, written with Lawrence Elliott, and being hugely impressed.
No one is perfect, but Daniel Inouye served his state and his country for nearly all of his life. He will be greatly missed.
The Star Advertiser has a detailed biography on the senator, not presently paywalled.
Posted on: Monday, December 17th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Categories: Hawaii.
Tags: Daniel K. Inouye
December 28th, 2012 at 2:24 pm
The only time I shook hands with Dan Inouye when he was first running for the senate in 1961; he dropped in at one of my classes at Washington Intermediate, his old intermediate alma mater! Saw him several times while working at Haleakala National Park including coordinating and flying him from Blue Hawaiian hangar to Kaupo – I had to give him and other dignitaries an aerial orientation to the park as well as showing Inouye the Campbell Estate lands we were interested in acquiring. A few years later, as Interim Superintendent, his office called me to confirm the park was still interested in acquiring the land to which I said “yes”. He then secured the funds and we got the land. He will be greatly missed!
December 28th, 2012 at 3:06 pm
I don’t think I ever saw him in real life — something I now regret. He did so much for Hawaii.