Daniel Kahikina Akaka (; September 11, 1924 – April 6, 2018) was an American educator and politician who served as a

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and po ...

from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

from 1990 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Akaka was the first U.S. Senator of

Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

ancestry. Born in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...

, he served in the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He attended the

University of Hawaii A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, where he received his bachelor's and master's degrees. Originally a high school teacher, Akaka went on to serve as a principal for six years. In 1969, the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

hired him as a chief program planner. In the 1970s, he served in various governmental positions. Akaka was first elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

in 1976 to represent

Hawaii's 2nd congressional district Hawaii's 2nd congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is currently represented by Kai Kahele, who succeeded Tulsi Gabbard following the 2020 election. The district encompasses all rural and most suburba ...

; he served for 13 years. In 1990, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed the deceased

Spark Matsunaga Spark Masayuki Matsunaga ( ja, 松永正幸, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as United States Senator for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U.S. ...

, subsequently winning the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

to complete Matsunaga's term. He would later be reelected to three full terms. In March 2011, he announced he would not run for reelection in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. After fellow U.S. Senator

Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( ; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. Beginning in 1959, he was the first U.S. representative ...

died on December 17, 2012, Akaka became the state's

senior senator United States senators are conventionally ranked by the length of their tenure in the Senate. The senator in each U.S. state with the longer time in office is known as the ''senior senator''; the other is the ''junior senator''. This convention ...

for 2 weeks until he left office on January 3, 2013. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat

Mazie Hirono Mazie Keiko Hirono (; Japanese name: , ; born November 3, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Hawaii since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Hirono previously served as a member of th ...

Early life, family, and education

Daniel Kahikina Akaka was born in

, the son of Annie (née Kahoa) and Kahikina Akaka. His paternal grandfather was born in Swatow,

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

during the late

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, and his other grandparents were of

descent. His brother was Rev. Abraham Akaka. Akaka described Hawaiian as his " native tongue". Akaka graduated from

Kamehameha Schools Kamehameha Schools, formerly called Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate (KSBE), is a private school system in Hawaii established by the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, under the terms of the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, who was a formal memb ...

in 1942. During

he served in the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

, including service on

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

and

Tinian Tinian ( or ; old Japanese name: 天仁安島, ''Tenian-shima'') is one of the three principal islands of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Together with uninhabited neighboring Aguiguan, it forms Tinian Municipality, one of the ...

. He served from 1945 to 1947. He worked as a welder and a mechanic and in 1948 was a first mate on the

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

''Morning Star''. Akaka married Mary Mildred "Millie" Chong on May 22, 1948. The Akakas had five children. Entering college (funded by the G.I. Bill), Akaka earned a

Bachelor of Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order f ...

in 1952 from the

. He later received a

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

from the same school in 1966.

Early career

Akaka worked as a high school teacher in Honolulu from 1953 until 1960, when he was hired as a vice principal. In 1963, he became head principal. In 1969, the

Department of Health, Education and Welfare The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

hired Akaka as a chief program planner. Akaka then continued working in government, holding positions as director of the Hawaii Office of Economic Opportunity, human resources assistant for Governor George Ariyoshi and director of the Progressive Neighborhoods Program.

U.S. House of Representatives

Akaka was first elected to the

in 1976 to represent , comprising all of the state outside the inner ring of Honolulu. He was reelected seven times, all by wide margins.

U.S. Senate (1990-2013)

Elections

Akaka was appointed by Governor John Waihee to the U.S. Senate in April 1990 to serve temporarily after the death of Senator

. In November of the same year, he was elected to complete the remaining four years of Matsunaga's unexpired term, defeating U.S. Representative

Pat Saiki Patricia Hatsue Saiki (''née'' Fukuda; born May 28, 1930) is an American politician and former educator from Hilo, Hawaii. She served as a Republican in Congress from 1987 to 1991 and then as Administrator of the Small Business Administration u ...

with 53% of the vote. He was reelected in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

for a full six-year term with over 70% of the vote. He was reelected almost as easily in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

. For the 2006 election, he overcame a strong primary challenge from U.S. Representative

Ed Case Edward Espenett Case (born September 27, 1952) is an American lawyer and Democratic politician serving as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 1st congressional district, which covers the urban core of Honolulu. He represented the 2nd distr ...

, then won a third full term with 61 percent of the vote, defeating Cynthia Thielen.

Tenure

During his Senate tenure, Akaka served as the Chair of the

United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 19 ...

and the

United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs deals with oversight of United States veterans problems and issues. Description The committee was created in 1970 to transfer responsibilities for veterans from the Finance and Labor commi ...

. In 1996, Akaka successfully sponsored legislation that led to nearly two-dozen Medals of Honor being belatedly awarded to Asian-American soldiers in the

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

and the

100th Infantry Battalion The 100th Infantry Battalion ( ja, 第100歩兵大隊, ''Dai Hyaku Hohei Daitai'') is the only infantry unit in the United States Army Reserve. In World War II, the then-primarily Nisei battalion was composed largely of former members of the H ...

. He also successfully passed legislation compensating

Philippine Scouts The Philippine Scouts ( Filipino: ''Maghahanap ng Pilipinas'' or ''Hukbong Maghahanap ng Pilipinas'') was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until after the end of World War II. These troops were generally Filipinos a ...

who were refused veterans benefits. From 2000 until his retirement from the Senate in 2013, Akaka sponsored legislation, known as the Akaka Bill, to afford

sovereignty Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawa ...

. In 2005, Akaka acknowledged in an interview with NPR that the Akaka Bill could eventually result in outright independence. The Akaka Bill has been supported as a means of restoring Hawaiian self-determination lost with the 1893 overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and would include giving up the ability to sue for sovereignty in federal courts in exchange for recognition by the federal government (but would not block sovereignty claims made under international law.) The bill has been criticized as discriminating on the basis on ethnic origin in that only Native Hawaiians would be permitted to participate in the governing entity that the bill would establish. In October 2002, Akaka voted against authorizing the use of military force against Iraq. In April 2006, he was selected by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' as one of America's Five Worst Senators. The article criticized him for mainly authoring minor legislation, calling him "master of the minor resolution and the bill that dies in committee". In February 2009, a bill was authored in the

Philippine House of Representatives The House of Representatives of the Philippines ( fil, Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan ng Pilipinas, italic=unset, ''Kamara'' or ''Kamara de Representantes'' from the Spanish word ''cámara'', meaning "chamber") is the lower house of Congress, the ...

by Rep. Antonio Diaz seeking to confer honorary Filipino citizenship on Akaka, Senators

and

Ted Stevens Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. (November 18, 1923 – August 9, 2010) was an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican Senator in history at the time he left ...

and Representative

Bob Filner Robert Earl "Bob" Filner (born September 4, 1942) is an American former politician who was the 35th mayor of San Diego from December 2012 through August 2013, when he resigned amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment. He later pleaded gui ...

, for their role in securing the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans. On March 2, 2011, Akaka announced he would not be running for re-election in the 2012 U.S. Senate elections. The 88-year-old Akaka attended his final session in the Senate on December 12, 2012. He closed his speech with a traditional Hawaiian farewell, "a hui hou" (until we meet again).

Committee assignments

Senator Daniel Akaka and Senator Barack Obama

* Committee on Armed Services ** Subcommittee on Personnel ** Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support ** Subcommittee on SeaPower * Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs ** Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development ** Subcommittee on Financial Institutions ** Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment *

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is the chief oversight committee of the United States Senate. It has jurisdiction over matters related to the Department of Homeland Security and other homeland s ...

** Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security ** Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia (Chairman) ** Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration *

Committee on Indian Affairs The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 19 ...

(Chairman) * Committee on Veterans' Affairs *Congressional Task Force on Native Hawaiian Issues (Chairman)

Caucus memberships

Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) is a caucus consisting of members of the United States Congress who are Asian American and Pacific Islander ( AAPI), and who have a strong interest in advocating and promoting issues and c ...

*Congressional Biotechnology Caucus *Congressional Postal Caucus (Vice Chair) * International Conservation Caucus *Senate Anti-Meth Caucus *Senate Army Caucus (Co-Chair) *Senate Sweetener Caucus (Co-Chair) *

Senate Oceans Caucus The Senate Oceans Caucus is a bipartisan caucus working to increase awareness and find common ground in responding to issues facing the oceans and coasts. The caucus was originally co-chaired by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Lisa ...

Death

Akaka died of organ failure in the early hours of April 6, 2018, at the age of 93. Former president

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

remembered Akaka as "a tireless advocate for working people, veterans, native Hawaiian rights, and the people of Hawaii. .. He embodied the aloha spirit with compassion and care."

Electoral history

References

External links

* * , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Akaka, Daniel 1924 births 2018 deaths 21st-century American politicians American military personnel of Chinese descent American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent American people of Native Hawaiian descent United States Army personnel of World War II Hawaii politicians of Chinese descent Schoolteachers from Hawaii Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Hawaii Democratic Party United States senators from Hawaii Hōkūleʻa Kamehameha Schools alumni Members of the United States Congress of Chinese descent Asian-American members of the United States House of Representatives Asian-American United States senators Military personnel from Hawaii Native Hawaiian politicians Politicians from Honolulu State cabinet secretaries of Hawaii United Church of Christ members United States Army Corps of Engineers personnel United States Army non-commissioned officers University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni Hawaii people of Chinese descent Akaka family Deaths from organ failure Burials in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific