Charles James McCarthy (August 4, 1861 – November 26, 1929) was the fifth

Territorial Governor of Hawaii The governor of Hawaii () is the head of government of the U.S. state of Hawaii and its various agencies and departments, as provided in the Hawaii State Constitution Article V, Sections 1 through 6. It is a directly elected position, votes bein ...

and served from 1918 to 1921. McCarthy was born August 4, 1861, in

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, to Charles McCarthy and Joana (McCarthy) McCarthy. McCarthy moved with his parents to

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, in 1866. He was a marginal entrepreneur who came to Hawaii to manage the affairs of a wholesale fruit house. McCarthy owned a saloon and for a time bottled his own alcoholic beverages. He was a member of the House of Nobles in 1890, supporter of Liliuokalani and ironically a captain in the pro-annexation Honolulu Rifles. He also was a territorial senator 1907-12 and treasurer 1912-14 before becoming chief executive. He was co-founder of the Hawai'i Democratic Party. He was appointed by

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Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

to the office after the term of Lucius E. Pinkham. McCarthy believed Republicans were promoting immigration of Oriental laborers to manipulate Hawaii’s demographics to their advantage and served their own business interests, McCarthy was ardently anti-Asian. He appointed Charles Rice and Alfred Castle to lobby in favor of the Hawaiian Rehabilitation Bill which became the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act . The omnibus bill also contained language that made it difficult for “Orientals” from winning homesteads, and barred them from federal jobs in favor of Hawaiians. McCarthy also proposed that the military replace self-government in order to negate possible bloc voting by the large Japanese population in Hawaii. When asked by a congressman if the Japanese would think the action was directed at them, McCarthy said, “Let them think so; what do we care?” McCarthy also railed against the land policies of the Big Five and was the first governor to advocate statehood for Hawaii. Annoyed by the policies of his Democratic administration, McCarthy was gently nudged out of politics by Republicans. In return, he was given a job as Washington representative of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and later general manager of Hawaiian Dredging Co. during which he worked on the Waikiki Reclamation project which resulted in the construction of the

Ala Wai Canal The Ala Wai Canal is an artificial waterway in Honolulu, Hawaii which serves as the northern boundary of the tourist district of Waikiki. It was created in 1928 to drain the Paddy field, rice paddies and Swamp, swamps which would eventually becom ...

. He died in 1929 in

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References

*The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume XIX (1921). {{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Charles J. 1861 births 1929 deaths Politicians from Boston Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles Members of the Hawaii Territorial Legislature Governors of the Territory of Hawaii Immigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom 20th-century Hawaii politicians