Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Hawaii territorial house of representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, Matsunaga introduced legislation that led to the creation of the

United States Institute of Peace The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American independent, nonprofit, national institute funded by the U.S. Congress and tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. See alsPDF on USIP website. It provides rese ...

and to reparations to Japanese-American World War II detainees.

Early life

Born Masayuki Matsunaga on October 8, 1916, the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Apri ...

island of

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

, Spark Matsunaga was

Japanese-American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in ranking to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

. His parents had emigrated to the United States from Japan. When he was eight, he was nicknamed Sparky after Spark Plug, a character in the comic strip

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'', originally ''Take Barney Google, for Instance'', is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appeari ...

. He received a bachelor's degree with honors in education from the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System is a public college and university system in Hawaii. The system confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven community colleges, an employment training center, ...

in 1941. Following the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Empire of Japan on the United States Pacific Fleet at its naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. At the tim ...

, on December 7, 1941, the AJA (Americans of Japanese ancestry) soldiers in the Hawaii National Guard were reorganized into a new Army unit named the Hawaiian Provisional Infantry Battalion. On June 5, 1942, six months after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S. Army transport ship Maui, quietly departed Honolulu Harbor with the 1,432 men of the unit. On June 12, 1942, just before the Battalion arrived in Oakland, California, the unit learned that it had been redesignated the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), meaning they were a separate unit and not part of any regiment or military unit. The men adopted "Remember Pearl Harbor" as their unit's motto. The training record of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Sep) at Camp McCoy, plus the service of the Varsity Victory Volunteers in Hawaiʻi, led the War Department to authorize the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) on February 1, 1943. Matsunaga was twice wounded in battle in Italy during World War II. He served with the renowned

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment including the 100th Infantry Battalion is best known as the most decorated unit in U.S. military history, and as a fighting unit composed almost ent ...

and was released from the Army as a captain. Matsunaga graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1951.

Political career

Matsunaga served as a prosecutor and was a member of the Hawaii territorial House of Representatives. After

Daniel Inouye Daniel Ken Inouye ( , , September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipi ...

was elected to the Senate, Matsunaga succeeded him as the state's sole member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. After Hawaii was split into districts for the 1970 elections, Matsunaga was elected for , comprising Honolulu's inner ring, and held that seat until 1976. That year, with

Hiram Fong Hiram Leong Fong (born Yau Leong Fong; October 15, 1906 – August 18, 2004) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician from Hawaii. Born to a Cantonese immigrant sugar plantation worker, Fong was one of the first two senators for Hawai ...

retiring, Matsunaga defeated Hawaii's other House representative,

Patsy Mink Patsy Matsu Mink ( Takemoto; , December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002) was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii who served in the United States House of Representatives for 24 years as a member of the Democratic ...

, for the Democratic Party nomination for Senator. Matsunaga then defeated former Republican governor William Quinn in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

and went on to serve in the United States Senate from 1977 until his death in 1990. In 1984, following many years of effort from Matsunaga, Congress passed a bill creating the U.S. Institute for Peace. For 22 years, Matsunaga presented legislation in Congress for the creation of the position of

United States Poet Laureate The poet laureate consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress, commonly referred to as the United States poet laureate, serves as the official poet of the United States. During their term, the poet laureate seeks to raise the national consc ...

. In 1985, a bill was finally passed authorizing the position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Matsunaga was instrumental in the passage of a redress bill for people of Japanese descent who were detained in the United States during World War II. The $1.25 billion bill provided $20,000 to each detainee and also apologized to the detainees. To the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, Matsunaga voted to confirm

Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (March 26, 1930 – December 1, 2023) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, O' ...

Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual an ...

, and

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American attorney and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Pres ...

, all of whom were confirmed unanimously by the senate. He voted against the nomination of William Rhenquist to be Chief Justice, as well as the nomination of

Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (March 1, 1927 – December 19, 2012) was an American legal scholar who served as solicitor general of the United States from 1973 until 1977. A professor by training, he was acting United States Attorney General and a judge on ...

to be associate justice, the latter of which was rejected in a 58–42 vote. In 1989, Matsunaga voted against President

George H.W Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

's nomination of

John Tower John Goodwin Tower (September 29, 1925 – April 5, 1991) was an American politician and military veteran who represented Texas in the United States Senate from 1961 to 1985. He was the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas si ...

to be

Secretary of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

. Tower faced accusations of alcohol abuse and womanizing, and would ultimately be rejected by the Senate in a 53–47 vote. Matsunaga was known for his sense of humor. One famous incident involved Matsunaga and then- Secretary of State

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

at a

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

reception for

Japanese Prime Minister The is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self Defence For ...

Zenko Suzuki The Kudara no Konikishi clan (Japanese language, Japanese: 百済王氏, ''Kudara no konikishi-uji'') was a Japan, Japanese clan whose founder, Zenkō ( or ), was a son of Uija of Baekje, King Uija, the last king of Baekje (located in the southwes ...

in 1981. Haig reportedly mistook Matsunaga for a member of the Japanese delegation and asked if he spoke English. Matsunaga replied, "Yes, Mr. Secretary, I do — and I had the honor of voting for your confirmation the other day."

Personal life and death

Matsunaga was married to the former Helene Hatsumi Tokunaga and had three daughters and two sons. Matsunaga had

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

at the end of his life; by January 1990, he announced that the cancer had spread to his bones. He later went to

Toronto General Hospital The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue (Toronto), ...

for treatment, and died there on April 15, 1990, at the age of 73. His flag-draped casket lay in state in the rotunda of the

State Capitol A capitol, or seat of government, is the building or complex of buildings from which a government such as that of a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, or the organized territories of the United States, exercises its authority. Although m ...

in Honolulu.

Legacy

In 1997, Matsunaga's widow donated his papers to the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

. There were approximately 1200 boxes of material including documents, photographs, videos, and memorabilia from his 28 years in Congress. Also in the papers are professional and personal materials from his pre-Congressional life; especially noteworthy are documents, letters, photographs, and memorabilia from his Army service in the 100th Infantry Battalion. A bronze statue honoring him is in the Spark M. Matsunaga International Children's Garden For Peace at the Storybook Theatre of Hawaii in his hometown of Hanapepe, Kauai. As of 1999, Matsunaga's portrait appears on US Series I Bonds in the $10,000 denomination. There is also an elementary school in

Germantown, Maryland Germantown is an urbanized census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. With a population of 91,249 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous community in Maryland, after Baltimore and Columbia, Maryland, Col ...

and a VA Medical Center in Honolulu named after him.

References

External links