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Daniel Ken Inouye (born September 7 1924) is a recipient of the Medal of Honor and currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Hawaii. He has been a senator for forty three years, a distinction which few other current senators have achieved, and is currently the third most senior member, after fellow Democrats Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. He was also the first American of Japanese descent to serve in the United States House of Representatives and later the first in the Senate. He is a member of the Democratic Party and has continuously represented Hawaii in the United States Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959.
Biography
Inouye was born in Honolulu and spent his childhood there. In 1943 he enlisted in the Army and was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became one of the most highly-decorated units in the history of the U.S. Army. During the World War II campaign in Europe he received the Bronze Star and also the Distinguished Service Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor (see the full citation Daniel Inouye citation). Although he lost his right arm in the war he remained in the military until 1947, discharged with the rank of captain. He went to college on the GI Bill. He graduated from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa in 1950 with a B.A. in political science. He earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC in 1953. Soon afterward he was elected to the territorial legislature, of which he was a member until shortly before Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959. He won a seat in the United States House of Representatives as Hawaii's first full member, and took office on August 21, 1959, when Hawaii became a state. He was reelected in 1960.
In 1962 he was elected to the United States Senate, succeeding fellow Democratic Sen. Oren E. Long. He has been re-elected every six years, in 1968, 1974, 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2004. He gained national attention for his service on the Senate Watergate Committee. He was chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence from 1975 until 1979, and chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs from 1987 until 1995 and from 2001 until 2003. Inouye was also involved in the Iran Contra investigations of the 1980s, chairing a special committee from 1987 until 1989. He was a candidate for reelection to the Senate in 2004 and easily defeated his Republican opponent, Campbell Cavasso. His wife of fifty seven years, Maggie, died on March 13 2006. *
"The Gang of 14"
On May 23, 2005, Inouye was one of fourteen moderate senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the so-called "nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and the three most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.
Trivia
Daniel Inouye appeared as himself in The Next Karate Kid (1994).
Inouye's son Ken was a member of 1980s hardcore punk band Marginal Man.
External links
1924 births | Japanese Americans | Methodist Americans | American lawyers | American World War II veterans | Amputees | Army Medal of Honor recipients | Hawaii State Senators | Members of the Hawaii House of Representatives | United States Army officers | Members of the United States House of Representatives from Hawaii | Pro-choice politicians | United States Senators from Hawaii | Phi Delta Phi brothers | Lions Club members | Living people
"Daniel Inouye"