Daniel Inouye
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Daniel Ken Inouye
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1963 Serving with Daniel Akaka |
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| Preceded by | Oren E. Long |
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| In office August 21, 1959 – January 3, 1963 |
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| Preceded by | First congressman (statehood) |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Ponce Gill |
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Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
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| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1979 |
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| Preceded by | Committee created |
| Succeeded by | Birch Bayh |
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Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
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| In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995 |
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| Preceded by | Mark Andrews |
| Succeeded by | John McCain |
| In office January 3 – January 20, 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Ben Nighthorse Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Ben Nighthorse Campbell |
| In office June 6, 2001 – January 3, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Ben Nighthorse Campbell |
| Succeeded by | Ben Nighthorse Campbell |
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Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
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| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Ted Stevens |
| Succeeded by | Jay Rockefeller |
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Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Robert Byrd |
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| Born | September 7, 1924 Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Margaret Shinobu Awamura (1949 - 2006) (her death) Irene Hirano (2008-present) |
| Residence | Honolulu, Hawaii |
| Alma mater | University of Hawaii at Manoa, George Washington University |
| Occupation | attorney |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Website | Senator Daniel K. Inouye |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943-1947 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 442nd Regimental Combat Team |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Awards | Medal of Honor Bronze Star Purple Heart |
Daniel Ken Inouye (井上 建 Inoue Ken) (born September 7, 1924) is an American politician who currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Hawaii. He has been a U.S. Senator since 1963, and is currently the third-most-senior member after fellow Democrats Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy. He has continuously represented Hawaii in the U.S. Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959, serving as Hawaii's first U.S. Representative and later a U.S. Senator. Inouye was the first Japanese-American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. He is the third oldest U.S. Senator after Robert Byrd and Frank Lautenberg. He is also a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
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[edit] Personal history
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Inouye is a Nisei (second-generation) Japanese-American and a son of Kame Imanaga and Hyotaro Inouye.[1] He grew up in the Bingham Tract, a Chinese-American enclave within the predominantly Japanese-American community of Mo'ili'ili in Honolulu.
He was at the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 as a medical volunteer.[2]
In 1943, when the U.S. Army dropped its ban on Japanese-Americans, Inouye curtailed his premedical studies at the University of Hawaii and enlisted in the Army.[2] He was assigned to the Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most-highly decorated unit in the history of the Army. During the World War II campaign in Europe he received the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Distinguished Service Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor.[3]
Inouye was promoted to the rank of sergeant within his first year, and he was given the role of platoon leader. He served in Italy in 1944 during the Rome-Arno Campaign before he was shifted to the Vosges Mountains region of France, where he spent two weeks searching for the Lost Battalion, a Texas battalion that was surrounded by German forces. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant for his actions there. He was nearly killed in an assault in Italy in 1945, which saw Inouye survive a bullet wound to the abdomen and a point-blank attack by a German grenade, during a mission where Inouye advanced alone toward a German gun post to protect his surrounded men.
While recovering from WWII wounds and the amputation of his right forearm from the grenade wound (mentioned above) at Percy Jones Army Hospital, Inouye met future Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, then a fellow patient. Dole mentioned to Inouye that after the war he planned to go to Congress; Inouye beat him there by a few years. The two have remained lifelong friends. In 2003, the hospital was renamed the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of the two WWII veterans and another U.S. Senator and fellow WWII veteran who had stayed in the hospital, Philip Hart.
His wife of fifty-seven years, Maggie, died on March 13, 2006. On May 24, 2008, he married Irene Hirano in a private ceremony in Beverly Hills, California. Ms. Hirano is president and chief executive officer of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. According to the Honolulu Advertiser she is 24 years' Inouye's junior.
In February 2009, a bill was filed in the Philippine House of Representatives by Rep. Antonio Diaz seeking to confer honorary Filipino citizenship on Inouye, Senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Akaka and Representative Bob Filner, for their role in securing the passage of benefits for Filipino World War II veterans.[4]
[edit] Congressional career
Although he lost his right arm in WWII, Inouye remained in the military until 1947 and was discharged with the rank of captain. Due to the loss of his arm, he abandoned his plans to become a surgeon[2] and returned to college to study political science under the GI Bill. He graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1950 with a B.A. in political science. He earned his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. in 1953 and was elected into the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. 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 U.S. House of Representatives as Hawaii's first full member, and took office on August 21, 1959, the same date Hawaii became a state; he was reelected in 1960.
In 1962 Inouye was elected to the U.S. Senate, succeeding fellow Democrat Oren E. Long. He is currently serving his seventh- consecutive six-year term, having most recently run against Republican candidate Campbell Cavasso in 2004. He delivered the keynote address at the turbulent 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.[2] and gained national attention for his service on the U.S. 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.
In 2000, Inouye was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan in recognition of his long and distinguished career in public service.
[edit] Gang of 14
On May 23, 2005, Inouye was a member of a bipartisan group of fourteen moderate senators, known as the Gang of 14, to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, thus blocking the Republican leadership's attempt to implement the "nuclear option", a means of forcibly ending a filibuster. 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 U.S. Senate.
[edit] Committee assignments
- Committee on Appropriations (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Defense (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
- Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
- Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
- Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
- Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
- Subcommittee on Science and Space
- Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
- Committee on Indian Affairs
- Committee on Rules and Administration
[edit] Party leadership
- Senate Democratic Steering and Coordination Committee
[edit] Electoral history
[edit] See also
- List of Medal of Honor recipients
- List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, housed in the Daniel K. Inouye Building
[edit] Notes
- ^ inouye
- ^ a b c d Associated Press (Chicago), "Keynoter Knows Sting of Bias, Poverty". St. Petersburg Times, August 27, 1968.
- ^ Congressional Medal of Honor - World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient 2nd Lt. Daniel K. Inouye, US Army 442nd Regimental Combat Team
- ^ Leila Salaverria (2009-02-24). "4 US solons as honorary Filipinos". Philippine Daily Inquirer. http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20090224-190786/4-US-solons-as-honorary-Filipinos. Retrieved on 2009-03-20.
[edit] External links
- United States Senator Daniel Inouye official Senate site
- Dan Inouye for Senate campaign site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Guantanamo Bay: A First-Hand View of Camp X-Ray - Press Briefing February 1, 2002
- 21 Asian American World War II Vets to Get Medal of Honor May 19, 2000
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