About S. I. Hayakawa
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (Japanese: 早川 一衛, July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor of English, he served as president of San Francisco State University and then as a U.S. Senator from California from 1977 to 1983. Hayakawa was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, to Japanese immigrants. Hayakawa advocated for Japanese Canadian voting rights in the 1930s. In the 1950s, he became a professor at the University of Chicago before moving to teach English at San Francisco State College. After becoming acting president of San Francisco State College, Hayakawa became a conservative icon after he unplugged the loudspeakers on a student protesters' van at an outdoor rally in late 1968. Hayakawa ran to represent California in the United States Senate as a Republican in 1976. He narrowly defeated incumbent Democratic senator John V. Tunney, becoming the first Asian-American senator from the state. Hayakawa supported former California governor Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. He initially sought reelection in 1982, but bowed out of the race due to a lack of funds and was succeeded by fellow Republican Pete Wilson. In 1936, the Japanese Canadian Citizens' League, an organisation created to fight for Japanese Canadian voting rights, sent a four-person delegation to speak to the federal government. After becoming acting president of San Francisco State College, Hayakawa became a conservative icon after he pulled out the wires from the loudspeakers on student protesters' van at an outdoor rally. In 1973, Hayakawa changed his political affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and became president emeritus at what became San Francisco State University.
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