About Daniel Inouye
Daniel Ken Inouye ( ee-NOH-ay; Japanese: 井上 建; September 7, 1924 – December 17, 2012) was an American attorney, soldier, and statesman who represented Hawaii in the United States Senate from 1963 until his death in 2012. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the most-senior member of the Senate when he died. He is the second-longest serving U.S. senator in history. Prior to his tenure in the Senate, Inouye served in the Hawaii Territorial Legislature and the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1963. Inouye was born and raised in Honolulu, in what was then the Territory of Hawaii. After enrolling at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa as a premedical student, he applied at the 442nd Infantry Regiment during World War II, and during that time, he lost his right arm. After the war, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1950, and a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University Law School in 1952. He was then elected to Hawaii's territorial House of Representatives the following year and was elected to the territorial Senate in 1957. When Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, Inouye was elected as its first member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Inouye was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962. He was re-elected in 1968 and re-elected seven more times. He was the second Asian American U.S. senator in history, following Hawaii Republican Hiram Fong. Because of his seniority, Inouye became president pro tempore of the Senate following the death of Robert Byrd in 2010, making him third in the presidential line of succession after the vice president and the speaker of the House of Representatives. Inouye died at the age of 88 in December 2012, due to respiratory complications. He never lost an election in 58 years as an elected official, and he exercised an exceptionally large influence on Hawaii politics. Inouye was a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of the Paulownia Flowers. Among other public structures named after Inouye, Honolulu International Airport has since been renamed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in his memory. Inouye was also a Medal of Honor recipient for his heroism during World War II. While in Mississippi, the unit visited the Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas, where Inouye witnessed the internment of Japanese Americans first hand. Being a volunteer first aid instructor with the Red Cross, he was called on by his supervisor to report to a Red Cross station set up at Lunalilo Elementary School. Inouye is a Medal of Honor recipient for his heroism during World War II, in which he lost his right arm while serving with the 442nd Infantry Regiment.
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