Traditional historians write about the high points of a person’s life, or the events that defined them.
I’m more interested in little-known but amusing tidbits about Hawaii people — things that show their human side.
This week’s column is about people you probably have heard of many times, but my focus is on curious things you probably don’t know about them.
Let’s start with a couple of questions: Which politician was mistaken for the king of Siam at the White House in 1959? Which governor appeared on the TV show “What’s My Line?”
Which politician got his nickname from a comic strip? Which drove a Checker Cab?
Daniel K. Inouye
U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye spoke to my Rotary Club on the 50th anniversary of statehood. It was also the 50th anniversary of his being sworn in as a congressman from Hawaii, the first Asian American so elected.
Two days later he was invited to a White House dinner for Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
A long line of limousines was waiting to get in the northwest gate, including Inouye’s.
“Just by coincidence, driving in ahead of me was Vice President Richard Nixon,” Inouye recalled. “The guards saluted and waved him in.”
Inouye’s car pulled up to the guardhouse. “The window goes down. The Russian Secret Service and the American Secret Service are there. They look at me through the window. I handed them my invitation. They probably had not seen many Asians that night.
“Who the hell is that?” Inouye could overhear one guard whispering to the other.
“I think it’s the king of Siam,” the other replied.
“I’m a good American. I didn’t want to disappoint my fellow Americans. So I waved at them,” Inouye concluded.
Spark Matsunaga
Former U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga was given the first name Masayuki. After World War II he legally adopted Spark as his first name.
His son Matt told me the name came from the comic strip “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.” Creator Billy DeBeck introduced a horse named Spark Plug into the strip in 1922. He usually came in last in races, but the public loved him.
Matsunaga was often last playing dodgeball with friends, and they likened him to the slow but amiable nag. “With a name like Masayuki,” Sparky said, “I couldn’t have been elected dogcatcher.”
Matsunaga served in Congress from 1963 to 1990. Like Inouye, he was mistaken at the White House, in this case by Secretary of State Alexander Haig at a reception for the prime minister of Japan.
Haig welcomed Sparky and asked if he spoke English. Sparky, with a straight face, replied, “Yes, Mr. Secretary, I do. And I had the honor of voting for your confirmation the other day!”
William Quinn
Which Hawaii governor went on the TV show “What’s My Line?” in 1958 to plug Hawaii statehood? He signed in as Bill Quinn, originally from Rochester, N.Y.
He was an accomplished actor and singer, but that’s not why he was on the show.
The panel could not guess his job, earning him $50. Hawaii statehood was granted a year later.
William Quinn was Hawaii’s last appointed territorial governor and first elected statewide governor, serving from 1957 to 1962.
Patsy T. Mink
The first Japanese American woman in the territorial legislature, and later U.S. Congress, Patsy T. Mink showed early signs of tenacity in fighting for social justice and equality.
She was a Maui High School valedictorian in 1944. When she attended the University of Nebraska, she was placed in a dormitory for “colored” students and led a protest that forced the school to change its housing policy.
Twelve medical schools rejected her application, so she pursued law. She had to fight to take the Hawaii bar examination, and passed, but no local law firm would hire her because she was married and had a child.
So Mink opened her own firm, and soon entered politics, becoming the first woman of color to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964. Mink also was on the TV show “What’s My Line?”
She was co-author of Title IX of the Education Act in 1972, which required gender equality in educational programs receiving federal aid.
When Mink died in late September 2002, supporters urged her constituents to vote for her anyway in November. She won, forcing a special election three weeks later to fill the remaining five weeks of her term.
Wallace Rider Farrington
A travel buff, Wallace Rider Farrington left his native Maine in the 1890s and found himself in Hawaii, where he served as editor of The Honolulu Advertiser and later the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Farrington organized the Honolulu Ad Club around 1915. Republican Senator- elect Warren Harding from Ohio was a guest speaker at a February meeting.
Farrington introduced Harding as “the future president of the United States.” Harding laughed but said that if it came to pass, he’d nominate Farrington as governor (during territorial days, the president appointed our governors).
Harding was elected president in 1921 and, true to his word, appointed Farrington as governor. A highway and high school are named after him.
His son, Joseph Rider Farrington, also was editor at the Star-Bulletin and was a delegate to Congress.
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole
Prince Kuhio was Hawaii’s first delegate to Congress. He proposed the first Statehood Act and shepherded the creation of the Hawaiian Homes Commission.
He and two brothers were born on Kauai and, when their parents died, were brought into King Kalakaua’s household as wards — they were never formally adopted, former Iolani Palace docent Willson Moore told me.
Kuhio went to Royal School and Punahou, then business school in England. He spent a year in jail for fighting for Queen Lili‘uokalani when she was overthrown, then joined the British Army and fought in the second Boer War.
His boyish good looks earned him the nickname “Prince Cupid.”
Queen Emma
One of the most accomplished women in Hawaii was Queen Emma.
In 1859 she and her husband, Kamehameha IV, founded The Queen’s Hospital. They patronized St. Alban’s College, now named ‘Iolani School, in 1863. (‘Iolani was one of King Kamehameha IV’s middle names.)
In 1867 Queen Emma opened St. Andrew’s Cathedral and St. Andrew’s Priory School for girls.
It was a busy decade for Queen Emma, who lost her son, Albert, in 1862 and her husband a year later. The motto she gave the Priory — “Strive for the highest” — was certainly applicable to her life as well.
John A. Burns
This Montana-born boy moved to Hawaii in 1913 when his dad was stationed at Fort Shafter. He graduated from Saint Louis School in 1930, became a policeman, then entered politics and was a prime driver of statehood.
Burns was a police captain during World War II. It was mainly he and FBI agent Robert L. Shivers who kept the number of Japanese Americans interned to well under 1% of their numbers in the territory.
Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie drove what had been a Checker Cab with his face and name on the sides. He had no money for traditional advertising, he said, and the cab was a visual symbol of dependable public service.
After many years of service, Abercrombie donated his “Neilmobile” to the YMCA to use in a fundraiser in 1999.
The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s now twice-weekly free email newsletter that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column, and lots of interesting details. Join in and be an Insider at RearviewMirrorInsider.com. Mahalo!
