Daniel Akaka: Hawaiian Speaking Principal Who Fought for the Akaka Bill

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Daniel Akaka was born in Honolulu in 1924, decades before statehood, to a family with Chinese and Native Hawaiian roots, and Hawaiian was his first language. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1942 and served in the Army Corps of Engineers from 1945 to 1947 on Saipan and Tinian. He worked as a welder, a mechanic and, in 1948, first mate on the schooner Morning Star, married Mary Mildred "Millie" Chong, and used the GI Bill to earn education degrees at the University of Hawaii. He taught high school from 1953 and became a principal in 1963, then held state posts including director of the Hawaii Office of Economic Opportunity and aide to Governor George Ariyoshi before winning a U.S. House seat in 1976.

Appointed to the Senate after Spark Matsunaga died in 1990, he beat Pat Saiki with nearly 54 percent, won in 1994 with over 70 percent, and survived a 2006 primary from Ed Case. As chair of the Veterans Affairs and Indian Affairs committees, he pushed for belated Medals of Honor for Japanese American soldiers of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion, and for benefits for Philippine Scouts. From 2000 until 2013 he sought federal recognition for Native Hawaiians through the Akaka Bill, which critics called race based. Time named him one of the five worst senators in 2006, while voters at home reelected him by wide margins. He died on April 6, 2018, at 93.

• In 1981 he voted for Ronald Reagan's Economic Recovery Tax Act and against the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
• He championed the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, which moved title of historic wrecks to the states.
• In October 2002 he voted against authorizing military force in Iraq.
• A 2009 bill in the Philippines proposed granting him honorary citizenship.
• After Daniel Inouye's death in December 2012 he served two weeks as Hawaii's senior senator before Mazie Hirono succeeded him.