Thomas Sakakihara

Last updated

Thomas Tameichi Sakakihara (榊原為一, Sakakihara Tameichi, 1900–1989), [1] [2] referred to locally as Tommy Sakakihara in person and in print, [3] [4] was a Japanese American politician from Hawaii, interned due to his ancestry during World War II.

Contents

Political career

Sakakihara joined the Republican Party and first ran for political office in 1926. [5] He was elected to the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii in 1932, and served continuously then on for several terms. [6]

In 1941, Sakakihara was one of six Americans of Japanese ancestry serving in the territorial legislature. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was made a deputy sheriff of Hilo, but was later discharged from that position. [6] The intersection of Sakakihara's ancestry and rise to prominence set him up for negative attention from the US Army's Hawaii sub-command. He had earlier been listed on the Plan of Initial Seizure of Orange Nationals drawn up by George S. Patton between 1935 and 1937, among 127 other Japanese American community leaders. [7] Then on February 26, 1942, Sakakihara and roughly thirty other prominent Japanese "enemy aliens or suspected sympathisers" were arrested by the Army. [8] He was held at the Honouliuli Internment Camp until 1943; his release was conditional on a signed pledge not to sue the U.S. government for damages related to the internment. [6]

Unlike fellow legislator and Honouliuli internee Sanji Abe, Sakakihara returned to politics after the end of World War II; he and five other Japanese Americans were elected to the Hawaii territorial House of Representatives for 1947. [9] He was re-elected in 1948, along with fellow Japanese Americans Takao Yamauchi and Joe Itagaki. [10] He also served as one of the vice-presidents of the 1950 Hawaii State Constitutional Convention. [11] He found a strong political base among small sugar-growers. [12] Eventually, his long service and political support earned him a position as chairman of the legislature's Finance Committee. He was also instrumental in getting increased funding for the Hawaii Vocational College (later the Hilo branch of the University of Hawaii). [3] However, he and other Asian American Republicans lost their legislative seats in the Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954; Sakakihara himself was accused in a full-page ad in the Hilo Tribune-Herald by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union of taking salary kickbacks from his legislative workers. [5] [13]

Personal life and other activities

Sakakihara was born on July 17, 1900, in Hilo, Hawaii, to parents Shinzo and Hisa (née Hagihara). [14] He gained familiarity with the law by working in the office of a local lawyer. [5] His law career culminated in 14 years of service as District Judge for the Big Island of Hawaii. [7] On April 15, 1933, he married Aileen Sadako Arizumi, with whom he had two children. [12] [14] Of small stature and build, he affected a dapper image, walking with a cane he admitted he did not actually need. His friends described him as aggressive and feisty. [3] He was said to be fond of Black & White whisky, and served it during his frequent parties at the Young Hotel. [4]

As late as 1970, Sakakihara was listed as a field representative for the office of Senator Hiram Fong. [15] He did not speak out publicly about his internment until February 1976, when the Honolulu Star-Bulletin interviewed a number of former Honouliuli internees for a front-page story about President Gerald Ford's rescindment of Executive Order 9066. [9] He died on February 22, 1989. [2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Kawazoe 1968 , p. 319
  2. 1 2 "Thomas T. Sakakihara, 1989", Social Security Death Index , FamilySearch , retrieved 2012-10-24
  3. 1 2 3 Inouye & Kormondy 2001 , p. 43
  4. 1 2 "Political Sidelights" (PDF), Honolulu Record, vol. 3, no. 41, p. 3, 1951-05-10, retrieved 2009-12-23
  5. 1 2 3 Whitehead 2004 , p. 194
  6. 1 2 3 Whitehead 2004 , p. 79
  7. 1 2 Buckingham, Dorothea Dee (2009-02-23), "General Patton's Hawaiian 'Internment List'", Hawaii Reporter, retrieved 2009-12-23
  8. ↑ "Japanese Arrested on Island of Hawaii: Army Holds 30 as Enemy Aliens or 'Suspected Sympathizers'", The New York Times, 1942-02-26, retrieved 2009-12-13
  9. 1 2 Whitehead 2004 , p. 83
  10. ↑ Aguiar 1997 , p. 274
  11. ↑ Whitehead 2004 , p. 191
  12. 1 2 Inouye & Kormondy 2001 , p. 44
  13. ↑ Inouye & Kormondy 2001 , p. 45
  14. 1 2 Kestenbaum 2009
  15. ↑ US Senate 1970 , p. 36

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Hawaiʻi</span> College and university system in Hawaii, US

The University of Hawaiʻi System is a public college and university system in Hawaiʻi. The system confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven community colleges, an employment training center, three university centers, four education centers, and various other research facilities distributed across six islands throughout the state of Hawaii in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Inouye</span> American politician (1924–2012)

Daniel Ken Inouye was an American attorney, soldier, and politician who served as a United States senator from Hawaii from 1963 until his death in 2012. A Medal of Honor recipient, Inouye began his political career in territorial government. In 1959 he was elected as the first U.S. Representative for the State of Hawaii. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate from 2010 until his death. Inouye was the highest-ranking Asian-American politician in U.S. history until Kamala Harris was elected as vice president in 2020. Inouye also chaired various Senate committees, including those on Intelligence, Indian Affairs, Commerce, and Appropriations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo</span> Public university in Hilo, Hawaii, US

The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is a public university in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. It is one of ten campuses of the University of Hawaiʻi System. It was founded as Hilo Center at Lyman Hall of the Hilo Boys School in 1945 and was a branch campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. In 1970 it was reorganized by an act of the Hawaiʻi State Legislature and became a campus within the newly created University of Hawaiʻi System.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nelson Doi</span> American politician

Nelson Kiyoshi Doi, was the sixth lieutenant governor of Hawaii from 1974 to 1978 in the first elected administration of Governor George Ariyoshi. Doi was a member of the Hawaii Democratic Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese in Hawaii</span> Ethnic group

The Japanese in Hawaii are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii's population. They now number about 16.7% of the islands' population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. The U.S. Census categorizes mixed-race individuals separately, so the proportion of people with some Japanese ancestry is likely much larger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sand Island (Hawaii)</span> Island in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States

Sand Island, formerly known as Quarantine Island, is a small island within the city of Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. The island lies at the entrance to Honolulu Harbor.

Dwight Y. Takamine is an Okinawan-American Hawaii state senator and state representative (1984–2007). A Democrat, he represents the first district on the island of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Nāwahī</span> Hawaiian-American public figure (1842–1896)

Joseph Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahī, also known by his full Hawaiian name Iosepa Kahoʻoluhi Nāwahīokalaniʻōpuʻu, was a Native Hawaiian nationalist leader, legislator, lawyer, newspaper publisher, and painter. Through his long political service during the monarchy and the important roles he played in the resistance and opposition to its overthrow, Nāwahī is regarded as an influential Hawaiian patriot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Aduja</span> American politician

Peter Aquino Aduja was the first Filipino American elected to public office in the United States. He was elected as a representative in the Hawaii Legislature in 1954.

On February 19, 1942, shortly after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced removal of over 110,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast and into internment camps for the duration of the war. The personal rights, liberties, and freedoms of Japanese Americans were suspended by the United States government. In the "relocation centers", internees were housed in tar-papered army-style barracks. Some individuals who protested their treatment were sent to a special camp at Tule Lake, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954</span>

The Hawaii Democratic Revolution of 1954 is a popular term for the territorial elections of 1954 in which the long dominance of the Hawaii Republican Party in the legislature came to an abrupt end, replaced by the Democratic Party of Hawaii which has remained dominant since. The shift was preceded by general strikes, protests, and other acts of civil disobedience that took place in the Hawaiian Archipelago. The strikes by the Isles' labor workers demanded similar pay and benefits to their Mainland counterparts. The strikes also crippled the power of the sugarcane plantations and the Big Five Oligopoly over their workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinoʻoleoliliha</span> High Chiefess of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (c. 1825–1855)

Kinoʻoleoliliha Pitman, also written as Kinoole-o-Liliha, was a high chiefess in the Kingdom of Hawaii. She was known as Mrs. Pitman after her marriage. In the Hawaiian language, kino 'ole means "thin" and liliha can mean "heartsick".

Honouliuli National Historic Site is near Waipahu on the island of Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. This is the site of the Honouliuli Internment Camp which was Hawaiʻi's largest and longest-operating internment camp, opened in 1943 and closed in 1946. It was designated a National monument on February 24, 2015, by President Barack Obama. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, redesignated it as Honouliui National Historic Site. The internment camp held 320 internees and also became the largest prisoner of war camp in Hawaiʻi with nearly 4,000 individuals being held. Of the seventeen sites that were associated with the history of internment in Hawaiʻi during World War II, the camp was the only one built specifically for prolonged detention. As of 2015, the new national monument is without formal services and programs.

Sanji Abe was a pre-World War II politician in Hawaii. He was the first Japanese American elected to the Senate of the Territory of Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kai Kahele</span> American politician (born 1974)

Kaialiʻi Kahele is an American politician, educator, and commercial pilot who served as the U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2021 to 2023. From 2016 to 2020, he served in the Hawaii Senate from the 1st District. In 2024, he was elected as a trustee to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, with fellow board members electing him as chair. Kahele is a member of the Democratic Party and the son of the late Hawaii Senate member Gil Kahele.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii</span> Cultural and community center for Japanese-Americans in Hawaii

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii is a cultural center and history museum in Moiliili, Hawaii that focuses on the Japanese-American experience in Hawaii, especially internment.

Kumaji Furuya(古屋熊次)(February 22, 1899 – November 4, 1977) was a Japanese businessman who worked in Hawaii. He started the Fuji Furniture store in Aala, and created Hawaii's first Japanese-language radio program. His penname was Suikei(翠溪).

Otokichi "Muin" Ozaki was a Japanese tanka poet who lived in Hawaii.

Harry Minoru Urata (浦田ハリー實) was a music teacher best known for preserving the Holehole bushi, a type of folk song sung by Japanese immigrants in Hawaii's sugar plantations.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.