Daniel K. Inouye

In 1959, when Hawaii was admitted to the United States as the fiftieth state, Inouye was elected as its first representative to the House. In that election Inouye won the largest number of votes ever cast for a candidate in a Hawaiian election.

Senator Daniel Ken Inouye was the first American of Japanese descent to serve in the U.S. Congress. He has represented Hawaii in Congress since the territory was made a state in 1959, first in the House of Representatives and then in the Senate, where he has served continuously since 1962. Inouye is a highly decorated World War II hero, who served in an all-Japanese army unit while many Americans of Japanese descent were imprisoned in relocation, or...