Fong, Hiram, 1906-2004

FONG, Hiram Leong, a Senator from Hawaii; born in Honolulu, Hawaii, October 15, 1906; attended public schools; graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1930 and Harvard Law School in 1935; admitted to the bar in 1935 and commenced the practice of law in Honolulu; deputy attorney for city and county of Honolulu 1935-1938; during the Second World War served as judge advocate of the Seventh Fighter Command of the Seventh Air Force with rank of major 1942-1945; member of the Territorial legislature 1938-1954, serving four years as vice speaker and six years as speaker; vice president of the Territorial Constitutional Convention in 1950; chairman of the board and president of several insurance and financial institutions; engaged in banana farming in Honolulu; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1959 upon the admission of Hawaii as a State; reelected in 1964 and again in 1970 and served from August 21, 1959, to January 3, 1977; was not a candidate for reelection in 1976; returned to private enterprise, and served as chairman of Finance Enterprises, Ltd.; was a resident of Kahaluu, Hawaii, until his death due to kidney failure on August 18, 2004; interment in Nuuanu Memorial Park and Mortuary, Honolulu, Hawaii.

<p>Hiram Leong Fong (born Yau Leong Fong; October 15, 1906 – August 18, 2004) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician from Hawaii. The son of illiterate Cantonese immigrants, he overcame poverty to become the first Asian-American United States Senator, serving from 1959 to 1977. At the 1964 Republican National Convention, Fong became the first Asian-American to receive delegate votes for his party's nomination for President of the United States. He is the only Republican to have ever served as a Senator from Hawaii.</p>

<p>Fong was born in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi on the island of Oahu as the seventh of 11 children. His father Fong Sau Howe migrated from Kwangtung Province in Qing dynasty China to the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1872 with nearly 45,000 other immigrants who would work on sugar plantations. He attended local public schools and graduated from McKinley High School in 1924.</p>

<p>In 1930, Fong obtained a degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and in 1935 obtained a law degree from Harvard Law School. He returned to Honolulu and worked in the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu. In 1938, Fong went into private legal practice and founded the firm of Fong, Miho, Choy, and Robinson. In 1942, he changed his name to "Hiram". During World War II he served as a major in the United States Army Air Forces as a Judge Advocate, later retiring as a colonel from the United States Air Force Reserve.</p>

<p>Known as “the Man of the Pacific,” Hiram Fong served nearly two decades as one of Hawaii’s first U.S. Senators, acting as a surrogate representative for Asian-American constituents at home and as an ambassador of American policies to Asian people abroad. Several path-breaking aspects distinguished Fong’s career. He was the first person of Chinese descent elected to Congress, the first Asian Pacific American elected to the Senate, the first Chinese-American candidate for the presidency, and he remains the only Republican Senator ever elected from Hawaii. While serving in the minority for his entire tenure, Fong supported expanding civil rights programs and liberalizing immigration policies. Simultaneously, he staunchly defended President Richard M. Nixon’s Vietnam policies and traveled extensively in Asian nations, calling attention to the growing influence of Asian Americans in the post-war United States. During his time in the Senate, Fong believed himself to be a spokesman for Asian Americans across the country. “I feel sometimes they think I am their senator,” he explained. “I try to interpret America to them and to interpret them to America.”</p>

<p>Hiram L. Fong was born Yau Leong Fong on October 15, 1906, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to poor Chinese immigrants, Sau Howe Fong and Lum Shee Fong. His father, Sau Howe, worked at the local fertilizer plant while his mother worked as a housekeeper. Hiram was the seventh child and the fifth son of 13 children. He grew up in Kalihi and picked beans, shined shoes, sold newspapers, caught fish, and caddied for golfers to supplement his family’s earnings. Fong attended Kalihi-waena Elementary School. He briefly attended St. Louis College and then graduated from McKinley High School in 1924. At his brother’s encouragement, Fong took the federal civil service exam while still a high school senior. Unable to afford college, he worked at the Pearl Harbor naval shipyard as a clerk for three years, staying on a year longer than first planned after he became the family breadwinner following his father’s death in 1926. In 1927 he left the position with the understanding he would be hired back should he fail out of the University of Hawaii.</p>

<p>Fong need not have worried, as he breezed through college in three years, taking summer courses to accelerate his studies. He first adopted the name “Hiram” around this time, primarily in his work as editor of the student newspaper Ka Leo, though he didn’t legally change his name until 1942. During college, Fong developed ties with the Republican Party while serving in 1926 as a paid orator for George Frederick Wright’s successful mayoral campaign in Honolulu. After Fong graduated from college with honors in 1930, Mayor Wright appointed him to a clerkship in the city’s public works department. Most of his time was spent assisting Wright in his biennial campaigns. After a few years, Fong applied to Harvard Law School and, after being accepted, took out a life insurance policy to ensure his creditors would not go empty-handed should the worst occur. “I figured if I flunked out the first year,” he recalled, “I would not owe anyone any money.”</p>