Daniel Inouye was born September 7th, 1924 in Honolulu, Hawaii to Hyotaro and Kame Inouye both Japanese immigrants. His family immigrated to Hawaii from Japan to pay back family debts and he grew up in Bingham Tract which was a Chinese-American community (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”). During his early life Daniel Inouye’s family emphasizes education but due to discriminatory practices, the opportunities available to him were limited. While attending President William McKinley High School he volunteered for the Red Cross Aid Station and planned to study medicine to eventually become a surgeon (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”).
Japanese Incarceration and Military Service
After Pearl Harbor (December 8th, 1941) and executive order 9066, Daniel Inouye who was a second-generation Japanese immigrant (Nisei) at the time was not interned unlike the hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans on the mainland U.S. because Japanese Americans were crucial to Hawaii’s economy so the FBI only detained leaders of minority communities (“The Untold Story”). Inouye had been a medical volunteer even before Pearl Harbor but after the U.S Army formally lifted the enlistment ban in 1943 after pressure from Japanese Americans (Hirabayashi 134). Inouye left studying medicine at the University of Hawaii despite being exempt from the draft as a student and medical volunteer (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”). Like all Japanese American that enlisted at the time, he was placed into a segregated combat battalion the Nisei 422nd Regimental Combat Team (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”).
Despite their bravery and no soldiers in the 422nd received the Medal of Honor. No Asian American received the Medal of Honor, the highest military award/decoration, at the end of WWII (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”). During the 1990s the military reviewed the decorations given to former members of the 442nd Regiment and upgraded 21 Asian-American soldiers to Medal of Honor status (“Medal of Honor Recipients”). Daniel Inouye was serving in Italy in April of 1945 and was seriously injured during the battle of Terenzo and lost his right arm (“Daniel k. Inouye Biography”). Shortly after recovering from his injuries in Italy he was honorably discharged from the U.S Military and returned to Hawaii.
Political Career and Death
After returning to Hawaii he attended the University of Hawaii and completed an undergraduate degree in government and economics in 1950 and married Margret Shinobu Awamura in 1949 (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”). Daniel Inouye then pursued a law degree from George Washington University in 1952. Shortly after graduating he returned to Hawaii and began his career in politics as a “Deputy Public Prosecutor for the City of Honolulu.” After Hawaii became a state in August 1959 Inouye ran for and was elected as Hawaii’s first U. S representative (“Daniel K. Inoue Biography”). He left the House of Representatives after he was elected to the U.S Senate. He was the first Japanese-American to serve in Congress and rose to the position of President Pro tempore (third in the line of succession) thus making him the most powerful Asian-American in U.S history (“Daniel K. Inouye Biography”). He served in the Senate from 1962 until his death in December 2012 and before his death, he was the second oldest sitting senator (McFadden).
Contribution/ Influence on Asian America:
Improving U.S- Japanese’s Relations
Daniel Inouye was instrumental in improving U.S-Japanese relations after WWII. After being elected to the U.S Senate he worked to establish East-West Center in Hawaii which was meant to produce policy on U.S-Asia relations and advocate for expanding economic development (Ibata-Arens). In 1968, he led efforts in the U.S Senate to establish a bilateral parliamentary exchange program in Japan (Ibata-Arens). This program had American and Japanese politicians observe how each other democracies functioned. The Japanese government awarded him the Paulownia Flowers to acknowledge his efforts to cultivate greater understanding between the U.S and Japan (“Grand Cordon of the Order”). Inouye certainly improved relations between the U.S and Japan but more interesting may be the effect his work had on a generation of Japanese Americans. After the atrocities of Japanese incarceration, many Japanese-Americans were taught to distance themselves from their cultural heritage (Ibata-Arens). As Zhou characterized it they sought to assimilate by looking and acting "American (White)" and this assimilation would be a type of cultural imperialism (381-382). Few Japanese Americans spoke Japanese or taught it to their children and have maintained increasing weak connections to their ethnic and cultural heritage (Ibata-Arens). Inouye willingness to engage with his culture and be seen as a Japanese-American was an inspiration to many sansei and helped to diminish the negative impact of forced homogeneity.
The Impact of Daniel Inouye Political Career on Asian Americans
Daniel Inouye actions throughout his political career had a profound effect both directly and indirectly on Asian Americans. Much of his direct impact on various Asian communities was through the bills he authored or sponsered. For example, Inouye sponsored and gathered support for the bill that provided reparations for Japanese-Americans interned during WWII (Molotsky). He was also critical in securing benefits for Filipino veterans that served in the U.S Army during WWII ("Daniel K. Inouye Biography).
Inouye also had a profound effect on mobilizing Asian Americans in politics. This was not an easy feat because the Asian Americans bloc is tremendously diverse and includes individuals from China, Philippines, India Vietnam etc. This makes it a Pan-ethnic identity and groups with AAPI community often prefer to associate with distinctive national origin groups and this can make it difficult to maintain a strong political collation (Junn and Masuoka 730). This pan-ethnic fragmentation is only compounded by the reality that different groups within the AAPI community do not suffer from the same degree of discrimination or subjugation. These issues combined with lower than average voter turnout and underrepresentation nationally at the polls means that we increasingly have to consider whether or not the Asian American community can be a substantial political category or if we will observe rapid assimilation of Asian Americans into other distinct political identities (Wong 194). Inouye was an avid supporter of Asian Americans who ran for congressional office and in 2012, the year he passed away, "a record number of Asian Americans were elected to Congress"(Wong 193). However, he was aware that his political career was enabled by his home state of Hawaii because it was and remains the only state with a majority of Asian American and Pacific Islanders voters (Wong 193).