On August 21, 1959, President Dwight David Eisenhower signed a proclamation making Hawaii the 50th state. On August 21, 2009, Hawaii will have been a state for 50 years.
This is a big day in Hawaii, and I learned many interesting things while reading the articles on the history of statehood. For me, many of the revelations of the political history of the islands are surprising because of where Hawaii is now.
A timeline to Statehood is a document from the State of Hawaii. It shows the history to Hawaiian Statehood.
June 14, 1900- Congress passes the Hawai‘i Organic Act which creates the governing legislation of the Territory of Hawai‘i. The act grants citizenship to all citizens of the Republic. A distinct territorial judiciary is set up. The territorial governor and territorial secretary (akin to a lieutenant governor) are to be appointed by the president.
Note that the POTUS appoints the governor.
February 11, 1919- Prince Kuhio introduces the first Hawaiian statehood bill to Congress. The bill is referred to a committee for further study. In subsequent years, this bill is followed by numerous other bills calling for Hawai‘i Statehood. Prior to 1959, none of these bills gained congressional approval.
Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana'ole was a Territorial Delegate to the U.S. Congress a non-voting member. He had switched parties to become a Republican and was elected to be the Delegate to Congress in a landslide victory for the Republicans, and helped establish a Republican hold on the Hawaiian legislature.
September 1937- Dr. Ernest H. Gruening, who was appointed Director of the Division of Territories and Insular Possessions of the U.S. Department of the Interior by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934, visits Hawai‘i. He stays for over two months to familiarize himself with the territory and increase his ability to better advocate for its rights. Dr. Gruening would later become Governor of the Alaska Territory (1939 – 1953) and the first U.S. Senator from Alaska (1959 – 1969).
October 6 – 22, 1937- A joint congressional committee of 7 senators and 12 representatives hold 17 days of hearings in Hawai‘i and conclude that Hawai‘i fulfills every requirement for Statehood. A Statehood plebiscite, a vote from the people of Hawai‘i, is recommended.
November 5, 1940- The Statehood plebiscite required by Congress results in a 2 to 1 vote in favor of Statehood- 46,174 votes to 22,426.
February 1, 1943 – About 800 volunteers from mainland relocation camps and more than 2,600 volunteers from Hawai‘i, all of whom are Nisei, are activated for service as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 100th Battalion and the 442nd are both sent to Italy to fight alongside each other.
August 10, 1944 – The 100th Infantry Battalion formally becomes part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team for the final nine months of the war in Europe. Substantial numbers are serious injured or killed in combat, making the 442nd one of World War II’s most decorated military units.
I think that the previous two dates and information are important in Hawaii's quest to be a state via the Texas connection. The men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team rescued about 230 Texans of "The Lost Battalion" and suffered over 400 casualties.
December 22, 1945- Interior Secretary Harold Ickes endorses Hawai‘i Statehood as the official position of the Department of the Interior.
January 7, 1948- President Harry S. Truman calls for Hawai‘i Statehood in his state of the union message. A third Congressional Statehood investigation is held in Hawai‘i for 12 days. The unanimous recommendation is immediate statehood.
1952- At the insistence of Senate Majority Leader Ernest W. McFarland (D-Arizona), a combined Hawai‘i-Alaska Statehood bill is sent to the Senate floor against the wishes of the Delegates of both Territories, who felt both had more chance of success if Hawai‘i went first. The bill is sent back to committee on a 45-44 vote, ending action in the 82nd Congress. Although both national party platforms endorse immediate Statehood, only the Democrats endorse immediate statehood for Alaska.
1954- The Senate votes 46 to 43 to join the Hawai‘i and Alaska bills into one measure. They then pass the combined bill 57 to 28. Representative Joseph Martin, the U.S. House Speaker at the time, favors statehood for Hawai‘i alone and refuses to consider the joint bill.
November 1954- For the first time in Hawai‘i’s history, largely due to the support of Hawai‘i’s WWII veterans and the labor unions, especially the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), the Democratic Party gains control of the territorial legislature.
November 6, 1956- John A. Burns is elected Hawai‘i’s Delegate to Congress as a Democrat.
1957 / 1958 - Delegate Burns agrees to a strategy supported by both the Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (D – Texas) and House Speaker Samuel T. Rayburn (D – Texas) to admit Alaska in the 85th Congress and hold back Hawai‘i. This strategy is designed to force the issue with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Republican from Texas who is firm for Hawai‘i Statehood but equivocal about Alaska. The Alaska bill passes the House 208 to 166 and the Senate 64 to 20. Eisenhower signs the bill. Burns fulfills his commitment and refuses to press for the Hawai‘i bill in the dying days of Congress, even though this poses a serious re-election problem for him at home.
Emphasis mine
Here is where "The Lost Battalion" and the Texas (LBJ) connection comes in.
In "The Island Edge of America," Coffman recounts the story of how Chuck Mau, a staunch statehood proponent and delegate to the 1948 Democratic National Convention, talked his way into a meeting of the platform committee and, once there, ingratiated himself to Texas Gov. Lyndon Johnson by retelling the story of how 442nd soldiers had rescued the "Lost Battalion" of Texas National Guardsmen.
Johnson promised his support for Hawai'i statehood and said he would lobby other Southern Democrats who opposed the measure.
January 3, 1959- Alaska becomes the 49th State. The 86th Senate moves expeditiously to consider Hawai‘i for Statehood.. With the admission of the 49th state, both political parties are willing to admit a 50th state so as to maintain continual political balance in Washington, DC (with Alaska being predominantly Democratic and Hawai‘i more Republican at the time).
March 11, 1959- The Senate passes Hawai‘i’s Statehood Bill 75 to 15.
March 12, 1959- The U.S. House of Representatives passes Hawai‘i’s Statehood Bill, 323 to 89.
August 21, 1959- President Eisenhower makes Hawai‘i Statehood official by signing the proclamation that welcomes Hawai‘i as the 50th state of the union. He also unveils the new fifty star flag.
It is hard to believe that Hawaii was once considered to be a Republican state given the situation now, and that Alaska and Texas were Democratic states.
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Honolulu Advertizer article: A Bold Bid for Equality
Honolulu Star Bulletin article: Statehood!