Daniel K. Akaka Papers
About Daniel K. Akaka (1924-2018)
Daniel Kahikina Akaka was born on September 11, 1924, to Kahikina and Annie Akaka (née Kāhoa). The Chinese-Hawaiian Akaka family grew up in Pauoa Valley on the island of Oahu. One of seven siblings, Akaka experienced a devoutly religious Congregationalist upbringing, with the family practicing daily worship and recitation of bible verses.
Akaka entered the Kamehameha School for Boys on a full scholarship in the tenth grade, graduating in 1942. He began an apprenticeship as a welder at the Hawaiian Electric power plant as a part of his high school curriculum, which continued after his graduation until joining the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a civilian. In 1945, Akaka was drafted and placed back into the Corps of Engineers as a welder-mechanic after completing basic training. Following his honorable discharge, Akaka served on the schooner Morning Star for a year; upon returning, he and Mary Mildred “Millie” Chong were married at Kawaiahaʻo Church.
Utilizing his GI bill benefits, Akaka studied education at the University of Hawaiʻi and received his bachelor’s degree in education. He worked as a teacher, then vice principal, then principal for 15 years at various elementary, intermediate, and high schools across Oahu, receiving his Master of Education degree in 1966. Akaka joined the Department of Education as the chief program planner, until 1971 when he became the director of the Hawaiʻi Office of Economic Opportunity under then-Governor John Burns.
Encouraged by Burns to run for office, Akaka eventually joined George Ariyoshi’s campaign for Governor as his running mate in 1974, after initial hesitation to enter politics. Although Akaka’s campaign for lieutenant governor was unsuccessful, he was hired as a special assistant for human resources in the governor’s office as well as the director of the Office of the Progressive Neighborhoods Program.
Akaka ran for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat and was elected in 1977, the 95th Congress, in the aftermath of Senator Hiram Fong’s retirement and the campaign between both of the then-Representatives from Hawaiʻi, Patsy Mink and Spark M. Matsunaga. Serving on the Agriculture, Merchant Marine and Fisheries, Population, and Narcotics Abuse and Control Committees, and later appointed to an open seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, Akaka was able to focus on bringing the environmental and social issues impacting Hawaiʻi to the attention of the federal government, as well as directing federal funding towards programs that benefited Hawaiʻi’s main industries.
With the passing of Senator Matsunaga in 1990, the 101st Congress, Akaka was appointed to the late Senator’s seat by Governor John Waiheʻe III. Akaka was challenged by Patricia Saiki in the special election, which he won, despite Saiki’s support from President George H. W. Bush. He was re-elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 1994, 2000, and 2006. During his first term, Akaka was appointed to the Veterans’ Affairs, Governmental Affairs, and Energy and Natural Resources Committees.
As the first Native Hawaiian Senator, Akaka authored key legislation to benefit Hawaiian people and issues. In 1993, he was successful in introducing an Apology Resolution which elicited congressional and presidential apologies for the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, which came to be widely known as the “Akaka bill,” was introduced in multiple forms from 2000 to 2011. The bill attempted to provide recognition and rights to the Hawaiian people similar to that of Indigenous Native American tribes in the United States. The bill struggled against controversy throughout its lifespan, and although Akaka continued to introduce and support the bill during the remainder of his tenure in the Senate, it did not end up passing during its final session in the 112th Congress.
Akaka was known as the “Aloha Senator.” He was a soft-spoken and affable legislator that had a reputation for getting things done, often behind the scenes, without showiness or self-adulation. He would regularly reach across the aisle, and maintained friendly personal relationships with Republican legislators. Within Hawaiʻi, Akaka rarely received less than 70 percent of the vote during his re-election campaigns, with the exception of his final campaign in 2006.
After declining to run for re-election in 2012, Akaka retired from Congress in 2013, at the age of 88. He passed away on April 6, 2018.
About the Daniel K. Akaka Papers
The Senator Daniel K. Akaka Papers document the Senatorʻs service in the U.S. Congress. The collection is closed until 2028, with the exception of the Public Relations series.
Please see the finding aid (in-progress) for more information.
Digitized Materials
Portions of the Daniel K. Akaka Papers are being digitized and made available online via the collection’s finding aid. Materials that have been digitized so far include
- Speeches, statements, and messages
- Individual speeches are available through the finding aid; they may also be downloaded as a full set
