Interviews

1. Responding to the U.S. government

2. Recalling Pearl Harbor

3. First election

4. A story about his mother

5. A story about his father

6. The FBI and the radio

7. Father’s words

Inouye,Daniel K.

(1924-2012) Senator of Hawaii

A story about his father

My father was, well, in a sense very quiet, because I didn’t see him that often. He would come back after his first job, shave and bathe and have his supper and off he goes to his second job, and that went on six days a week. Sunday was the only time we all got together, went to church, and maybe after that go to a restaurant to have something to eat which was a great treat. And so conversations were not too often, but I knew he was the head of the household.

And his law of the land was, no matter what the activity, you must be in the room by 10 o’clock in the evening. So here I am president of the YMCA club, in my senior year, I gotta be in, you know, in the room. That all changed after December 7th because I was out all night long. And one day I got in at 10:05 and he just looked at the clock and says, “You’re late,” I said, “That’s right, sorry.” Well the next 30 days, I stayed at home. I didn’t argue, I knew what the law was.

families

Date: May 31, 2001

Location: California, US

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Senator Daniel K. Inouye was born September 7, 1924 in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and at the age of 18 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Following the Rescue of the Lost Battalion, Senator Inouye was awarded a Bronze Star and received a battlefield commission as a Second Lieutenant. Later, in intense fighting in Italy, Senator Inouye lost his right arm from an exploding grenade. For his action that day, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest award for military valor.

Following the war, Senator Inouye became Hawai‘i’s first representative in Congress when Hawai‘i achieved statehood in 1959. In 1962 he was elected to the United States Senate and has been re-elected every six years since then. Senator Inouye, a Democrat, was the first American of Japanese descent to serve in either House of Congress.

In 2000, Senator Inouye and 20 other Asian American veterans were honored in a ceremony at the White House. The medals they had earned in World War II were given a long-overdue and deserving upgrade to the Medal of Honor.

He passed away on December 17, 2012 at age 88. (December 2012)