A tribute to Hawaii’s greatest statesman
Senator Daniel Inouye has been a friend and ally of the ILWU since his first election to the Hawaii Territorial House in 1954 and to the US House of Representatives in 1959. Inouye was elected to the US Senate in 1962 and served until his death on December 17, 2012. The following speeches by Senator Inouye to members of the ILWU spans 51 years from 1962 to 2012 and reveal how the ILWU and Inouye shared many of the same views of the world.
April 1961 ILWU International Convention
During my past two years in Congress I have had the opportunity of meeting many thousands of people from all parts of the world-from Asia, and from Africa, and from Europe, from South America, the Caribbean, and this morning I would like to share some of my conversations with them. They are rather interesting.
I recall very vividly a discussion I had with an African intellectual not too long ago, and while sitting with him I queried him and I asked him, “How would you describe the United States of America?”
He said, “Your nation is a very wealthy nation. It’s a very powerful nation. But yet people are impoverished, men work for 35 cents an hour, women and children are on the verge of starvation, people are unemployed. Your nation is a very powerful nation, but yet you have poverty. As far as my eyes are concerned, I have another symbol for your nation, and your symbol is the H-bomb.”
My friends, I must tell you that this is not an isolated case. I will have to tell you that this is not an absolutely correct description of the United States, for that matter it is not too fair of a description of the United States. However, there are millions of people in the world that look upon the United States and symbolize our nation on one hand with the H-bomb and on the other with the unemployed, the impoverished. I think the time has come when all of us must put our shoulders together and try to wipe out the symbol, this very unfortunate symbol.
I know that not too long ago a very distinguished person appeared before you and suggested that the ILWU should not concern itself with matters outside Labor and Management relations. I tell you, as an American, that it is our obligation to concern ourselves with national and international affairs. The world is too small now. All the activities that you find in Asia and in Africa affect our daily lives, and for that matter, the activities of our nation affect the thinking of the peoples of Asia and Africa, just like this African intellectual. What he saw in America convinced him that possibly our way of life, our democracy, wasn’t for him.
Therefore, I am very happy—notwithstanding what distinguished people may tell you—that the ILWU is concerning itself with activities outside Labor activity movements, outside our nation, and throughout the universe. Because activities of the world, activities of the nation, will affect our daily lives.
I wish you good fortune in your Convention, and may I say to my Hawaiian friends here, I am grateful for your support in all the past elections. I am hoping that my performance in Congress and my activities there have justified your trust in me. I will try my very best to continue representing you in the best way possible.
1969 ILWU Local 142 Convention, Sept. 8-13
I wish to speak to you today about a subject which has been a major—I think we could say the major—concern of those of us who have shared the responsibility for guiding the affairs of our nation, almost ever since I was elected to the United States Senate. It has been much on our mind and has affected every major decision we have made in recent years. That matter is of course Vietnam.
Vietnam is a matter which most of us would like to forget—we just wish it would go away. A satisfactory solution seems so uncertain, so agonizingly slow to achieve, and the complexities of the problem of such magnitude that we are tempted to close our eyes, our ears, and our minds, and just hope we will awaken one day and find Vietnam a thing of the past. But we cannot wish it away—we cannot ignore our Vietnam problem as long as we call upon American soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines to give their lives in Southeast Asia.
As of August 30th of this year 38,318 American young men have made the supreme sacrifice. 7,699 of these were killed during the first eight months of this year, and they continue to die at the rate of almost one thousand each month. Some 126,000 additional young Americans have been wounded sufficiently to require hospitalization. As of July 31st, one hundred eighty-three of the fallen were fellow Hawaiians.
And we are spending at the present time approximately $70 million per day from our treasury in support of this effort. $70 million would build some 3,000 homes. The sums spent in Vietnam in a single year would build more than 3 million houses.
In response to these grim statistics, to the fears, and the pressures they generate, and to the problems left unresolved because of Vietnam, we witness almost daily riots on our campuses and in our cities, and we see the possibility of a real revolution developing in our land.
This war has been expensive, and it is unpopular. Wars always are. Even World War II became unpopular as it continued and as victory proved neither quick nor easy. Certainly the Civil War and the War of 1812 had very limited support. Unpopularity of the American revolution in Britain may have had more to do with our victory than the level of support for revolution in our colonies.
As we draw historical comparisons, however, I do believe this Vietnam War is the most unpopular in our history.
A President who waged it was forced to resign.
A major political convention was made a shambles, the party torn to shreds, and consigned to defeat, because of the unpopularity of this war.
Draft card burnings; draft board offices invaded and records destroyed; nonnegotiable demands to end ROTC, priests, ministers, and young people in jail—and last week a young lad committing suicide on the steps of our Capitol—all these attest to the lack of support for this conflict.
We have now been actively engaged in this conflict for more than a decade. First as advisors and later carrying the major combat burden.
It is the longest war in our history—and we Americans are an impatient people. For more than a year, we have been engaged in peace talks in Paris seeking a resolution to this war. We spent weeks debating the shape of the table, and many more discussing who shall speak—and with what authority. We have suffered some fifteen thousand dead while these “talks” continue.
Yes, we are tired of war—and we are tired of talking peace which brings no end to war. But our people look to their elected leaders for an answer—as properly they should. What are we going to do to solve this most vexing problem?
The decisions which will end this conflict will be made in Washington and Hanoi not in Saigon. I was, therefore, much concerned when the administration announced last weekend that the decision on accepting Hanoi’s request for a cease fire to honor the passing of Ho Chi Minh was going to be left up to the Saigon government. Initial rejection of the cease fire by President Thieu further compounded the problem and it was only by a quick reversal of position that we avoided making a most serious blunder.
—continued on page 7
Land Use, Environment, Culture—continued from page 5
Land Use, Planning & Water
96 Support the jurisdiction of the State Land Use Commission. Support a comprehensive statewide program of land use regulation for agricultural districts.
97 Support the planning process in making land use decisions. Oppose “zoning by initiative.” General support for “law-making” by the legislative process.
98 Support higher standards to prevent flooding and appropriate funding to implement those standards.
99 Support the intent and purpose of the State Commission on Water Resource Management and necessary funding to protect and enhance Hawaii’s water resources.
100 Support public right-of-way/access to the ocean and mountains throughout the State. Perpetuate existing rightsof-way when private land changes ownership.
Environment
101 Oppose the storage of high-level nuclear waste in the Pacific. Support clarification of problems connected with storage of nuclear weapons in certain areas of the State.
102 Support the State’s commitment to protect watersheds. Support public/ private partnership to encourage private landowners to protect key resources on their lands, including watersheds.
103 Support use of solar energy, such as for water heaters and photovoltaic, with a tax credit.
104 Support promotion of new and existing alternative energy programs, including development of new sources of biomass. Support development of a Hawaii ethanol industry.
105 Renewable energy resources. Support legislation for development of renewable energy resources such as wind, geothermal, solar, biofuels, biomass, ocean thermal energy conversion, etc. and the infrastructure needed to sustain a statewide power grid.
106 Support Hawaii’s geothermal industry.
Culture & the Arts
107 Support the establishment of a symphony orchestra in Hawaii.
108 Encourage culture, arts and performing arts programs that enhance the lives of the people of Hawaii.
Lifestyle
109 Support promotion and management of game birds and game animals on State land. Support maintenance of hunting areas statewide, especially where hunting is for family subsistence.
110 Support continued opportunities for fishing in Hawaii waters. Oppose permanent closures of areas from fishing by the public.