Daniel Akaka

Daniel Akaka

Daniel Kahikina Akaka (born September 11, 1924 in Honolulu , Territory of Hawaii ; † April 6, 2018 there ) was an American politician of the Democratic Party . He represented the state of Hawaii in both houses of Congress from 1990 to 2013 .

Life

Akaka served in the US Army from 1945 to 1947 , then studied at the University of Hawaii in Manoa , where he received his Bachelor of Education in 1952 . From 1953 to 1960 he worked as a teacher. His first political office he assumed on January 3, 1977 as a deputy in the United States House of Representatives , where he succeeded the in the US Senate exchanged Spark Matsunaga took. Akaka was re-elected six times.

When Senator Matsunaga died on April 15, 1990, Daniel Akaka was appointed as his successor by Governor John Waihee . He moved to the Senate within Congress on May 16, 1990 and was confirmed in office three times. Most recently he won in 2006 with 61.8 percent of the vote against Republican Cynthia Thielen . He had previously prevailed against Congressman Ed Case in the Democratic Primary with a 53 percent share of the vote . From 2007 to 2011 Akaka was the Senate Chairman of the Veterans Committee ; In January 2011, he took over from the retired Byron Dorgan as head of the Committee on Indian Affairs .

On March 2, 2011, Akaka announced as the seventh incumbent senator that he would not run again in the 2012 election . It was "the right time" for his resignation, said the then 86-year-old senator. As his successor, the Democratic Congresswoman Mazie Hirono was elected, who then replaced him on January 3, 2013.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hawaii News: 'The right time' (March 3, 2011)

Web links

Commons : Daniel Akaka  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Daniel Akaka in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Daniel Akaka in the nndb (English)