James Kealoha

James Kimo Kealoha (born April 29, 1908 in Pāhoa , Hawaii County , Hawaii Territory , †  August 24, 1983 in Honolulu , Hawaii ) was an American politician . Between 1959 and 1962 he was the first lieutenant governor of the state of Hawaii.

Career

James Kealoha was the son of a Chinese immigrant who came to Hawaii as a plantation worker. In the Chinese community in Hawaii, his name was Lee Yat Wo . In 1926 he graduated from Hilo High School . He then worked for a grocery store in Hilo . Politically, he initially joined the Democratic Party .

Between 1934 and 1938 he sat in the territorial House of Representatives, of which he was temporarily president. In 1938 he was elected to the Hawaii Territory Senate. In the same year he joined the Republicans . In 1940 he was elected to the Hawaii County County Council. After two re-elections, he was able to complete three consecutive terms there. Also in 1940 he was a substitute delegate for his territory to the Republican National Convention . Since 1948 he was the county council chairman in Hawaii County.

In 1959, after Hawaii joined the Union, Kealoha was elected the state's first lieutenant governor alongside William F. Quinn . He held this office between August 21, 1959 and December 2, 1962. He was Deputy Governor , with whom he got along rather poorly politically. In 1962 he ran unsuccessfully in the Republican gubernatorial primaries against Quinn, who in turn was defeated by the Democrat John Anthony Burns .

In 1966, James Kealoha ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives . He was a staunch opponent of the Vietnam War . In 1968 he also unsuccessfully applied for the office of mayor or county council in Hawaii County. At the time, he also had little success in his private life. He had to file for insolvency twice in 1967 and 1977 when two companies in which he was involved went bankrupt. He later grew papayas. He also owned a farm in Salem in the state of Oregon . James Kealoha died in Honolulu on August 24, 1983.

Web links

• James Kealoha in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• James Kealoha at The Political Graveyard