John Anthony Burns

John Anthony Burns (1966)

John Anthony Burns (born March 30, 1909 in Fort Assinniboine , Hill County , Montana , † April 5, 1975 in Honolulu , Hawaii ) was an American politician and governor of the state of Hawaii from 1962 to 1974 . He belonged to the Democratic Party .

Early years and political advancement

John Burns attended the University of Hawaii and graduated there in 1930. From 1927 to 1928 he served in the US Army . In 1934 he was hired as a patrol officer at the Honolulu Police Department , where he remained until 1945 and retired with the rank of captain in 1945. He was also head of the special department of the police for counter-espionage from 1941 until a request by the FBI . Burns decided to pursue a political career at the end of World War II , working closely with the reorganized union leaders and Japanese-American war veterans to form a democratic party that would serve as an instrument of social change in Hawaii. He later worked as an asset manager with the Oahu Civil Defense Agency from 1951 to 1955 and as the Vice Director of the Territorial Civil Defense Agency from 1951 to 1953 . He was also the chairman of the Democratic Party in Hawaii from 1952 to 1956 and sat from 1957 to 1959 as a non-voting delegate from Hawaii in the United States House of Representatives . Before and after World War II, Hawaiian residents coveted statehood. Congressional hearings were dominated by the core issue regarding the Japanese island population. As a delegate, Burns followed Hawaii's concern about statehood. Statehood was slowed down due to preconceived notions about the Japanese and concerns about communist influence on Hawaii's unions, and it wasn't until 1959 that Congress accepted Hawaii as the 50th state into the union. Burns' second term in Congress was shortened by the fact that Hawaii was eventually accepted as a state into the Union.

Governor of Hawaii

Burns was elected to the governor of Hawaii in 1962. During his tenure he was in 1962 the representative of US President John F. Kennedy in the South Pacific Commission Conference and 1963 representatives of President Lyndon B. Johnson with the status of a Special Envoy ( Special Ambassador ) at the inauguration of President Park of Korea . In addition, Governor Burns was a member of the National Governors 'Conference Executive Committee from 1965 to 1966 and chaired the Western Governors' Conference from 1967 to 1968. Over the course of the twelve years in which he served three consecutive terms as governor, Burns helped shape many of the key foundations of Hawaii's social and political structure that have endured ever since. Burns served as governor of Hawaii from December 3, 1962 to December 2, 1974. He died in Honolulu on April 5, 1975 and was buried in Punchbowl National Cemetery .

literature

• Dan Boylan and T. Michael Holmes: John A. Burns: The Man and His Times. University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 2000.

Web links

• John Burn in the National Governors Association (English)
• John Anthony Burns in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• John A. Burns in the database of Find a Grave (English)