EVER since the U.S. annexed Hawaii 100 years ago, military bases have figured prominently in the U.S.-Hawaii relationship. The military’s
importance to HawaiiA quid pro quo of bases for economic stimulus continues today to the advantage of both sides. Military spending is Hawaii's biggest source of outside dollars, after tourism --$3.1 billion in direct spending in 1997.
Having in mind cutbacks at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Army talk of possible training areas in Alaska, I called Sen. Daniel K. Inouye last week to get his long-term perspective. How durable is the Hawaii-military relationship?
He was fresh from a Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing where the U.S. Pacific commander, Adm. Joseph Prueher, testified that no near-term reduction of Pacific forces is foreseen.
Six of the world's seven biggest armed forces are in the Pacific, Prueher stressed, and most of America's trade is across the Pacific. A strong U.S. Pacific presence must continue, the admiral said.
As a here-to-stay sign, Inouye disclosed, Cincpac plans to replace its present all-services command center at Camp Smith on Halawa Heights with a totally modern high-tech facility nearby. It will be attractive, Inouye says, but loom on the Halawa slopes even more prominently than Tripler Army Medical Center a few miles away. Tripler is the central and biggest military hospital in the Pacific.
Other signs of long-term commitment include:
A joint private sector-military plan to develop Ford Island in the heart of Pearl Harbor and a city-military agreement to jointly build a wastewater treatment plant for Wahiawa and Schofield Barracks.
Is the Hawaii-military connection good for, say, another 50 years, I asked. Much may change, he said, but the answer is yes.
Inouye, aged 73, has pre-World War II memories of the military services, the Navy, in particular, dominating Hawaii's political and social life. Presidential appointments of Hawaii's governor and judges were cleared with the military.
We also had military rule for nearly three years in World War II, which was at least two years too long, and were threatened with naval commission government in the early 1930s when the Navy was outraged by the verdicts in the infamous Massie rape-murder trials.
WHEN Inouye came back from World War II, as a decorated combat veteran who lost an arm in France, he found things changing. The Army Pacific commander consulted him frequently on veterans' affairs. Statehood in 1959 brought still more change.
Inouye sees today's relationships here among military, political, business and community leaders as "extraordinarily close." In the 1930s, he says, it would have been unthinkable for the Pacific commander to sit down with Leeward Oahu residents to talk things out about the Makua Valley firing range as Admiral Prueher did last year.
Inouye, in the Senate since 1962, has been in the power structure from early on and always a supporter of strong armed forces. He seems sure to be re-elected this year to serve through 2004, when he will turn 80. Whenever he leaves the Senate, Hawaii will suffer a great loss of clout. He says his health, now quite good, will decide what he does in 2004.
A.A. Smyser is the contributing editor
and former editor of the the Star-Bulletin
His column runs Tuesday and Thursday.