GI Bill propelled
1954’s Democratic
revolution
Immigrants would march
By Richard Borreca
from college to the voting booth,
then to seats in the territorial
Legislature and other offices
Star-BulletinIn 1944, as Hawaii's soldiers were returning from battles in Europe and the Pacific, Congress was laying the groundwork for the Democratic political revolution of 1954 in the islands.
The GI Bill of Rights -- which subsidized tuition, fees, books and living expenses for returning GIs enrolled in the college of their choice -- shattered the idea that a college education was for the privileged and well-to-do.
Journalist Pete Hamill said it "meant that the children of bricklayers and laborers and machinists could enter those centers of higher education from which they had been barred by economics and class.
"And if very few of us were elected president and only a fortunate few played left field for the Dodgers, most of us realized lives that were beyond the imaginations of our parents," he said.
The effect was most profound in Hawaii, where native Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino and Korean immigrants would march from college to the voting booth, then to seats in the territorial Legislature and other elective jobs.
War hero Dan Inouye studied to become a lawyer, which catapulted him into powerful state, then federal, political offices.
Matsuo Takabuki, another 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran who became an attorney, was a county councilman before making a controversial name for himself as a financially shrewd Bishop Estate trustee.
Thomas P. Gill, a member of Hawaii's Territorial Guard, joined the Army, fought in the Pacific and won the Bronze Star and Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. He returned to Hawaii but got an education through the GI Bill at the University of California. When he came back, Gill also joined the Democratic political revolution, winning a seat in the territorial and state Legislatures, Congress and as lieutenant governor.
"The GI Bill of Rights was a major help," said Dan Tuttle, a longtime political scientist and observer.
"They were idealistic, but most of them had just fought a war, and they had their feet on the ground," he said. "They were interested in having a better life, and they wanted some of the goodies that had been passed around."
History was made in the 1954 territorial elections when for the first time in Hawaii's history, Democrats had a 9-to-6 majority in the Senate, a 22-to-8 majority in the House, control of the Oahu County Council, and were in the majority on both the Maui and Kauai county councils.
"The Democrats' victory in 1954 meant that for the first time, the composition and complexion of the territory's Legislature closely resembled the community at large," wrote Roger Bell in his book about Hawaii's drive for statehood, "Last Among Equals."
Ever since, Democrats in Hawaii have controlled the Legislature and lost the governorship only once, in 1959.
"Election night was a surprise," Tuttle said of the 1954 revolution that startled almost all of Hawaii's political establishment. "I thought they would do better, but I didn't think they would sweep the Legislature."
The Democrats had won by advancing progressive labor legislation, improved public education, and land and tax reforms.
On opening day, the new House Speaker, Democrat Charles Kauhane, promised a new attentiveness.
"In the past our government has listened in most cases to only those who shouted and spoke the loudest. But I can assure the people of Hawaii that this Legislature is made of citizens with keen ears that can pick up and will listen to the softest of whispers," Kauhane told the crowds.
Despite all that, though, the real power in pre-statehood Hawaii rested not with the elected representatives, but with the appointed Gov. Samuel Wilder King.
He vetoed so much of the new Legislature's work that, as Tuttle observed, "never during the 20 years of GOP Legislatures and Democratic governors had a governor so completely demolished a legislative program."
Ironically, the GOP's veto pen quickly turned into a Democratic sword, recalled John A. Burns, a chief architect of the 1954 victory who became a congressional delegate and then Hawaii's governor.
"King was our good whipping boy," Burns said later. "Once he vetoed all those bills in the 1955 Legislature, man, we were in shape."
Those early Democratic years were more about winning control than actually accomplishing Democratic goals.
"It was wild, full of sound, fury and confusion, and if you were looking for a log of solid legislative achievement, well, I'd have to concede that you'd come to the wrong place," Inouye wrote about the 1955 session in his autobiography, "Journey to Washington."
Still, the revolution of 1954 had unleashed profound change. And in 1962, Democrats would combine their control of the Legislature with the firm hand of a Democratic governor -- Burns -- to finish the job of government reform.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin is counting down to year 2000 with this special series. Each installment will chronicle important eras in Hawaii's history, featuring a timeline of that particular period. Next installment: October 25. About this Series
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Project Editor: Lucy Young-Oda
Chief Photographer:Dean Sensui
