Inouye celebrates
80th birthday
The senator pauses to reflect
on his long public service career
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These are not insignificant items: college diplomas, civic honors, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and other military awards for valor.
But on this occasion, nothing captures Daniel Inouye's attention quite like a tiny scrap of yellowed paper.
"This I'm proudest about, above all else," he says, pointing out the "junior police officer" certificate he received in elementary school.
His animated smile shows that even the third most senior member of the U.S. Senate doesn't lack a sense of humor.
It's part of the style that has helped the seven-term Democrat become arguably the most powerful politician Hawaii has ever seen.
As he celebrates his 80th birthday today, the decorated World War II veteran is mindful that there is still work to be done.
That means not even taking time off to celebrate his milestone birthday.
"I'll go to my office because we resume our session," he says.
Inouye's work has kept him busy since he was elected as the first U.S. House member from the new state of Hawaii in 1959.
All of this after serving with the storied 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The experience cost him his right arm, which was shredded by a German rifle grenade. It also earned him the Medal of Honor, the government's highest award for valor.
As he campaigns for his eighth term in the U.S. Senate, Inouye's schedule is as busy as ever, with appearances and speeches almost every day.
"But this may surprise you," he says. "I have dinner with my wife -- and we've been married for 55 years now -- about six nights a week."
That's part of the reason weekends at home in Maryland are important to him. Whether it's just spending time with his wife, Maggie, or with their son, Daniel Jr., 40, who drops by once or twice a week, that's just fine with Inouye.
Inouye is proudest of the work he has done for native Hawaiians, whether it's lobbying support for the Akaka bill or securing federal funds for a scholarship.
The work is a promise kept to his mother, Kame, who died 13 years ago.
Orphaned at age 4 -- her mother died at childbirth, and her father died working on a plantation near Lahaina -- young Kame was taken in by a native Hawaiian couple.
"She always looked back (at it) as the happiest moments in her life, and she always made me promise that I would do whatever possible to show her gratitude to them. She says, 'I can't do it but you can do it.'"
But ask him if he ever reflects on his importance to Hawaii, and Inouye deflects the praise.
"If you're trying to suggest that I'm indispensable, no," he says modestly. "There'll always be someone."
Someone else, sure, but probably not one who has been able to work within the political system the way Inouye has, says Dan Boylan, a political analyst and history professor at the University of Hawaii.
"He recognized long ago that a small state like Hawaii has got to work both sides of the aisle. He's done it and he's done it masterfully," Boylan said.
As a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee, Inouye has helped secure hundreds of millions of federal dollars for Hawaii.
And he's not ready to give it up just yet.
"I'm being as candid as I can be," he says when asked how much longer he plans to seek office. "I've crossed the bridge and I've already burned it.
"I had an opportunity in the mid-70s to change the course of my life. I was given many opportunities to enter into law practice -- invitations of fantastic amounts. But, to no surprise to anyone, I turned them all down."
Inouye still hopes to add the one title that has eluded him throughout his distinguished career, although it's one that won't be his call. That will be up to his son, who just got married in May.
"I'm looking forward," he says with a broad smile, "to when I may have a new title to my name: grandfather."
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