Hawaiʻi Statehood Address - Aloha ke Akua

The Hawaiʻi Admission Act was signed into law on March 18, 1959; Hawaiʻi became the 50th State on August 21, 1959.  An unplanned service (was) held at Kawaiahaʻo Church. This church is the denomination of the missionaries who came to Hawaii in 1820. A crowd of more than 1,000 people gathered and paid respect to the Divine Providence within minutes of the news being received that the bill was passed by the House.

The next morning, thanksgiving services were held at this same church; Reverend Dr. Abraham Akaka, pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church, gave the sermon.  “So that the real Golden Rule is Aloha. This is the way of life we shall affirm. … Thus may our becoming a State mean to our nation and the world, and may it reaffirm that which was planted in us one hundred and thirty-nine years ago: ‘Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.’”

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49th State Fair

During the First World War the Chamber of Commerce sponsored the first Territorial Fair, with the idea that an event held every 2-3 years could draw from across the Territory to “display the results of their efforts along agricultural lines.”

The Hawaiʻi Territorial Fair was largely focused on "a demonstration in intensive cultivation of staple and special field products and also as a demonstration in food conservation ... it was found (that) the islands depended too largely on the mainland for food supplies”.

A site was selected and “set aside for territorial fair and amusement park purposes that portion of the government lands lying mauka of the proposed Waikiki drainage canal (Ala Wai) and adjacent to Kapahulu road.”

The Territorial Fair continued for a number of years.  Starting in 1923, golf started at the Fair Grounds, when someone placed a salmon can down as its first hole; by 1931, more holes were built and the fairgrounds were converted to a golf course, instead.  The place was renamed the Ala Wai Golf Course.

The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees) were formed on the continent in 1920.  The Jaycees first appeared in Hawaiʻi in 1930 with the chartering of the Honolulu Junior Chamber of Commerce.

In 1939, Jaycee chapters sprouted up in Hilo, Maui, Kauaʻi and Wahiawa.  In 1943, an umbrella organization ‘Hawaiʻi Junior Chamber of Commerce’ was formed.

Coinciding with these timeframes, the (senior) Honolulu Chamber and Commerce was conducting the Hawaiian Products Exhibit, first held in 1930.

Hawaiʻi was suffering from the effects of the Depression; the Chamber launched the Hawaiian products exhibit at the old National Guard Armory downtown to boost interest in local goods, 33,000 attended.

For seven years the senior Chamber ran the Show, until 1937, when the Jaycees were looking for a signature fundraising event for their organization.  The Chamber passed the responsibilities to the Jaycees; from then, it was a Jaycees event.

A decision was made to include mainland manufactures and agricultural products in 1940, resulting in a significantly larger event.  It was held under tents in Kapiʻolani Park.

The next year the Show moved to the corner of Kalākaua Avenue and Kapiʻolani Boulevard. During the war years, the shows were not held.  After the war, the first post-war show was held at McKinley High School.

The 1948 show was the first to be named "The 49th State Fair" (the Honolulu Jaycees copyrighted the name;) it was held at Kapiʻolani Park.  (The Jaycees were anticipating that Hawai'i would become the 49th state.)

“By this time the country was actively debating the issue of Statehood for Hawaii and Alaska.  Most people thought Statehood would be granted first to Hawaii and then to Alaska  … we had the 49th State Fair, businesses called 49th State such-and-such …”  (George Ariyoshi)

“Statehood was in the air, and everyone expected Hawaii to become the 49th state; hence there was a 49th State record label and a 49th State fair at the old Honolulu stadium.”  (Tom Moffatt, Star Revue)

Hawaiʻi’s 1948 “State Fair” won a national award from the National Jaycees who rated it the best project in the field of profit-making conducted by a Jaycee entity in a city of 100,000 or more.

The next year event also won a national Jaycee award (in the field of trade promotion.)  The 1949 State Fair was held in warehouses on the Ala Moana Boulevard, EK Fernandez furnished the entertainment.

Then, again, in 1950 the 49th State Fair was selected as the “Outstanding Project of the Year” conducted by Jaycees throughout the nation in cities with populations of 250,000 and more.

In 1952, the 49th State Fair moved to Sand Island.

On January 3, 1959, Alaska became the 49th state – Hawaiʻi’s Fair name changed, again.

Hawaiʻi joined the union on August 21, 1959 – since then it hosts the 50th State Fair.

(“The Territorial Savings and Loan Association said its name would be continued to denote the firm’s ‘age, stability and pre-Statehood background.’”  (star-bulletin))

The image is the program cover for the 49th State Fair held in 1954 at Sand Island (Lots of images and information from vicandbecky.)  In addition, I have included some related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi

Prince Kūhiō was born in Kōloa on the island of Kauaʻi on March 26, 1871. His father, Kahalepouli, was a high chief and the son of Kaumualiʻi, the last King of Kauaʻi; his mother was Princess Kinoiki Kekaulike, sister of Queen Kapiʻolani (wife of King Kalākaua.)  He had two brothers, David Kawananakoa and Edward Keliʻiahonui.

Orphaned after his father died in 1880 and mother in 1884, Prince Kūhiō was adopted by King David Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapi‘olani, who was his maternal aunt.

His early education was at the Royal School and Punahou. He studied four years at St. Mathews College of California. Later, he was a student at the Royal Agricultural College in England, finishing his formal education in a business college there.

Upon the assumption of the Kalākaua dynasty to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom, a proclamation ending the Kamehameha Dynasty also declared Kūhiō a royal prince. King David Kalākaua, also Kūhiō’s uncle, then appointed him to a seat in the royal Cabinet administering the Department of the Interior.  (Prince Kuhio Hawaiian Civic Club)

The overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and establishment of the Republic of Hawaiʻi brought about abrupt changes.  Kūhiō was then about 21 years of age.

Two-years later, there was a counter-revolution attempting to reinstate Liliʻuokalani as Queen.  Prince Kūhiō took part in the revolution.  He was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for a year.  While he was in prison he became engaged to Elizabeth Kahanu Kaʻauwai and, after his release, married her on October 8, 1896.

In 1900, Robert Wilcox (an Independent) defeated Republican Samuel Parker and Democrat Prince David Kawānanakoa (Kūhiō's older brother) as Hawaiʻi's first delegate to Congress  Wilcox ran for re-election, but Prince Kūhiō (a Republican) defeated him and served as Hawaiʻi's delegate from 1903 until his death in 1922.

"Prince Kalanianaʻole was a prince indeed - a prince of good fellows and a man among men; a man of sterling sincerity and strong convictions - he always stood for what he deemed right-yielding to no weakness, and manly always."  (Congressional Record, 1923)  Prince Kūhiō restored the Royal Order of Kamehameha I and established the Hawaiian Civic Club.

The Order of Kamehameha I was established on April 11, 1865 by King Kamehameha V (Lot Kapuāiwa) to honor the legacy of his grandfather, the unifier of the islands, Kamehameha the Great.    The Order was reorganized by Prince Kūhiō in 1902.

The Hawaiian Civic Clubs were organized in 1918 and were formed to provide scholarship aid for the education of Hawaiian students; preserve and promote the Hawaiian heritage, traditions, language and culture; improve the conditions of the Hawaiian people and community at large; and perpetuate the values that dignify all human life.

Kūhiō was often called Ke Ali‘i Maka‘āinana (Prince of the People) and is well known for his efforts to preserve and strengthen the Hawaiian people.

"A pure-blooded Hawaiian, a member of a diminishing race, it was natural and greatly to his credit that he devoted much serious thought and energy to their rehabilitation – it was a work of love on his part.  He saw the tendency of his people to flock to the larger cities where their life in crowded tenements, learning the vices of the white man, was leading to racial extinction, and he devoted himself to getting them back to the land."  (Congressional Record)

"His efforts in this line culminated in the passage in 1921 by this Congress of the Hawaiian Homes Commission act, a measure to provide homesteads for native Hawaiians for an indefinite term at a nominal rental and for government loans to the settlers.  The Prince was made one of the commissioners and took great interest in the practical carrying out of his dream."  (Congressional Record)

"Kuhio on February 11 introduced a resolution in congress providing for statehood for Hawaiʻi under qualifications to be fixed by congress, and giving Hawaii half of the federal revenues derived from here for territory's public works for a period of 20 years."  (Maui News, February 28, 1919)   This first bill in Congress calling for Hawaiʻi statehood didn't pass.  (After several other related bills by others, Hawaiʻi achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.)

"Prince Kalanianaole was an unusual man. There was much of the magnetic about him. He possessed a kindliness and a courtliness that instinctively attracted people to him and made him a most welcome guest at every gathering. While his was the philosophy of optimism and he always looked with confidence toward the future, still it seemed to me that there was ever present the element of pathos in his fine character."  (Congressional Record)

"At Pualeilani through the night of vigil, while the Prince was sitting in his armchair, himself knowing that death could not long be barred from entrance to his chamber, he sat with his face toward the open door facing Kalākaua Avenue, his lessening vision drinking in deeply of the green verdure across the way in what was formerly the great acres of his aunt the Queen Dowager Kapiʻolani, in whose home he had spent so many happy days of his boyhood and young manhood. Sitting by his side was Princess Kalanianaʻole. She held his hand closely. The Prince smiled often as his eyes met those of his sweetheart Princess and he appeared to be hoping that her last view of him would be a memory of him still smiling."  (Congressional Record, 1923)

Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole Piʻikoi died on January 7, 1922 of heart disease.  He was given the last state funeral for an Ali‘i; he is buried at Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum.

The territorial Legislature passed a resolution in 1949, establishing March 26 as a territorial holiday in honor of Prince Kūhiō; Prince Kūhiō Day continues as an official holiday in the State of Hawaiʻi.  It is celebrated annually on March 26, to mark the birth of Prince Kūhiō.

The image shows a photo of Prince Kuhio in the 1890s.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Admission Day - Hawaiʻi Statehood Day

Admission Day or Statehood Day is a holiday in the State of Hawaiʻi.  While Hawaiʻi was the 50th State to be admitted into the union on August 21, 1959, Statehood is celebrated annually on the third Friday in August to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 admission of Hawaiʻi into the Union.

On June 27, 1959, Hawaiʻi registered voters voted on three propositions related to Statehood (there was a 93.6% voter turnout for the General election:)

Shall the following propositions, as set forth in Public Law 86-3 entitled "An Act to provide for the admission of the State of Hawaii into the Union" be adopted?

1. Shall Hawaii immediately be admitted into the Union as a State?

Yes - 132,773 (94.3%)

No - 7,971 (5.7%)

2. The boundaries of the State of Hawaii shall be as prescribed in the Act of Congress approved March 18, 1959, and all claims of this State to any areas of land or sea outside the boundaries so prescribed are hereby irrevocably relinquished to the United States.

Yes - 132,194 (94.5%)

No - 7,654 (5.5%)

3. All provisions of the Act of Congress approved March 18, 1959, reserving rights or powers to the United States, as well as those prescribing the terms or conditions of the grants of lands or other property therein made to the State of Hawaii are consented by said State and its people.

Yes - 132,281 (94.6%)

No - 7,582 (5.4%)

President Eisenhower called it "truly an historic occasion" because for the second time within a year a new state had been admitted.

"All forty-nine states will join in welcoming the new one - Hawaii - to this Union," he said. "We will wish for her prosperity, security, happiness and a growing closer relationship with all of the other states."

"We know that she is ready to do her part to make this Union a stronger nation - a stronger people than it was before because of her presence as a full sister to the other forty-nine states. So all of us say to her, 'good luck.'" (nytimes-com)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruUMNk6UDg

"Facts and Figures" (August 1959)

1959 - US Population - 177,829,628

2010 - US Population - 308,745,538

1959 - Hawaiʻi Population - 585,000

2010 - Hawaiʻi Population - 1,360,301

1959 - Hawaiʻi Registered Voters - 183,118

2010 - Hawaiʻi Registered Voters - 690,748

1959 - Hawaiʻi General Election voter turnout - 171,383 (93.6%)

2010 - Hawaiʻi General Election voter turnout - 293,016 (55.8%)

1959 - Average Cost of new House $ 12,400

2012 - Average Cost of House $664,000 (Oʻahu)

1959 - Median Family Income $  6,366

2010 - Median Family Income $66,420

1959 - Cost of a gallon of Gas $0.25

2012 - Cost of a gallon of Gas $4.16 

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC