Hawaii Statehood Passes

March 11, 2008 > MAUI TODAY, > Maui Yesterdays No Comments
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March 11th, 1959: The U.S. Senate votes 76-15 granting statehood for Hawaii. The following week, March 18, President Dwight Eisenhower signs the bill into law. Hawaii State Seal

One interesting perspective on this is the 15 negative votes for Hawaiian statehood. Just about every one of them came from senators from southern states. Why? Well, no surprise there, the Southerners were racists. Several complained that a significant portion of the territory’s population was of “mixed race” and an awful lot of people’s skin was dark. The horrors!

Furthermore, the racists feared that the state would put into the senate two pro-civil rights senators, which might give civil rights legislation (which was perennially popping up in the Congress those days) the crucial extra votes it needed to pass.

Thus the link was simple: give Hawaii statehood, and the next thing you know, the darkies in Alabama will finally be able to vote.Funny thing, they were right to fear. Hawaii Senators Hiram Fong and Daniel Inouye voted for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights act.  It’s also interesting to note some of those who voted against statehood, and later, civil rights: Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, Sam Irvin of North Carolina, and Albert Gore Sr. of Tennessee.

HISTORICAL EVENTS ON THIS DAY — March 11th

  • 537: The Goths lay siege to Rome 
  • 1302: According to Shakespeare, this is Romeo and Juliet’s wedding day 
  • 1702: The first London daily newspaper, “The Daily Courant,” is launched
  • 1779: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is established (for the 1st time) 
  • 1824: The U.S. War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs 
  • 1845: In New Zealand, further Maori uprisings break out against British rule 
  • 1867: The “Great Eruption” of Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii 
  • 1918: The Save the Redwoods League is founded 
  • 1918: Spanish Flu pandemic  hits the U.S.
  • 1953: An American B-47 accidentally drops a nuclear bomb on South Carolina
  •  1966: A military coup is led by Indonesian General Suharto 
  • 1985: Mikhail S Gobachev is elected General Secretary of the Soviet Central Committee
  • 1993: Janet Reno is unanimously confirmed by the Senate to be the nation’s first female Attorney General 
  • 1997: Rock musician Paul McCartney is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II  

    • BORN ON THIS DAY — March 11th

    • 1903: Lawrence Welk,  orchestra leader
    • 1914: Ralph Ellison, author
    • 1926: Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader
    • 1931: Rupert Murdoch, publisher
    • 1934: Sam Donaldson,  ABC White House correspondent
    • 1934: Tina Louise, actress
    • 1936: Antonin Scalia,  105th Supreme Court Justice
    • 1945: Tricia O’Neal, actress
    • 1947: Mark Stein, rocker 
    • 1950: Bobby McFerrin, singer  
    • 1952: Douglas Adams, author
    • 1961: Bruce Watson, rocker 
    • 1961: Mike Percy, rocker
    • 1969: Terence Howard, actor
    • 1971:  Johnny Knoxville, actor
    • 1982: Thora Birch, actress