Biography Share this Page Tweet Share
Daniel Ken Inouye was a Senator and a Representative from Hawaii. Born in Honolulu, he volunteered during the Second World War as a private in 1943 and retired after much action as a captain in 1947. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor on June 21, 2000, for heroism in battle during WWII. He graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1950 and George Washington University Law School in 1952. He was admitted to the bar in 1953 and commenced practice in Honolulu. He was assistant public prosecutor in Honolulu from 1953-1954 and was majority leader in the Territorial house of representatives from 1954-1958. He was a member of the Territorial senate from 1958-1959. Upon the admission of Hawaii into the Union, he was elected to the 86th Congress for the term commencing August 21, 1959 and reelected to the 87th Congress. He served until January 3, 1963. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1962 and reelected in 1968, 1974, 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2004, and 2010 for the term ending January 3, 2017. He died on December 17, 2012, and lay in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on December 20, 2012. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 20, 2013.
