[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 159 (Tuesday, December 13, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2517-E2518]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 A BILL TO NAME THE KAPALAMA POST OFFICE IN HONOLULU, HAWAII AFTER THE 
                    LATE U.S. SENATOR HIRAM L. FONG

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 13, 2005

  Mr. CASE. Mr. President, I rise today in full support of a bill I 
have cointroduced to provide a small token of permanent recognition--
the naming of the prominent Kapalama post office in Honolulu, Hawaii--
of the late, great U.S. Senator Hiram L. Fong of Hawaii, whose long 
life--he died last August at the age of 97--was dedicated to reshaping, 
for the betterment of all, the social and political landscape of 
twentieth-century Hawaii.
  Born into poverty in Honolulu on October 1907, Hiram L. Fong was the 
seventh of 11 children of Chinese-immigrant parents. His father, Fong 
Sau Howe, originally from China's Kwangtung Province, arrived in Hawaii 
in 1872, one of 45,000 Chinese immigrants who came to Hawaii to work on 
the plantations of the islands' once dominant sugar industry. His 
mother, Fong Lum Shee, arrived in Hawaii when she was 10 years old to 
work as a maid.
  By all accounts, Hiram Fong was enterprising, even as a child. He 
shined shoes, delivered poi, sold newspapers, led visitors to local 
tourist spots as well as caddied nine holes of golf for 25 cents.
  He attended Hawaii's public schools and was a member of McKinley High 
School's famous class of 1924, whose 216 members, many of them first-
generation immigrants, became some of Hawaii's most distinguished 
lawyers, business executives, and public servants. Hiram Fong himself 
became the first resident of Hawaii to receive the Horatio Alger Award 
for overcoming poverty to achieve great success in law, business, and 
public service.
  As a student at the University of Hawaii, Fong found time to edit the 
student paper and the yearbook, become a member of the volleyball, 
rifle and debate teams, and serve as president of the YMCA and Chinese 
Students Alliance, all the while working at the Pearl Harbor Naval 
Shipyard as a supply clerk. He somehow managed to graduate from the 
University of Hawaii with honors in 1930 after just three years.
  After working at what was then the Suburban Water System of Oahu from 
1930 to 1932, Hiram Fong attended Harvard Law School. Upon graduation 
in 1935, he returned to Honolulu to work as a deputy city attorney.
  In 1938, when he was 31, he founded the law firm of Fong, Miho, Choy 
and Robinson, and entered and won a race for a seat in the Territorial 
House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he forged a 
coalition of independent Republicans and Democrats to win election as 
speaker of the Territorial House, where he would serve a total of 14 
years, including three terms as speaker.

[[Page E2518]]

  Hiram Fong's political career was interrupted by World War II, when 
he was called to active duty with the Army Air Corps. He served as 
judge advocate with the 7th Fighter Command of the Seventh Air Force. 
He later retired as a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
  As a member of the Hawaii Territorial House, Fong supported 
legislation designed to help organized labor and working families. In 
1945, he supported what became known as the ``Little Wagner Act,'' 
which allowed agriculture workers to unionize. It was Hiram Fong's 
understanding of and identification with Hawaii's laborers and 
plantation workers and fellow immigrant families that enabled him, a 
Republican in an increasingly Democratic Party-dominated Hawaii, to 
continue winning elections.
  His one electoral defeat, which ended the first phase of his 
political career, came in 1954, when he lost his race for re-election 
to the Territorial House seat by a mere 31 votes. Hiram Fong then 
focused on real estate, insurance, and investments, and established a 
number of successful island firms: Finance Factors, Finance Realty, 
Finance Home Builders, and Finance Investment, to name a few.
  In the statehood year of 1959, Fong embarked on the second phase of 
his political career by running for and winning one of the two new 
United States Senate seats created for the newly established State of 
Hawaii. He won re-election in 1964 and 1970, and served with honor and 
distinction, beloved by all in his native Hawaii and beyond, until his 
retirement on January 2, 1977. At his retirement, Senator Fong was the 
ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Post Office and Civil 
Service.
  But even then, Senator Fong, as he was universally known thereafter 
with great affection, returned home and to his various business 
enterprises and to the devotion of and to his expanded family. Well 
into his nineties, he was a remarkable sight as he strode through 
downtown Honolulu on his way to and from work, excited by what the day 
brought and eager to continue his long string of accomplishments. At 
his death, his body lay in state in Hawaii's State Capitol as whole 
generations of citizens paid tribute to a remarkable man who led a 
remarkable life.
  It is both fitting and appropriate that we provide this modest 
memorial, as he would have wished, in order to remember the essence of 
public service and a life well lived by Hawaii's quintessential native 
son, Hiram L. Fong.

                          ____________________