Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [23]
1927 The $4-million, Moorish-style Royal Hawaiian Hotel, dubbed the ‘Pink Palace’ for obvious reasons, opens in Waikiki, inaugurating an era of steamship tourism to the islands.
1941 On December 7, Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japanese forces, catapulting the US into WWII. The sinking of the battleship USS Arizona kills 1177 crew members.
1946 On April 1, the most destructive tsunami in Hawaii history (generated by an earthquake in Alaska) kills 176 people across the islands, 96 in Hilo, and causes $10.5 million in property damage.
1949 Dockworkers stage a 177-day strike that halts all shipping to and from the islands; this is accompanied by plantation worker strikes that win concessions from the Big Five companies.
1959 Hawaii becomes the 50th state in the Union (a decision Hawaiians ratify by a margin of 17 to 1), and Hawaii’s Daniel Inouye becomes the first Japanese American elected to the US Congress.
1961 Elvis Presley stars in Blue Hawaii, the first of Elvis’ three Hawaii movies. Along with Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style, these set the mood for Hawaii’s post-statehood tourism boom.
1962 Democrat John Burns is elected as governor, and Democrats take control of all three branches of state government (including the House and Senate), a stranglehold on power they maintain until 2002.
1968 Hawaii Five-0 begins its 12-year run, becoming one of American TV’s longest-running crime dramas. The iconic theme song soon epitomizes Hawaii, along with main character Steve McGarrett’s unflappable hair and his tagline, ‘Book ‘em, Danno.’
1971 The Merrie Monarch hula festival, begun in 1964, holds its first competitive hula competition; the festival, part of a Hawaiian cultural resurgence, becomes Hawaii’s proving ground for serious hula.
1976 Activists illegally occupy Kaho’olawe, and Holuke’a – a reproduction of an ancient Polynesian voyaging canoe – sails to Tahiti. These events spur a Native Hawaiian cultural and political rennaissance.
1978 The 1978 Constitutional Convention establishes the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), which holds the Hawaiian Home Lands in trust to ensure they are used for the benefit of Native Hawaiians.
1983 Kilauea Volcano begins its current eruption cycle, now the longest in recorded history. Eruptions destroy the village of Kalapana, various subdivisions, the coastal road to Puna, and other sites.
1992 On September 11, Hurricane ’Iniki slams into Kaua’i, demolishing 1300 buildings and damaging 5000, causing a total of $1.6 billion in damage. Miraculously, only four people are killed.
1993 On the 100-year anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, President Clinton signs the ‘Apology Bill,’ in which the US government acknowledges its role in the illegal takeover of the kingdom.
2000 Senator Daniel Akaka introduces the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act (the ‘Akaka Bill’), asking for federal recognition of Native Hawaiians as the islands’ indigenous peoples.
2002 In part as a response to Democratic corruption scandals, Republican Linda Lingle is elected governor, Hawaii’s first Republican governor in 40 years. She is reelected in 2006.
2008 Born and raised on O’ahu, Barack Obama is elected the first Hawaii-born president of the United States. In the election, Obama wins 72% of the vote in Hawaii, the most of any state.
Return to beginning of chapter
The Culture
* * *
REGIONAL IDENTITY
LIFESTYLE
ECONOMY
POPULATION
MULTICULTURALISM
RELIGION
ARTS
MUSIC
HAWAIIAN ARTS & CRAFTS
LITERATURE
CINEMA & TV
SPORTS
* * *
There’s a great divide between the Hawaii of popular culture – that seductive vision of paradise – and the actual islands, a regular place where people live regular lives. Both exist, sometimes side by side; they may even share the same white-sand beach. But to grow up here, to be kama’aina, a ‘child of the land,’ is to see and experience Hawaii differently. This shared experience bonds locals despite their incredible diversity.