Territory of Hawaii - Statehood

Statehood

After failing in 1935 and 1937 to convince Congress Hawaii was ready for statehood, Hawaii resurrected the campaign in 1940 by placing the statehood question on the ballot. Two-thirds of the electorate in the territory voted in favor of joining the Union. After World War II, the call for statehood was repeated with even larger support, even from some mainland states. The reasons for the support of statehood were clear:

• Hawaii wanted the ability to elect its own governor
• Hawaii wanted the ability to elect the president
• Hawaii wanted an end to taxation without voting representation in Congress
• Hawaii suffered the first blow of the war
• Hawaii's non-white ethnic populations, especially the Japanese, proved their loyalty by having served on the European frontlines
• Hawaii consisted of 90% United States citizens, most born within the U.S.

A former officer of the Honolulu Police Department, John A. Burns, was elected Hawaii's delegate to Congress in 1956. A Democrat, Burns won without the white vote but rather with the overwhelming support of Japanese and Filipinos in Hawaii. His election proved pivotal to the statehood movement. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., Burns began making key political maneuvers by winning over allies among Congressional leaders and state governors. Burns' most important accomplishment was convincing Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) that Hawaii was ready to become a state.

In March 1959, both houses of Congress passed the Hawaii Admission Act and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law. (The act excluded Palmyra Atoll, part of the Kingdom and Territory of Hawaii, from the new state.) On June 27, 1959, a plebiscite was held asking Hawaiians to vote on accepting the statehood bill. Hawaii voted 17 to 1 to accept. On August 21, church bells throughout Honolulu were rung upon the proclamation that Hawaii was finally a US state.