Aloha, Senator Dan

Two war heroes

After my college graduation ceremonies were over, we took a car trip along the Eastern seaboard to the nation's capital. We gaped at the monuments and spent days walking about the Smithsonian. We toured the Capitol and took a peek at the offices of Daniel Inouye, our home state's then-junior senator. To our surprise, his secretary told us to come right in.

Senator Dan recognized my father as a fellow graduate of McKinley High and reminisced about the McCully neighborhood. They shot the breeze about old times and old friends. We had arrived unannounced, and he spoke to us as if he didn't have anything else on his calendar. (It was the summer of 1973, and the national spotlight was beginning to focus on him and other members of the Senate Watergate Committee.)

When he died earlier today, Senator Dan, as president pro tempore, was third in line to the Presidency. He had acquired enormous influence in the "world's most exclusive club", yet one never got the sense that he was owned by Washington. A staunch Democrat, Senator Dan had close Republican friends. He refrained from extreme partisanship, possibly costing himself a party leadership position in the Senate.

"A remarkable American life," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). Amen. © 2012 Stephen Yuen