- He was best known for his attempts to win recognition for Native Hawaiians as an indigenous group deserving of the same sovereignty as Native American tribes on the U.S. mainland.
- His father was of Chinese heritage, and his mother was Native Hawaiian.
- He represented the state of Hawaii in both houses of Congress for over 35 years. He was the first native-born Hawaiian elected to Congress. He was a teacher and school principal in Hawaii in the 1950s and 1960s, and led Hawaii's anti-poverty efforts in the early 1970s. He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976.
- During WWII, he was a mechanic in the Army Corps of Engineers.
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