Hiram Fong
Hiram Fong | |||||||||||||||
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鄺友良 | |||||||||||||||
Fong in 1976 | |||||||||||||||
| United States Senator from Hawaii | |||||||||||||||
| In office August 21, 1959 – January 3, 1977 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Seat established | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Spark Matsunaga | ||||||||||||||
| Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||
| In office 1948–1954 | |||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Manuel Paschoal | ||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Charles E. Kauhane | ||||||||||||||
| Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from the 5th district | |||||||||||||||
| In office 1938–1954 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||
| Born | Yau Leong Fong October 15, 1906 Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Died | August 18, 2004 (aged 97) Kahaluu, Hawaii, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Political party | Republican | ||||||||||||||
| Spouse |
Ellyn Lo (m. 1938) | ||||||||||||||
| Children | 4; including Hiram Fong Jr. | ||||||||||||||
| Education | University of Hawaii, Manoa (BA) Harvard University (LLB) | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Businessman, lawyer, politician | ||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | United States | ||||||||||||||
| Branch/service | United States Army | ||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1942–1945 | ||||||||||||||
| Rank | Major | ||||||||||||||
| Unit | United States Army Air Forces • Seventh Air Force | ||||||||||||||
| Battles/wars | World War II | ||||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 鄺友良 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 邝友良 | ||||||||||||||
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Hiram Leong Fong (born Yau Leong Fong; October 15, 1906 – August 18, 2004) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician from Hawaii. Born to a Cantonese immigrant sugar plantation worker, Fong was one of the first two senators for Hawaii after it became the 50th US state in 1959. He was the first Chinese American and first Asian American United States Senator, serving from 1959 to 1977, and to date he remains the only Republican U.S. senator from Hawaii.
At the 1964 Republican National Convention, Fong became the first Asian American to receive delegate votes for his party's nomination for President of the United States. In the Senate, Fong supported civil rights legislation and eliminating ethnic barriers to immigration.