Fong, Hiram Leong

(b. 15 October 1906 [some sources give 1 October 1907] in Honolulu, Hawaii, d. 18 August 2004 in Honolulu, Hawaii), senator from Hawaii when statehood was achieved in 1959 and the first congressman of Chinese ancestry.

Fong, born Yau Leong Fong, was the seventh of eleven children. Because immigrant children were born at home and births irregularly reported, some sources list his birth date as 1 October 1907, and Fong himself used that date. Fong’s father, Fong Sau Howe, came from China’s Guangdong province in 1872 as an indentured servant and was a laborer on sugar plantations for $12 a month. Fong’s mother, Lum Fong Shee, also an indentured servant, arrived in Hawaii at the age of ten and worked as a maid. Hiram attended Kalihi-Waena Grammar School and supplemented the family income by selling fish and crabs that he caught.

As a youth Fong worked as a golf caddy, shined shoes, delivered poi, and guided tourists to local shrines. While attending President William McKinley High School, Fong sold bags of beans on the streets. He was a mediocre student in the class of 1924, but many of his classmates—children of immigrants—became businessmen, physicians, and educators. At least one became a state supreme court justice. After graduation from high school Fong worked for three years as a supply clerk at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard.

Although he worked his way through the University of Hawaii, Fong was active in extracurricular activities. He played volleyball, was a member of the rifle team, was a debater, edited the campus newspaper, was associate editor of the yearbook, and was president of the student Young Men’s Christian Association, the Chinese Student Alliance, and other student organizations. Although not enamored of the military, Fong joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps because the thirty cents per day he received as a senior cadet provided his lunches. Fong’s first visit to the mainland United States was to participate in a rifle competition in 1929. Despite this heavy schedule in college, Fong was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, graduating in three years and receiving a BA as a member of the class of 1930. Sources do not specify when Fong changed his name to Hiram. Newspapers used that name when he was in college.

Bitten by the political bug while still a student, Fong made speeches for a candidate for sheriff and for Fred Wright’s successful campaign for mayor of Honolulu. After graduation Fong was employed in the suburban water system. In 1932 he began law studies at Harvard University as a probationary student. Successfully completing his studies and receiving a JD in 1935, Fong returned to Honolulu as a deputy city attorney.

On 25 June 1938 Fong married Ellyn Sai Ngun Lo. The couple had four children. Between 1938 and 1942 Fong began private legal practice and was one of the founders of the law firm Fong, Miho, Choy, and Robinson. Fong won political office for the first time as a member of the territorial House of Representatives. He was an independent Republican, and his legislative seat was challenged by members of his own party. A reserve officer, Fong entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1942 and served as judge advocate of the Seventh Fighter Command of the Seventh Air Force. By the end of World War II, he had attained the rank of major.

After the war Fong resumed his political career. His most notable achievement was legislation permitting agricultural workers to form unions. In 1950 Fong served as vice president of the territorial constitutional convention. Losing a bid for reelection in 1954, Fong turned to business and started a number of successful companies. In 1959 Hawaii was admitted to statehood, and although a Republican in a heavily Democratic state, Fong was elected one of the state’s first two U.S. senators. He became the first Asian to serve in the Senate, an accomplishment of which he was quite conscious.

A stalwart Republican, Fong was noted for his work on immigration and naturalization reform as well as for encouraging relations with the People’s Republic of China and other nations in Asia. He also had the reputation of quickly responding to the concerns of his constituents. After three full terms Fong retired on 2 January 1977, citing the exhausting travel between Hawaii and Washington, D.C., as a major reason. He was 71 years old. Fong had been the ranking Republican on six Senate committees. Senator Robert C. Byrd, a Democrat, said, “One can only speak of Hawaii in superlatives. Hawaii can, therefore, be proud that it has been represented by a man of superlatives, Senator Hiram L. Fong.”

During his long years in Washington, Fong seemed to have lost his keen edge for business. In the several years after his retirement from the Senate, Fong suffered a number of financial setbacks. In 1978 the family real estate investment group was shattered by the disclosure of financial irregularities. In 1981 Fong purchased a barge from Hong Kong to use as a Chinese-style showboat and restaurant, but the enterprise quickly went bankrupt. Fong’s attempt to create a shopping complex and housing project was rejected by the Honolulu city council a year later.

In 1988 Fong created a 725-acre botanical garden in Kahalu’u called Senator Fong’s Plantation and Gardens, which included a library for his papers. That project was foreclosed in 2003 with debts of more than $700,000. Three of Fong’s children and several of his grandchildren saved the gardens with the high bid at the foreclosure auction.

Fong’s financial difficulties reached a climax in 2003 because of a series of well-publicized lawsuits over control of a number of family-owned businesses. In one case his youngest son and daughter-in-law sued for control of Ocean View Cemetery, charging that Fong had been bilked in a gold mine scam. At the same time, Finance Factors, Ltd., which Fong had founded more than forty years earlier, announced that for personal reasons he was resigning as chief executive officer. In March 2003 Fong and his wife filed for bankruptcy protection, citing debts of almost $1 million.

By 2003 Fong’s health had seriously deteriorated. Since 2002 kidney failure had necessitated thrice-weekly dialysis treatments. Fong’s hearing was failing, and he used a walker because of injuries sustained in a fall. He died of kidney failure on 18 August 2004 at Saint Francis Medical Center, Honolulu. His remains are interred in Nuuanu Memorial Park, Honolulu.

During his long career Fong received many honorary degrees and other honors and awards. A loyal alumnus of the University of Hawaii, he received its Founders’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, and an exhibit of his career was presented in the new addition to the university library. Fong will be remembered as one of those who brought statehood to Hawaii and served as its first senator. He is also recognized for his accomplishments as a leader among Asian Americans, as a statesman, and as a successful businessman. His later financial setbacks should not detract from his well-earned reputation.

The Fong books and congressional papers are in the library of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu. His early career is traced in the University of Hawaii PhD dissertation by Michaelyn P. Chou, “The Education of a Senator: Hiram L. Fong 1906–1954” (1980). For information on the latter part of Fong’s career, see U.S. Congress, Senate, Tributes to the Honorable Hiram L. Fong (1977). An obituary is in the Honolulu Advertiser (18 Aug. 2004).

Art Barbeau