R.I.P. Senator Inouye

[katmai]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, the influential Democrat who broke racial barriers on Capitol Hill and played key roles in congressional investigations of the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals, died Monday. He was 88.

Inouye, a senator since January 1963, was currently the longest serving senator and was president pro tempore of the Senate, third in the line presidential succession. His office said Monday that he died of respiratory complications at a Washington-area hospital.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Inouye's death on the Senate floor.

Inouye was a World War II hero and Medal of Honor winner who lost an arm to a German hand grenade during a battle in Italy. He became the first Japanese-American to serve in Congress, when he was elected to the House in 1959, the year Hawaii became a state. He won election to the Senate three years later and served there longer than anyone in American history except Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who died in 2010 after 51 years in the Senate.

After Byrd's death, Inouye became president pro tem of the Senate, a largely ceremonial post that also placed him in the line of succession to the presidency, after the vice president and the speaker of the House.

Although tremendously popular in his home state, Inouye actively avoided the national spotlight until he was thrust into it. He was the keynote speaker at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and later reluctantly joined the Senate's select committee on the Watergate scandal. The panel's investigation led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Inouye also served as chairman of the committee that investigated the Iran-Contra arms and money affair, which rocked Ronald Reagan's presidency.

A quiet but powerful lawmaker, Inouye ran for Senate majority leader several times without success. He gained power as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee before Republicans took control of the Senate in 1994.

When the Democrats regained control in the 2006 elections, Inouye became chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. He left that post two years later to become chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.

Inouye also chaired the Senate Indian Affairs Committee for many years. He was made an honorary member of the Navajo nation and given the name "The Leader Who Has Returned With a Plan."

In 2000, Inouye was one of 22 Asian-American World War II veterans who belatedly received the nation's top honor for bravery on the battlefield, the Medal of Honor. The junior senator from Hawaii at the time, Daniel Akaka, had worked for years to get officials to review records to determine if some soldiers had been denied the honor because of racial bias.

[Ed Anger]

Well, that sucks.

I have a weird feeling we might get a politician death trifecta with Poppy Bush and Dole joining him soon.

[AnchorClanker]

RIP.  He was a true hero, from when the word meant something.

(Hero, warrior, etc are all grossly overused these days)

[Razgovory]

Shame.  Good guy.

[Razgovory]

RIP.  He was a true hero, from when the word meant something.

(Hero, warrior, etc are all grossly overused these days)

He was a tough SOB, you have to give him that.  Guy walked off a gun shot to the chest.

[MadImmortalMan]

I think that leaves Leahy as the PPT, now that Biden's gone.

[PDH]

He used to tell a story, after getting out of the hospital and going on war bond drives late in the war he went into a barbershop (while in full uniform with his medals and pinned up right sleeve), and the barber said "We don't serve Japs here."

Guy was a good one.  Deserved the Medal of Honor he later received.

-edit - or maybe it was someone else in the 442 he told the story about, he didn't talk about what he did that often.

[Jacob]

Just read up on him in wikipedia.

Taking a primed grenade out of your own severed hand and lobbing it into a bunker... damn.

[jimmy olsen]

RIP. One of the Good Guys.

[DGuller]

Damn, that guy was a true badass, if Wiki article is even half-accurate.

[AnchorClanker]

Yep, he was the real deal.

[crazy canuck]

In a somewhat related note it was reported in the news that the veteran I buy my Rememberance Day Poppy from every year on the street corner outside my office died today.  Every year he raised more money then anyone else in Canada in Poppy sales.  Every year I looked forward to chatting with him as he pinned the Poppy on my lapel.

[Caliga]

RIP Senator Inouye.  I really admired that guy.

[derspiess]

RIP.  He was a true hero, from when the word meant something.

(Hero, warrior, etc are all grossly overused these days)

Yep.  RIP.

[Scipio]

What a class act.  We don't get men like him any more.