In the spring of 1959, I was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. Each evening at 6 p.m. came a broadcast on station KTBC out of Austin: "Good evening, fellow Texans, this is your United States senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson, reporting to you from Washington, D.C."
He then gave a blow-by-blow account of his accomplishments. He was the Senate majority leader and arguably the second most powerful political figure in the U.S. That gave me an idea.
I wrote him a letter asking his kokua based on the following premises: I was an American citizen who paid taxes to the U.S. government, was subject to all of its laws, was a member of the U.S. Army but could not vote for the president. I further said that I was the fifth member of my family to serve in the defense of our country. I tried to appeal to his sense of fair play.
To my complete astonishment, I received a personal reply from him — not a form letter. He stated that he basically agreed with my view and that he would do all in his power to further the cause of Hawaiian statehood.
I was even more astonished that soon thereafter Congress made Hawai'i the 50th state. I like to think that I had a part, albeit infinitesimal, in influencing the course of Hawaiian statehood. Aloha and mahalo, LBJ.
(Unfortunately, this most prized reply to me went up in flames in the Hilo High School fire of 1976.)
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