Daniel Inouye

was a United States Senator from Hawaii from 1963 to 2012. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and he was President pro tempore of the United States Senate (third in line in the Presidential Line of Succession) from 2010 until his death in 2012, making him the highest-ranking Asian American politician in U.S. history. Inouye also served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations.Inouye fought in World War II as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment. He lost his right arm to a grenade wound and received several military decorations, including the nations highest military award, the Medal of Honor. Returning to Hawaii, he earned a law degree and was elected to Hawaiis territorial House of Representatives in 1953, and to the territorial Senate in 1957. When Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959, Inouye was elected as its first member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1962 he was first elected to the U.S. Senate. Inouye was the most senior U.S. senator at the time of his death. He was one of the longest-serving U.S. Senators in history, second only to Robert Byrd. Following the death of Byrd in 2010, Inouye was the last remaining member of the U.S. Senate to have served during the presidency of John F. Kennedy and prior to the 1964 election of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Inouye was the first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the first in the U.S. Senate. He never lost an election in 58 years as an elected official, and exercised an exceptionally large influence on Hawaii politics. At the time of his death, Inouye was the second-oldest sitting U.S. senator, seven and one-half months younger than Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, both 88 years old.Because of his seniority, following Senator Byrds death on June 29, 2010, Inouye became President pro tempore of the Senate, making him third in the presidential line of succession after the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was a Medal of Honor recipient and a posthumous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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