As Hawaii observes the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination today, those touched by the charismatic leader recall how he represented hope for a better future.
Realizing the islands could serve as a platform for national hope and racial harmony, Kennedy came to Honolulu in June 1963 to speak at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the hope of advancing civil rights legislation.
As a member of the welcoming party, Francis A. Wong remembers speaking with the president at the USS Arizona Memorial.
"I remember telling him that I was very, very proud that I had him as president. That was the last time I saw him," said Wong, a former state legislator who worked in Kennedy’s office when Kennedy was a senator.
The 1963 visit would be Kennedy’s only trip to Hawaii as president, and came just five months before the assassination.
He arrived at Honolulu Airport on June 8, and attended the ceremony at the Arizona Memorial on June 9 before addressing the mayors conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Gov. John A. Burns proclaimed June 9 "President’s Day" in Hawaii.
A state for less than four years, Hawaii was an example of how people of diverse ethnicities were able to live together and exercise their voting rights, without segregated schools and restaurants, without rules on buses.
"I have come here to speak to the mayors of the United States on a matter that concerns us all, and that is how the American people can live more happily and more securely together; and there is no place where it is more appropriately said and understood than this part of the United States here on this island," Kennedy said after landing at the airport.
"We are proud of this city and state and what it stands for."
In his speech before the mayors conference, Kennedy said local governments should follow nondiscriminatory practices in hiring and promotion as well as enact ordinances that spell out the rights of equal opportunity in housing and public accommodations.
Hawaii political historian Tom Coffman, who wrote about the rise of the Democratic Party in Hawaii in his book "Catch a Wave," said the state was a good place for Kennedy to promote civil rights legislation.
Coffman said the speech was timely because the mayors needed the civil rights bill to manage conflicts that could erupt into violence.
"Hawaii provided a mental image of diverse people getting along fairly well with one another … an alternate model (that) seemed to have an awakening effect," Coffman said.
Retired University of Hawaii professor Duane Preble, working as a graduate assistant in the early 1960s, said he, his wife and his friends felt Kennedy brought a sense of "optimism" and expressed a need for people to be responsible citizens.
"It was our responsibility to keep democracy functioning," he said.
Watters Martin recalled how his mother, Dolores, as a member of the national Democratic committee, actively worked to nominate Kennedy. His election was a part of a change sweeping the islands, Martin said.
Dolores Martin, who was from Lahaina, was aware of the labor strikes at sugar plantations and the tight control by sugar planters who were Republicans.
Watters said very few people were Democrats because they relied on employment from the plantations, but his mother and father were independent business people who operated a housing rental business.
"They knew social change was necessary," he said.
"My mother was part of the group greeting Kennedy. They were old friends."
Wong, now chairman of a hotel development company in Indian Wells, Calif., said he worked in Kennedy’s senatorial office from 1959 to 1960 and was part of a staff of about 30 people.
On cold winter days Kennedy’s wife, Jacqueline, would arrive with soup and sandwiches, and she and the senator would have lunch in his office, he said.
"They were very approachable. … It was very much an ohana," he said.
Wong, who later became a Hawaii state representative and then state senator, said Kennedy encouraged him to run for office.
"It was just a wonderful opportunity to see a presidential campaign and be a part of history," said Wong, who as chairman of the state Senate higher-education committee supported establishing a university medical school.
"It was just an awesome, awesome … experience."
