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Does history repeat itself? Some of last week’s events reminded me about the 1960 presidential election in Hawaii.
We had just become a state a year earlier. Over 202,000 islanders had registered to vote, and 188,000, or 93% of us, actually did.
Republican candidate Richard M. Nixon had spent three days campaigning in Hawaii and had won the endorsement of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union. He was the current U.S. vice president.
Challenging him was a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.
The election was on Nov. 8. State officials released partial vote tallies the next day.
Nixon received 91,719 votes, or 50.1%. Kennedy had 91,218, or 49.8%. About 5,000 votes remained to be counted.
Nationally, Kennedy led by nearly 1 million votes.
A week later Nixon was certified the Hawaii winner by 141 votes, or 0.1%. Because of the closeness of the results, a recount was begun. It was a very slow process.
“Electors nationwide were scheduled to cast their ballots on Dec. 19 of that year, but the Hawaii recount was still underway when the date approached,” Burl Burlingame wrote in 2000 in the Star-Bulletin.
What should we do?
It was decided to send two sets of electors and let Congress decide which to accept.
Hawaii’s Republican electors cast “official” votes that day for Nixon, at Iolani Palace, and one minute later, Democratic electors cast their “unofficial” votes for Kennedy, since he was leading by 55 votes in the recount at that time.
On Dec. 28, seven weeks after the election, the recount was over, and Kennedy was declared the winner by 115 votes, or 0.06%.
Circuit Court Judge Ronald Jamieson ruled that Hawaii’s three electoral votes should go to the Democrats, but the governor’s office waffled on making the proper notifications, Burlingame said.
“By the time it was decided that a new certificate was necessary, only two days remained before Congress convened on Jan. 6, 1961, and a letter to Congress saying a certificate was on the way was rushed out by registered air mail,” Burlingame wrote.
Nixon was the current vice president and, like Mike Pence this year, presided over the roll call and was in a position to question which set of electoral votes to count.
Even though it benefited his opponent, he accepted the final Hawaii vote for Kennedy.
“Hawaii’s three votes would not have made a difference. The final tally was 303 for Kennedy, 219 for Nixon and 15 for Harry Byrd of West Virginia,” Burlingame said.
The 2020 election was not a case of history repeating itself, but was eerily similar, in my opinion.
Moon rocks
Mary Leandro asked what happened to the moon rocks that were brought back by Apollo 17 and given to each state.
State Archivist Adam Jansen told me: “You may rest easy knowing that the goodwill moon rocks of Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 that were gifted to the People of Hawaii are being carefully preserved in the vault at the Public Archives of Hawaii.
“Other Apollo-related records (such as the ceremonial Customs and Immigration paperwork the crew of Apollo 11 filled out after having ‘left the country’) are there, too.
“Due to the irreplaceable nature of these rare artifacts, they are infrequently on open public display,” Jansen said, “but a special event is planned for the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 17 landing in December 2022.
“Should any of your readers have family letters, photos or artifacts related to the Apollo program that they would like to also see held in the Public Archives of Hawaii, we welcome and appreciate any such donations.”
Army helmets
I was watching the Army- Navy football game last month and was surprised to see the Tropic Lightning insignia of the 25th Infantry Division on the Army helmets.
The insignia is a taro leaf with a lightning bolt in the middle. The red and gold colors represent the colors of the Hawaiian monarchy. It dates to 1921, when the Hawaiian Division was created at Schofield Barracks. The taro leaf was adopted, symbolizing the Hawaiian Islands.
In October 1941 the Hawaiian Division split into the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions.
Less than a year into World War II, the 25th Infantry Division was shipped to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. The speed with which the division executed its mission earned it the informal nickname of “Lightning Division.”
The 25th Division fought through the Pacific and played a major role in the occupation of Japan following its surrender. “Lightning” was subsequently changed to Tropic Lightning because the division had spent most of its existence in the tropics.
The 25th Infantry Division updated its patch, a superimposed lightning bolt over the taro leaf, in 1943.
Nike designed the game helmets, I found. They were paying homage to the fighting spirit of the 25th Infantry.
Arthur Godfrey
“I encountered Arthur Godfrey in August of 1959,” Rick Gemende told me. “I was 12 years old and actually got stuck in an elevator at the Royal Hawaiian with him for about 10 minutes during Hurricane Dot when the power failed.
“I was with my best friend, who was 11. Both of us were scared, and Godfrey reassured us that all was well and we’d be fine.
“We found it difficult to utter a word because we were in awe of his presence. He asked where we were from and what we’d been doing.
“I remember he had a walking cane that was very unusual in design.
“Every time I pass the beach elevator at the Royal Hawaiian, which is no longer in service, I think of Arthur Godfrey.”
Misconceptions
I recently asked readers of my free Rearview Mirror Insider newsletter how Hawaii was misunderstood by the rest of the world and vice versa.
Some who are unfamiliar with Hawaii don’t know we’re a state and think we all live in grass shacks, dance the hula and play ukulele. Others wonder whether we have flush toilets, cars or an airport.
Unbelievably, some wonder whether you can drive to Hawaii from the mainland, or from one island to another (on our interstate highways, I guess).
Ken Fujii told me he didn’t know what to do with an artichoke, served to him at a fancy dinner in Chicago. It looked like a boiled pineapple crown, he said.
Waiters at Chinese restaurants didn’t know what he wanted when he ordered “manapua.”
George Butterfield said he went to the University of Nebraska in 1961. He was invited to a dinner where, because he was from Hawaii, they made rice.
“It was my first encounter with Uncle Ben’s rice,” Butterfield recalled, “and it looked a little strange.
“Everyone took a serving, and then we all looked at each other — me at them because because they poured some milk and sprinkled sugar on the rice, and them at me because I didn’t.”
Readers, do you have a story of misunderstandings between locals and mainlanders? If so, drop me a line.
Fireworks
“The reckless and dangerous use of firecrackers during the street celebration New Year’s Eve has occasioned considerable comment,” the Star-Bulletin wrote, “the gist of which has been that a law should be passed for the abatement of this nuisance in the future.”
This was in the papers in January 1921, 100 years ago this month.
Some things change. Some remain the same.
The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s twice-weekly free email newsletter that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column, and lots of interesting details. Join and be an Insider at RearviewMirrorInsider.com. Mahalo!
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