“California Senator" S. I. Hayakawa Signed 4X6 Card for Sale

On eBay Now...

“California Senator" S. I. Hayakawa Signed 4X6 Card For Sale

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

“California Senator" S. I. Hayakawa Signed 4X6 Card:
$48.99

Up for sale“California Senator" S. I. Hayakawa Hand Signed 4X6 Card.

ES-6676
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa(July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor ofEnglish, he served as president ofSan Francisco State Universityand then asU.S. SenatorfromCaliforniafrom 1977 to 1983. Born inVancouver,British Columbia, Hayakawa was educated in the public schools ofCalgary,Alberta, andWinnipeg,Manitoba, and received an undergraduate degree from theUniversity of Manitobain 1927 and graduate degrees in English fromMcGill Universityin 1928 and theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madisonin 1935.Hayakawa won an unexpected victory in the 1976 Republican Senate primary over three better-known career politicians including HEW SecretaryRobert Finch, long-time U.S. RepresentativeAlphonzo Belland California Lieutenant GovernorJohn L. Harmer. Much likeJimmy Carter, Hayakawa touted himself as a political outsider.On the Democratic side, incumbent SenatorJohn Tunneyfaced a surprisingly strong challenge from another political outsider,Tom Hayden. Hayden's extremely liberal candidacy forced Tunney to run more to the left in the primary, which hurt him in the general election. Nevertheless, Tunney was favored[to easily win reelection. Comfortably ahead in the polls, Tunney did not aggressively campaign until the final weeks before the election. But Hayakawa's position as a political outsider was popular in the wake of theWatergate scandal. In addition, Tunney had a high absenteeism rate while serving in the Senate and missed numerous votes. Hayakawa exploited this with a television ad that showed an empty chair in the U.S. Senate chamber. Hayakawa gradually closed the gap with Tunney, andultimately defeated him by just over three percentage points.[During his 1976 Senate campaign, he spoke about the proposal to transfer possession of thePanama CanalandCanal Zonefrom the United States toPanama. Hayakawa said, "We should keep the Panama Canal. After all, we stole it fair and square."However, in 1978 he helped win Senate approval of theTorrijos–Carter Treaties, which transferred control of the zone and canal to Panama.[16]He also supported a bill that led to the creation of theCommission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, which examined the causes and effects of theincarceration of Japanese AmericansduringWorld War II.During his time in the Senate, Hayakawa was one of threeJapanese Americansin the chamber, the other two beingDaniel InouyeandSpark Matsunaga, both ofHawaii. He planned to run for reelection in 1982 but trailed other Republican candidates badly in early polls and was short on money. He dropped out of the race early in the year and was ultimately succeeded by RepublicanSan DiegoMayorPete Wilson. Hayakawa founded the political lobbying organizationU.S. English, which is dedicated to making theEnglish languagetheofficial languageof the United States.Hayakawa, who lived inChicagoas a Canadian citizen during World War II and was thus not subject to confinement,argued that theinternment of Japanese Americanswas beneficial and that Japanese Americans should not be paid for "fulfilling their obligations" to submit toExecutive Order 9066.