On August 21, 1959, President Dwight Eisenhower welcomed Hawaii to the United States with a brief statehood ceremony in Washington. "We know she is ready to do her part and make this Union a stronger nation than it was before," the president said, calling the signing a “truly historic occasion.” For ceremonial purposes, Eisenhower used a dozen different pens to sign the proclamation and an executive order, then distributed them to those present, including then-Vice President Richard Nixon and Hawaii’s newly elected Senator Oren Long and Representative Daniel Inouye. The same day, Eisenhower revealed America’s new flag, bearing all 50 stars.
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Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye gave his right arm for his country—literally. While fighting in World War II, the future statesman lost a limb, but earned the Medal of Honor for “extraordinary heroism.” Although he’d originally planned on becoming a surgeon, his disability led him to pursue a career in politics. In 1959, when Hawaii achieved statehood, Inouye became its first congressman—then in 1962, he became a senator. He’s served ever since. Born in 1924, Inouye is the third-oldest member of the Senate, behind West Virginia’s Robert Byrd and New Jersey’s Frank Lautenberg.
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The same year that Hawaii became a state, novelist James Michener released his most ambitious book to date. Dubbed a “mammoth epic” by the Baltimore Sun, Hawaii traces the state’s history—it begins with the creation of the islands, then chronicles the arrival of the original Hawaiians, the American missionaries, and the Asian immigrants who came to inhabit it. In 1966, a chapter from the bestselling book was adapted for the big screen in the movie Hawaii, starring Julie Andrews and Max von Sydow. And five decades later, the novel—now a classic—continues to sell.
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On August 4, 1961, President Barack Hussein Obama was born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu. Despite recent controversy surrounding Obama’s citizenship, an official copy of his birth certificate confirms he’s legit. The young statesmen spent much of the next two decades growing up on the islands.
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Who could resist a film with the tagline ecstatic romance...exotic dances...exciting music in the world's lushest paradise of song? In this 1961 musical, a virile Elvis Presley plays Chad Gates, a soldier just out of the Army and thrilled to be back among the sandy beaches and friendly faces of Hawaii. Although his father wants him to get a job at the Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, Chad resists—and instead goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency. Costarring Joan Blackman and Angela Lansbury as Elvis’ girlfriend and mother, respectively, the movie was the first of three Elvis flicks filmed in the state—followed by Girls! Girls! Girls! and Paradise, Hawaiian Style. The film’s soundtrack, which included Elvis’ cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” sold more than 2 million copies.
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Perhaps the most famous Hawaiian musician ever, Don Ho lured scores of tourists to the Aloha State throughout the 20th century with his smooth vocals and steel-drum rhythms. In 1965, the Hawaii native released his first album, Don Ho Show—yet he saw his biggest hit the following year, with “Tiny Bubbles.” Ho continued to be a popular Waikiki nightclub attraction until his death in 2007 from heart failure.
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Less than a decade after Hawaii became a state, the islands—home to one of the world’s most active volcanoes and tallest sea mountain—had welcomed a million tourists, eager to surf its waves and do the hula. The number continued to grow from there, as tourism became the state’s biggest industry. In 2007 alone, 6.8 million visitors traveled to Hawaii.
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Hawaii Five-0 debuted in 1968 with a winning formula: the dashing Jack Lord and a killer theme song famously covered by The Ventures. In the show, Steve McGarrett (Lord) and his team—including Dan “Danno" Williams—in the Hawaii State Police Department battle Mafia bosses and secret agents who continually shake up the island. Airing for 12 seasons, from 1968 to 1980, it was the longest-running crime show on American TV until the police drama Law & Order. The theme song has become the official fight song at the University of Hawaii. In 2008, CBS announced plans to revive the show, but no air date has been set.
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It began with an argument: A group of Navy Seals were debating who among them was the greatest athlete, when they decided to find out, once and for all. They put the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (2.4 miles), the Around-Oahu Bike Race (112 miles, originally a two-day event) and the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles) back to back. "Whoever finishes first we’ll call the Ironman," said one of the founders, Navy Commander John Collins. The first Ironman, who beat 14 other competitors to claim his title, was Gordon Haller and did it in 11 hours 46 minutes and 58 seconds. The current record is held by Luc Van Lierde at 8 hours 4 minutes 8 seconds.
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The year was 1980—Jimmy Carter was president and real men had big, bushy mustaches. Or at least Tom Selleck’s Thomas Magnum—a private investigator from Oahu who made Hawaii shirts seem cool for eight years—did. The show’s charm came largely from the banter between Magnum, a Vietnam veteran, and retired British Army officer Jonathan Higgins III (or, Higgy baby, as Magnum might say). From 1980 to 1985, the show was consistently ranked as one of the top 20 American television programs—and it launched Selleck’s career.
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The Aloha State has long been known for its Polynesian beauties, but in 1991, it saw a true beauty milestone. That year, Miss Hawaii Carolyn Sapp was crowned Miss America—becoming the first Hawaiian to do so. “It was an incredible honor. I was really proud,” Sapp told the Honolulu Star in 2004. “But it was also really humbling. It's still humbling.” During her reign, Sapp became a role model for battered women, when she admitted that an ex-boyfriend, former NFL running back Nuu Faaola, beat her—and went on to star in the TV movie about her experience, Miss America: Behind the Crown. A few years later, in 1997, Brooke Lee became the first Hawaiian to win Miss USA and later Miss Universe.
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The spectacular eruption of Mauna Loa began with a small fissure, but grew into a “curtain of fire,” making headlines across America. It lasted for 21 days, expelling 220 million cubic meters of lava. The volcano has been inactive since.
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Laird Hamilton spent the 1990s pushing the boundaries of surfing, inspiring awe and wonder in all who beheld him. Off the north coast of Maui, he experimented with using inflatable boats (and eventually jet skis) to tow him onto 70-foot waves, not accessible with paddle-power alone. In doing this, he pushed the sport to a new level, enabling surfers to ride waves that were in a whole new class of enormous. Later he was a pioneer of kite surfing, and in 1997, he married professional volleyball player and model Gabrielle Reece.
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In 2002, Hawaii became the backdrop for teen cult classic Blue Crush. As a modern Gidget, Kate Bosworth plays Anne Marie, a surf instructor who shares one dream with her gaggle of wahine: to surf on Hawaii’s dangerous North Shore. At the end of the movie, Anne Marie finds herself torn between her island roots and the lifestyle of a high-flying guest—but achieves her dream, riding an epic Hawaiian wave.
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Honolulu native Michelle Wie had already been golfing for many years when she became the youngest player ever to make an LPGA cut (at the 2003 Kraft Nabsico Championship) at the age of 13. Though Wie—who attended Punahou, the same high school as Barack Obama, Kelly Preston, Dancing With the Stars’ Carrie Ann Inaba and AOL’s Steve Case—was named one of the Top 100 “who shape our world” by Time in 2006, she has since struggled in her professional career.
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Last October, in the throes of the presidential campaign, Barack Obama made an overnight trip to visit his ailing grandmother in Honolulu. While on Oahu, he returned to the Punahou Circle Apartments, where his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, lay gravely ill. (Obama called Dunham by the name of Toot, shorthand for “tutu,” the Hawaiian word for grandparent.) Two months later, in December, he returned to Hawaii in better spirits as president-elect to spend the holidays with his family. But this time, he was a long way from the Punahou apartments: The Obamas stayed at an exclusive beachfront property on Kailua beach, where they were hanging loose before the inauguration.
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