{"id":6590,"date":"2021-07-22T17:00:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T00:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590"},"modified":"2021-07-22T15:18:53","modified_gmt":"2021-07-22T22:18:53","slug":"republicans-in-history-samuel-ichiye-hayakawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590","title":{"rendered":"Republicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, known as S.I. Hayakawa was a Republican Senator from California from 1977 until 1983.\u00a0 He was born in Vancouver, Canada to Japanese immigrant parents.\u00a0 The family migrated to Winnipeg when S.I. was a young boy.\u00a0 His father traveled frequently to Japan with his import business.\u00a0 His long absences led his mother to return to Japan with his two younger sisters leaving S.I. and his brother in Canada.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hayakawa went off to study in Montreal moving in with an uncle.\u00a0 He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.A. in English.\u00a0 He received his Master\u2019s degree in English from McGill University working nights as a taxi driver.\u00a0\u00a0 He moved on to complete his Ph.D. in English in 1935 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison writing his thesis on the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes. While at the University of Wisconsin, he met and married Margedant Peters.\u00a0 The subsequent year he was hired by the Japanese Canadian Citizens League to lobby Parliament for voting rights on behalf of West Coast Canadian Nisei who was barred from voting due to their Japanese ancestry.\u00a0 This effort was unsuccessful.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He went off to Chicago where he became a Professor of English at the Illinois Institute of Technology. He became focused on General Semantics Theory as set forth by Alfred Korzybski.\u00a0 He published his most noted book on Semantics \u201cLanguage in Action\u201d in 1949 which became a bestseller and the\u00a0<\/span>Book of the Month Club<\/span><\/i> selection.\u00a0 In his book, he warned of the dangers of propaganda, slogans, and fear-mongering on the formation of public opinion.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He moved on to the University of Chicago as a lecturer.\u00a0 During his tenure there he published \u201cThe Semantic Barrier\u201d which discussed the theory of personality from the semantic point of view.\u00a0 While living in Chicago, he was contacted by a former roommate from the University of Wisconsin, Robert\u00a0Frase\u00a0who now worked for the\u00a0<\/span>War Relocation Authority.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>He asked Hayakawa<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>to advise him on the resettlement prospects for people of Japanese descent in the Chicago area as a result of the infamous\u00a0<\/span>Executive Order 9066<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 There is no surviving comment by S.I. in regards to\u00a0<\/span>Executive Order 9066.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0During the war, he joined the African American newspaper\u00a0<\/span>The Chicago Defender<\/span><\/i>\u00a0where he contributed a weekly column.\u00a0 He clearly deplored racial discrimination on blacks but rarely commented on the prejudice against Japanese Americans.\u00a0 He was sympathetic to the cause of people of Japanese descent describing their internment bluntly as being put in concentration camps, but he did not want to be seen as a Nisei or have his own rights limited as a result of the bias against the Japanese. At the end of the war, he joined and helped finance the Chicago\u00a0Resettlers\u00a0Committee as well as the Japanese American Citizens League Anti-Discrimination Committee.\u00a0 He also sent help to his parents in Japan.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1955 he was named Professor at San Francisco State University, the same year he became a US Citizen.\u00a0 He became well known as a lecturer, writer, and editor of the semantics journal ETC.\u00a0 He parted ways with the Japanese American community as they supported the McCarran-Walter bill which allowed for naturalization for Japanese immigrants and immigration quotas from Asian countries. He personally would have benefited from the passage of this bill but he felt there were repressive aspects to the bill that would have negative impacts on other groups.\u00a0\u00a0 He also decried the continued existence of separate Nisei organizations as he felt they were no longer necessary to combat discrimination.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1968, Hayakawa was named Acting President of San Francisco State University.\u00a0 Ronald Reagan was Governor and Joseph Alioto was Mayor of San Francisco.\u00a0 The following year, students, along with the\u00a0<\/span>Black<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>Panthers<\/span><\/i>, the\u00a0<\/span>Third World Liberation Front<\/span><\/i>\u00a0and supported by the\u00a0<\/span>Students for a Democratic\u00a0Society\u00a0<\/span><\/i>engaged in a very acrimonious strike demanding an ethnic studies program at the university along with the end to the Vietnam war.\u00a0 S.I. Hayakawa became the darling of conservatives when he famously climbed up on the sound truck at a rally and pulled out the wires from the loudspeakers.\u00a0 Ultimately he relented establishing the first-in-the-nation College of Ethnic Studies in 1968.\u00a0 The following year, the Board of Trustees appointed Hayakawa President of San Francisco State University.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1973, he retired from academia, became a journalist and a Republican.\u00a0 Three years later he successfully ran as the political \u201coutsider\u201d against the Democratic incumbent for the US Senate.\u00a0 He served one term in the US Senate. During his term, he supported the Torrijos-Carter treaties which transferred control of the Panama Canal back to Panama.\u00a0 He also supported the bill that created the historical <\/span>Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians<\/span><\/i> which studied the causes and effects of the incarceration of Japanese American citizens during WWII although he was against any reparations or apologies. He also strongly lobbied for the successful campaign to pardon Iva\u00a0Toguri\u00a0D\u2019Aquino\u00a0(Tokyo Rose) as she had steadfastly refused to renounce her American citizenship during the war even under duress.\u00a0 During his tenure, S.I. Hayakawa was one of three Japanese Americans in the US Senate. Due to trailing polls and lack of money, Hayakawa decided not to run again for the Senate.\u00a0 He was succeeded by Pete Wilson.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, known as S.I. Hayakawa was a Republican Senator from California from 1977 until 1983.\u00a0 He was born in Vancouver, Canada to Japanese immigrant parents.\u00a0 The family migrated to Winnipeg when S.I. was a young boy.\u00a0 His father traveled frequently to Japan with his import business.\u00a0 His long absences led his mother to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa, known as S.I. Hayakawa was a Republican Senator from California from 1977 until 1983.\u00a0 He was born in Vancouver, Canada to Japanese immigrant parents.\u00a0 The family migrated to Winnipeg when S.I. was a young boy.\u00a0 His father traveled frequently to Japan with his import business.\u00a0 His long absences led his mother to...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-23T00:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-22T22:18:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/SamuelHayakawa.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Logo-SanDiegoNewsDesk-Article.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"description\":\"Your Source for News in San Diego\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/SamuelHayakawa.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/SamuelHayakawa.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590\",\"name\":\"Republicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa - San Diego News Desk\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-23T00:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-22T22:18:53+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Republicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\"},\"headline\":\"Republicans In History: Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-23T00:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-22T22:18:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":884,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=6590#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/SamuelHayakawa.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5bed4fc07270caa9fa05a8b26be4751\",\"name\":\"San Diego News Desk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05062ed7eb31bfe5ee9233a235e7d2e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"San Diego News Desk\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?author=3\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}