Hiram Fong

Hiram Fong
鄺友良
Fong in 1976
United States Senator from Hawaii
In office August 21, 1959 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Spark Matsunaga
Speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives
In office 1948–1954
Preceded by	Manuel Paschoal
Succeeded by	Charles E. Kauhane
Member of the Hawaii House of Representatives from the 5th district
In office 1938–1954
Personal details
Born	Yau Leong Fong (1906-10-15)October 15, 1906 Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, U.S.
Died	August 18, 2004(2004-08-18) (aged 97) Kahaluu, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ellyn Lo ​ (m. 1938)​
Children	4; including Hiram Fong Jr.
Education	University of Hawaii, Manoa (BA) Harvard University (LLB)
Occupation	Businessman, lawyer, politician
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1942–1945
Rank	Major
Unit	United States Army Air Forces  • Seventh Air Force
Battles/wars	World War II
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	鄺友良
Simplified Chinese	邝友良
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Kuàng Yǒuliáng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Kwong3 Yau5 Leung4 other Yue Taishanese Fong1 Yiu4 liang3

Hiram Leong Fong (born Yau Leong Fong;^[1] October 15, 1906 – August 18, 2004) was an American businessman, lawyer, and politician from Hawaii. Born to a Cantonese immigrant sugar plantation worker, Fong was one of the first two senators for Hawaii after it became the 50th US state in 1959. He was the first Chinese-American and first Asian-American United States Senator, serving from 1959 to 1977, and to date he remains the only Republican Senator from Hawaii.^[2]

At the 1964 Republican National Convention, Fong became the first Asian-American to receive delegate votes for his party's nomination for President of the United States. In the Senate, Fong supported civil rights legislation and eliminating ethnic barriers to immigration.^[3]