Spark Matsunaga
Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (Japanese: スパーク松永) (born October 8, 1916, in Kukuiula, Hawaii – died April 15, 1990, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a United States Senator from Hawaii. He was an American Democrat whose legislation in the United States Senate led to the creation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians.
He became a United States Army Reservist in 1941, volunteered for active duty in July that year, and was twice wounded in battle while serving with the renowned 442nd Regimental Combat Team. After his release from the Army, Captain Matsunaga entered Harvard Law School, graduating in 1951. He served as a public prosecutor and private-practice attorney, and was a member of both the Hawaiian statehood delegation to Congress and the territorial legislature before being elected in 1962 to the House of Representatives, where he served until 1976. Matsunaga went on to serve in the United States Senate from 1977 until his death at the age of 73 from prostate cancer in 1990. His portrait currently appears on US Series I Bonds in the $10,000 denomination. There is also an elementary school in Germantown, Maryland, named after him.
Matsunaga was also known for his sense of humor. One famous incident occurred involving Sen. Matsunaga and then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig at a White House reception for Japanese Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki in 1981. Haig reportedly mistook Matsunaga for a member of the Japanese delegation and asked if he spoke English. Matsunaga replied, "Yes, Mr. Secretary, I do — and I had the honor of voting for your confirmation the other day."[SPARKY: Warrior, Peacemaker, Poet, Patriot. A Portrait of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga, by Richard Halloran. Honolulu: Matsunaga Charitable Foundation, 2002, 259 pp., paper ] Sen. Matsunaga became a well-known figure in Asia as the incident is often cited by Asian American and Asian media.[Committee of 100 and its relationship between China and Taiwan]
References
External links
 Spark M. Matsunaga biography United States Institute of Peace.
Spark M. Matsunaga's published biography Sparky: Warrior, Peacemaker, Poet, Patriot by Richard Halloran. ISBN 0-9720932-1-4.
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