S. I. Hayakawa
S. I. Hayakawa | |
---|---|
United States Senator from California | |
In office January 2, 1977 – January 3, 1983 | |
Preceded by | John V. Tunney |
Succeeded by | Pete Wilson |
9th President of San Francisco State University | |
In office November 26, 1968 – July 10, 1973 | |
Preceded by | Robert Smith |
Succeeded by | Paul Romberg |
Personal details | |
Born | Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa July 18, 1906 San Francisco State College |
Notable works | Language in Thought and Action |
Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906 – February 27, 1992) was a Canadian-born American academic and politician of Japanese ancestry. A professor of English, he served as president of San Francisco State University and then as U.S. Senator from California from 1977 to 1983.[1][2]
Early life and education
Born in
Academic career
Professionally, Hayakawa was a
His first book on semantics,
Hayakawa lectured at the University of Chicago from 1950 to 1955. He presented a talk at the 1954 Conference of Activity Vector Analysts[4] at Lake George, New York, in which he discussed a theory of personality from the semantic point of view. It was later published as The Semantic Barrier. The definitive lecture discussed the Darwinism of the "survival of self" as contrasted with the "survival of self-concept." His ideas on general semantics influenced A. E. van Vogt's Null-A novels, The World of Null-A and The Pawns of Null-A. Van Vogt in The World of Null-A (i.e., non-Aristotelian) makes Hayakawa a character, introducing him as: "Professor Hayakawa is today's Mr. Null-A himself, the elected head of the International Society for General Semantics."[5]
Hayakawa was an English professor at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University) from 1955 to 1968. In the early 1960s, he helped organize the Anti Digit Dialing League, a San Francisco group that opposed the introduction of all-digit telephone exchange names. Among the students he trained were commune leader Stephen Gaskin and author Gerald Haslam. He was named acting president of San Francisco State College on November 26, 1968, during a student strike, when Ronald Reagan was governor of California and Joseph Alioto was mayor of San Francisco.[6] On July 9, 1969, the California State Colleges Board of Trustees appointed Hayakawa the ninth president of San Francisco State.[7] Hayakawa retired on July 10, 1973.[1][8]
Hayakawa wrote a column for the Register and Tribune Syndicate from 1970 to 1976. In 1973, Hayakawa changed his political affiliation from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party and became president emeritus at what became San Francisco State University.[9]
Student strike at San Francisco State College
From November 1968 to March 1969, there was a
The students presented fifteen "non-negotiable demands", including a
Political career
Hayakawa won an unexpected victory in the 1976 Republican Senate primary over three better-known career politicians: former HEW Secretary
On the Democratic side, incumbent Senator John Tunney faced 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[by whom?] to easily win re-election. 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 the Watergate 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, and ultimately defeated him by just over three percentage points.[citation needed]
During his Senate campaign, Hayakawa spoke about the proposal to transfer possession of the Panama Canal and Canal Zone from the United States to Panama. He said, "We should keep the Panama Canal. After all, we stole it fair and square."[15] However, in 1978 he helped win Senate approval of the Torrijos–Carter Treaties, which transferred control of the zone and canal to Panama.[16] He also supported a bill that led to the creation of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, which examined the causes and effects of the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.[17] During his time in the Senate, Hayakawa was one of three Japanese Americans in the chamber, the other two being Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga, both of Hawaii.[citation needed]
Hayakawa was news media reporters' favorite fodder, as he was often found napping through important legislative voting.[2]
He planned to run for re-election 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 Republican San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson. To date, he is the only Japanese American Republican to have served in the U.S. Senate.
Hayakawa and
Personal life
Hayakawa was a resident of Mill Valley, California. His daughter, Wynne Hayakawa, is a painter.[22]
He had an abiding interest in
He died at a hospital in nearby Greenbrae, California, on February 27, 1992, at the age of 85, from complications of a stroke and bronchitis.[2]
See also
- List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
- List of United States senators born outside the United States
Bibliography
- Hayakawa, S. I. Choose the Right Word: A Modern Guide to Synonyms and Related Words. 1968. Reprint. New York: Perennial Library, 1987. Originally published as Funk & Wagnalls Modern Guide to Synonyms and Related Words.
- Hayakawa, S. I. "Education Revisited". In The World Today, edited by Phineas J. Sparer. Memphis: Memphis State University Press, 1975.
- Hayakawa, S. I. Language in Thought and Action. 1939. Enlarged ed. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978. Originally published as Language in Action.
- Hayakawa, S. I. Symbol, Status, and Personality. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1963.
- Hayakawa, S. I. Through the Communication Barrier: On Speaking, Listening, and Understanding. Edited by Arthur Chandler. New York: Harper & Row, 1979.
- Hayakawa, S. I., ed. Language, Meaning, and Maturity. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1954.
- Hayakawa, S. I., ed. Our Language and Our World. 1959. Reprint. Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries Press, 1971.
- Hayakawa, S. I., ed. The Use and Misuse of Language. Greenwich, CT: Fawcett Publications, 1964.
- Hayakawa, S. I., and William Dresser, eds. Dimensions of Meaning. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1970. Includes Hayakawa's essays "General Semantics and the Cold War Mentality" and "Semantics and Sexuality".
- Paris, Richard, and Janet Brown, eds. Quotations from Chairman S. I. Hayakawa. San Francisco: n.p., 1969.
References
- ^ a b c "Hayakawa will retire". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). (Los Angeles Times). October 13, 1972. p. 1.
- ^ a b c d "S.I. Hayakawa, 85, dies; challenged '60s radicals". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). (Los Angeles Times). February 28, 1992. p. 7A.
- .
- ^ "WebAVA". Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ISBN 9780425054543.
- ^ "Case 3: Prelude / Demands". On Strike! Shut it Down! (Exhibit 1999). Leonard Library, San Francisco State University. Archived from the original on August 31, 2016. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- ISBN 0743219678.
- ^ Bittlingmayer, George (July 17, 1973). "San Francisco State Faculty Protests Selection of Hayakawa's Successor". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- ^ "Guide to the Samuel I. Hayakawa Papers". Online Archive of California. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
- ^ Grigsby Bates, Karen; Meraji, Shereen Marisol (2019-03-21). "The Student Strike That Changed Higher Ed Forever". NPR. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
- ^ Hayward, Steven. The Age of Reagan, Volume I. Crown Forum. p. 446.
- ^ James M. Fallows (January 15, 1969). "Song of Hayakawa". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ "The San Francisco State College Strike Collection, Chronology of events". Leonard Library. Archived from the original on May 10, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ Hayakawa & angry demonstrations, Part I. KQED News. San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive. December 6, 1968. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ "We Should Keep The Panama Canal. After All, We Stole It Fair And Square. – S.I". Anvari.org. Retrieved 2014-08-17.
- ^ staff (February 28, 1992). "Ex-Sen. Hayakawa Dies; Unpredictable Iconoclast ..." Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b Robinson, Greg. "S.I. Hayakawa". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
- ^ Schudel, Matt (July 21, 2019). "John Tanton, architect of anti-immigration and English-only efforts, dies at 85". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- S2CID 62565233. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ISBN 0252024583.
- ^ "Testimony of S.I. Hayakawa on Senate Bill 2116. Presented to Subcommittee on Appropriations". August 16, 1984 – via densho.org.
- ^ "From semantics to the U.S. Senate, S.I. Hayakawa".
- United States Congress. "S. I. Hayakawa (id: H000384)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Fox, R. F. (1991). A conversation with the Hayakawas. The English Journal, Vol. 80, No. 2 (Feb., 1991), pp. 36–40.
- Haslam, Gerald, and Janice E. Haslam. In Thought and Action: The Enigmatic Life of S. I. Hayakawa (U. of Nebraska Press; 2011) 427 pages; scholarly biography[ISBN missing]
External links
- Media related to S. I. Hayakawa at Wikimedia Commons
- Samuel I. Hayakawa papers at the Hoover Institution Archives
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Australian General Semantics Society