Distinguished Asian American political and governmental leaders
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Distinguished Asian American political and governmental leaders
(Distinguished Asian Americans series)
Greenwood Press, 2002
Available at 2 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-220) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Asian Americans have made countless distinguished contributions to American society. Like other American racial minorities who have historically been denied opportunities within the American electoral system, Asian Americans have worked steadily to participate in U.S. politics and its judicial system. Asian Americans have a long history of seeking social justice and equal treatment by challenging discriminatory laws and practices in education, employment, housing, land ownership, immigration, and other significant public-policy- issue areas. Distinguished Asian American Political and Governmental Leaders is the first-ever compilation of biographies of Asian American elected officials, major political appointees, judges, and activists. It provides information on the life histories and political accomplishments of 96 Asian Americans, who have participated in political, judicial, and civil rights arenas of this nation from 1950 to the present.
Most of the distinguished Americans profiled in this important resource were trailblazers, being the first Asian American or the first of a particular Asian ethnic community, for example, Vietnamese Americans, to be elected or appointed to a leadership position. The late Dalip Singh Saund, for example, became the first Asian American and the first Indo-American ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives when voters in Imperial and Riverside counties in Southern California elected him in 1957. Elaine Chao was the first Asian American and Chinese American woman appointed to a presidential cabinet post when President George W. Bush nominated her to be the U.S. Secretary of Labor in 2001. And the late John Aiso became the first Japanese American, as well as Asian American, judge in California when he was appointed in 1953.^L In selecting the leaders for this book, the authors have provided a glimpse of the diversity of electoral and nonelectoral forms of political participation and representation that Asian Americans have pursued.
Included are biographies on each Asian American who has served or is serving as a state governor (Ariyoshi, Cayetano, Locke, Waihee); other statewide elected office (Eu, Fong, Hirono, Kealoha, King, Lau, Woo); the U.S. Senate (Akaka, Fong, Hayakawa, Inouye, Matsunaga); the U.S. House of Representatives (Faleomavaega, Kim, Matsui, Mineta, Mink, Saiki, Saund, Wu); and as a presidential cabinet member (Chao, Mineta). The authors have also provided a cross-section of 45 Asian American elected officials at the municipal and state levels for 12 states from Alaska to Massachusetts and from Minnesota to Texas. Among them are the first Cambodian, Hmong, and Vietnamese American elected officials, as well as some of the longest-serving Asian Americans, such as Harry Lee, who has been continuously re-elected as Sheriff of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, since 1979. Also profiled are Asian Americans who have played major leadership roles in nonelectoral political pursuits, such as Yuri Kochiyama, Philip Vera Cruz, and Angela Oh, who have made significant contributions in the areas of human rights, union organizing, and race relations.
Table of Contents
Introduction: From Exlusion and Disenfranchisement to Political Leadership--Asian Pacific American Elected Officials and Activists Profiles Aiso, John Fujio Akaka, Daniel K. Arakaki, James Y. Ariyoshi, George R. Barve, Kumar Bloch, Julia Chang Boggs, Grace Lee Buchholdt, Thelma Cayetano, Benjamin Chan, Wilma Chao, Elaine L. Chau, Nguyen Minh Chaudhary, Satveer Chow, Ruby Choy, Herbert Young Cho Chu, Judy Esteves, Jose Eu, March Fong Faleomavaega, Eni F.H. Fong, Hiram L. Fong, Matthew K. Furutani, Warren Gin, Mike Guingona, Michael P. Hayakawa, Samuel Ichiye Hayashi, Dennis W. Hirono, Mazie Honda, Mike Inouye, Daniel K. Ito, Lance A. Joe, Harry J. Kealoha, James Kimo Kim, Jay C. King, Jean Sadako Kochiyama, Yuri Koh, Harold Hongju Kwoh, Stewart Kwok, Daphne Lam, Tony Lau, Cheryl Ann Lau, Gordon Lee, Bill Lann Lee, Cherye Lee, Harry Lim, Joaquin Lim, John Liu, Carol Locke, Gary Luke, Wing Mansho, Rene Matsui, Robert Matsunaga, "Spark" Masayuki Matsunaka, Stanley T. Minami, Dale Mineta, Norman Y. Mink, Patsy T. Miyagishima, Kenneth Daniel Mollway, Susan Oki Morita, Hermina M. Nakano, George Narasaki, Karen Natividad, Irene Oh, Angela Eunjin Ong, Wing F. Park, Michael Quan, Gordon Saiki, Patricia Sangiolo, Amy Mah Santos, Sharon Tomiko Saund, Dalip Singh Shin, Paull Hobom Sibonga, Dolores Singh, Shamina Siv, Sichan Aun Tahir-Kheli, Shirin R. Tanaka, Paul K. Teng, Mabel Tokuda, Kip Underwood, Robert Uong, Chanrithy Valderrama, David M. Veloria, Velma Rosetta Vera Cruz, Philip Villamin Waihee, John David III Wong, Barry Wong, Delbert E. Wong, Martha J. Woo, Michael Woo, S.B. (Shien-Biau) Wu, David Xiong, Joe Bee Yaki, Michael Yamane, Brian Y. Yee, Leland Yih, Mae Yoneda, Karl Goso Appendix 1: Distinguished Asian American Political and Governmental Leaders by Birth Date Appendix 2: Distinguished Asian American Political and Governmental Leaders by Position Selected Bibliography Index
by "Nielsen BookData"