Spark M. Matsunaga

Politician, lawyer, author

• Born: October 8, 1916
• Birthplace: Kukuiula, Hawaii
• Died: April 15, 1990
• Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Congressman Spark Matsunaga represented Hawaii as a Democrat for twenty-eight years in the US Congress. An advocate of liberal causes, including civil rights, international space travel, nuclear disarmament, and environmental protection, he led the fight to obtain an official apology and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during World War II.

Birth name: Masayuki Matsunaga

Areas of achievement: Government and politics, social issues

Early Life

Masayuki “Spark” Matsunaga was born in Kukuiula on the island of Kauai, in the territory of Hawaii, to Japanese immigrant parents. Raised in rural poverty with a strong work ethic, Matsunaga and his five siblings worked alongside their parents when young and then continued to hold various jobs throughout grade school, high school, and college. Masayuki excelled in his studies at the University of Hawaii. After his graduation in 1941, he joined the US Army reserves and was commissioned a second lieutenant.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, not only propelled the United States into World War II but also made the loyalty of all Japanese Americans suspect in the eyes of the US government. Even though the young Matsunaga was an army officer, he was sent to an internment camp in Wisconsin. Nevertheless, Matsunaga and other Japanese American internees petitioned the US government to serve in military combat. In early 1943, the US War Department accepted 1,500 Japanese American volunteers. Matsunaga was among the nisei (children of Japanese immigrants) who formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This highly decorated unit fought in Europe, and its soldiers were known for their “go for broke” attitude and courage.

Matsunaga was wounded twice in Italy; he received the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts and returned to Hawaii as a captain. He married Helene Tokunaga in 1948, and the first of their five children was born the following year. The young veteran took advantage of the GI benefits bill to study law at Harvard Law School, graduating with honors in 1951. On his return to the islands, Matsunaga legally took his childhood nickname of Spark as his first name. A stint as an assistant public prosecutor prepared the young attorney for what would be his life’s work in elected public office.

Life’s Work

An important player in the development of a strong Democratic Party in postwar Hawaii, Spark Matsunaga was successful in his 1954 campaign for a seat in Hawaii’s territorial legislature. As House majority leader, he became a central figure in the quest for Hawaiian statehood, which was ultimately accomplished in 1959. Citizens of Hawaii elected Matsunaga to represent the new state in the US House of Representatives in 1962. He served in that capacity for seven consecutive terms, establishing a reputation as an amiable but hardworking legislator and an effective deputy majority whip. A key member of the influential House Rules Committee, Congressman Matsunaga coauthored the book Rulemakers of the House (1976), a significant contribution to an understanding of the workings of the House of Representatives, with academician Ping Chen. Always sensitive to the needs of his island constituency, Matsunaga, who was also a member of the Agriculture Committee, led the fight for passage of the 1971 Sugar Act, legislation that supported the sugar industry in Hawaii.

After Republican Hiram Fong’s retirement from the US Senate in 1976, Matsunaga won the seat for the Democrats and held it for the remainder of his life. The gregarious politician, known to his constituents as Sparky, was a popular public figure in the islands. He was an expert harmonica player and wrote poetry. A vigorous supporter of the arts, he lobbied for decades for the naming of a national poet laureate, a proposal that finally gained legislative approval in 1985.

Matsunaga became ill with prostate and bone cancer and was under treatment at the Toronto General Hospital when he died in April 1990 at the age of seventy-three. His body lay in state in a flag-draped casket at the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu.

In 1997, Matsunaga’s widow donated a massive collection of papers documenting her late husband’s twenty-eight years in Congress to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Also included in the Senator Spark M. Matsunaga Papers are memorabilia from his service in the 100th Infantry Battalion in World War II and assorted materials from his early life in the territory of Hawaii. The US government honored Matsunaga’s long and distinguished service to his country by featuring his portrait on the $10,000 denomination of the US Series I Bonds. An elementary school in Germantown, Maryland, bears his name, as does the VA Medical Center in Honolulu.

Significance

From before Hawaiian statehood to his death in 1990, Matsunaga served the citizens of Hawaii in elective office: in the territorial legislature (1954–59), the US House of Representatives (1962–76), and the US Senate (1976–90). He combined his idealistic goals of world peace, international space cooperation, equal rights, and environmental protection with pragmatism and procedural efficacy. Although trained as an attorney at Harvard, he never lost his ability to connect with people of all ethnic and economic backgrounds. One of only a few Asian Americans in Congress, Matsunaga was respected by his peers as a capable legislator and a champion of liberal causes. Despite being born in poverty to uneducated immigrant plantation workers, he shaped his life into one of achievement as a lawyer, poet, author, humanitarian, and consummate politician, becoming a model of nisei success. His shepherding of the passage of a 1988 redress bill granting an apology and reparations to Japanese American World War II internees was one of Senator Matsunaga’s finest moments in his long and distinguished career as a public servant, and it stands as an important chapter in the history of civil rights in America. Matsunaga was also known for his contributions to the establishment of the US Institute for Peace in Washington, DC, in 1984.

Bibliography

Coffman, Tom. Catch a Wave: A Case Study of Hawaii’s New Politics. Honolulu: UP of Hawaii, 1973. Print. Focuses on the gubernatorial election of 1970, providing insight into the split in Hawaii’s Democratic Party.

Halloran, Richard. Sparky: Warrior, Peacemaker, Poet, Patriot; A Portrait of Senator Spark M. Matsunaga. Honolulu: Watermark, 2002. Print. A biography by a Honolulu journalist drawn from dozens of interviews; includes photographs from all stages of Matsunaga’s life.

Maki, Mitchell T., Harry Kitano, and S. Megan Berthold. Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1999. Print. Discusses Matsunaga’s contributions to the redress movement, along with information about others involved in the lobbying for reparations to Japanese American internees.

Matsunaga, Spark M., and Ping Chen. Rulemakers of the House. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1976. Print. A thorough study of the House Rules Committee from 1957 through 1976, based on interviews and the observations of Congressman Matsunaga.

Murray, Alice Yang. Historical Memories of the Japanese American Internment and the Struggles for Redress. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2008. Print. A carefully documented study that analyzes the contradictory attitudes toward internment held by different Japanese American organizations; includes rare photographs and an extensive bibliography.