Hawaii: Today in History 7/4
7-4-1894 Republic of Hawaii proclaimed, Sanford B Dole as president
The Republic of Hawaiʻi was a short-lived puppet state in Hawaiʻi between July 4, 1894, when the Provisional Government of Hawaii ended, and August 12, 1898, when it was annexed by the United States as an organized incorporated territory of the United States. In 1893, U.S. Minister to Hawaii John L. Stevens and white native-born subjects of the Kingdom of Hawaii overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani after she rejected the 1887 Bayonet Constitution which was forced on Hawaii. The perpetrators intended for Hawaii to be annexed by the United States, but President Grover Cleveland, a Democrat opposed to imperialism, refused.
While leaders of the republic such as Sanford B. Dole and Lorrin A. Thurston were native-born subjects of the Hawaiian kingdom and speakers of the Hawaiian language, they had strong financial, political, and family ties to the United States. They intended the Republic to become a territory of the United States. Dole was a former member of the Kingdom legislature from Koloa, Kauai, and Justice of the Kingdom’s Supreme Court, and he appointed Thurston—who had served as Minister of Interior under King Kalākaua—to lead a lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., to secure Hawaii’s annexation by the United States. The issue of overseas imperialism was controversial in the United States due to its colonial origins, but rising jingoism during the Spanish–American War led to anti-imperialist’s loss. The day before the end of the war, Hawaii was annexed under Republican President William McKinley. The Territory of Hawaii was formally established as part of the U.S. on June 14, 1900.
The Blount Report “first provided evidence that officially identified the United States’ complicity in the lawless overthrow of the lawful, peaceful government of Hawaii.”[1] American officials immediately recognized the new government and U.S. Marines were sent by the US Ambassador to aid in the overthrow. The Queen’s supporters charged the Marines’ presence frightened the Queen and thus enabled the revolution.[2] Blount concluded that the United States had carried out unauthorized partisan activities, including the landing of U.S. Marines under a false or exaggerated pretext, to support the anti-royalist conspirators; that these actions were instrumental to the success of the revolution; and that the revolution was carried out against the wishes of a majority of the population of Hawaii.
7-4-1903 Pacific Cable (San Francisco, Hawaii, Guam, Philipines) opens, President Theodore Roosevelt sends a message
July 4, 1903: The Manila cable and Pacific cable in Hawaii were spliced together.
7-4-1982 Ex Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osbourne (33) weds TV host Sharon Arden (29) in Maui, Hawaii
The groom was resplendent in a creamy tux with a natty bow tie. The bride glowed in an immaculate white gown. Friends and family smiled happily as the sunset ceremony began on a pristine beach on the Hawaiian island of Maui. All that was missing was Andy Williams singing The Hawaiian Wedding Song, and maybe that was just as well. For about the time the groom was getting to the part about honoring and cherishing, he opened his mouth and bared a pair of custom-made fangs. “The only problem,” notes Ozzy, “was saying the vows because I sounded a bit like Donald Duck.”
The happy groom was Britain’s outrageous rocker Ozzy Osbourne, 33. That’s the same John Michael (the name on his marriage certificate) Osbourne who cut seven gold LPs with Black Sabbath and who has three currently on the charts with his own band. On other occasions Ozzy has been known to bite the head off a dove or a bat (after which he had a rabies shot). This time, though, Ozzy settled for a decorous nibble on the neck of his manager and bride, Sharon Arden, 29. The couple met 10 years ago, but romance blossomed after they started working together. (This was Ozzy’s second marriage. He has three children, who live with their mother in Birmingham, England.) Sharon, who looked up the nondenominational pastor in the Yellow Pages under Marriage Counselors, says gleefully, “I don’t think the man could believe what was happening.” There followed a zesty luau that featured roast pig and a wedding cake soaked with Osbourne’s favorite libation, brandy. Ozzy then favored his bride with an improvised song he titled Fangs for the Memory.
7-4-2010 “Survivor: Thailand” star Tanya Vance weds Joseph Luczaj in Maui, Hawaii
