Luaus And Lawmakers: Early Junkets To Hawaii Brought Many Rewards 0 Prince Kuhio became a master at leading congressional delegations to Hawaii, winning converts to the causes he championed for the islands
On a sunny morning in May 1915, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole waited expectantly in Honolulu as the ocean liner S.S. Sierra approached the shore. Then he climbed aboard a launch and went out to meet the larger vessel.
Kuhio scanned the crowd lining the ship’s rails, looking for a particular familiar face. When he spotted his bewhiskered 79-year-old friend, he exuberantly waved in greeting.
“Hello there, Uncle Joe, aloha oe,” the 44-year-old prince shouted up to the upper deck.
Recognizing him, Kuhio’s friend beamed down to him, calling out a reply, “Hello Cupid!”
In that way, Prince Kuhio offered a big Hawaiian welcome to U.S. Rep. Joe Cannon, the iron-willed speaker of the House of Representatives, the man who dominated the nation’s legislative agenda, and the individual with the most power over the appropriations that mattered to Hawaii.
Luaus And Lawmakers: Early Junkets To Hawaii Brought Many Rewards
