ISLAND VOICES
Honoring Dole on his 160th birthday

Ken Conklin is a writer and researcher who lives in Kane'ohe.

Sanford B. Dole was native-born at Punahou School, April 23, 1844. He spent 11 of his most formative years (ages 11 to 22) growing up Hawaiian-style, at Koloa, Kaua'i.

After attending Williams College in Massachusetts, he became a lawyer and included plantation laborers among his pro bono clients. He adopted a native girl (perhaps his biological child), whose descendants are Hawaiian community leaders today. His ties to Koloa remained strong, and he was elected to the kingdom Legislature, 1884-86, from Koloa. In 1887, he led the protest group that forced King Kalakaua to sign a new constitution. Later Kalakaua appointed him to the kingdom's Supreme Court.

In 1893, he resigned his judgeship before the revolution, and then led the provisional government afterward. U.S. President Grover Cleveland "ordered" him to undo the revolution and reinstate the queen. Hawai'i President Dole wrote a lengthy letter of refusal, confirming that Hawai'i desired annexation but was not a puppet regime.

Dole then helped create the Republic of Hawai'i and was its only president through four more years as an independent nation, recognized by all the nations who had previously recognized the kingdom.

When U.S. President William McKinley came into office, President Dole led the negotiations for annexation. Dole drove a hard bargain. The United States paid off the accumulated national debt of the kingdom and republic (paying more than the market value of the ceded lands at that time). Dole also required the United States to hold the ceded lands not as U.S. property but as a public trust for the benefit of all the residents of Hawai'i.

In 1900, he became Hawai'i's first territorial governor. In 1903 he was appointed judge of the U.S. District Court (Honolulu). Following many years of charitable works, he died in 1926.

Sanford B. Dole was Hawai'i's longest-ruling chief executive at 'Iolani Palace (1893 to 1903), where his firm hand guided Hawai'i through a decade of extraordinarily turbulent times. His spirit remains there, and his statue belongs there. He was the last head of an independent nation of Hawai'i. Happy birthday, Mr. President!