AllHawaii-Cruises.com - World War II effects in Hawaii

By far the most important new economic development in Hawaii during the first decades of the 20th century was the growth of the pineapple industry. Pineapples had been grown on the islands since early in the l9th century, but only on a small scale. Then, in the early years of the 20th century, the development of efficient canning operations enabled pineapple production to expand rapidly. Sugar output also grew, due to expanded acreage and higher crop yields per acre.

Between 1900 and 1940 the territory’s population nearly tripled, from 154,001 to 422,770, largely due to immigration. During the first decade of the century, Japanese laborers constituted the bulk of the immigrants, followed later by Filipino workers, and some Koreans, Puerto Ricans, Spanish, and Portuguese. About 110,000 Filipinos were brought to the islands; most returned home or went to the mainland when their contracts expired, but a sizable number settled permanently in Hawaii. Attempts to attract American settlers to the islands met with little success. However, a small group of white mainlanders did come as managers and skilled workers, and beginning in the 1930s, the expansion of U.S. military facilities in Hawaii, particularly at Pearl Harbor, brought many U.S. soldiers and sailors to the islands, especially Oahu.

Power in the territory of Hawaii was concentrated in the hands of the owners of five major companies heavily invested in sugar, known as the Big Five. Hawaii remained largely a plantation society, with only a small middle class, one effective political party (Republican), and sharply limited opportunities for non-whites. Still, many Chinese and Japanese people, and especially their children, became professionals and owners of small businesses. The public schools taught the values of opportunity and freedom, and citizens of Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Filipino descent born in the territory developed a strong loyalty to the United States and its system of democracy. They voted with enthusiasm, and at the outbreak of World War II in 1939, some held elective office.

Ethnic Hawaiians and many part-Hawaiians, the products of extensive intermarriage, also played a large role in the political system, often running for state legislative office or representing the territory in Congress. But there was always a large undercurrent of resentment against the white and other immigrant newcomers for the great losses felt by the Hawaiian people. Distrust and conflict existed also between the newer immigrant-ethnic groups. World War II would bring even greater tension.

On December 7, 1941, Japan launched a massive air attack on the U.S. fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor and on other military installations in Hawaii. The surprise attack, which caused great damage and heavy casualties, precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. Because of their strategic location, the Hawaiian Islands became the principal staging area for U.S. operations in the Pacific. Pearl Harbor functioned as a major repair base for damaged warships. Thousands of mainland civilians moved to Hawaii to work.

The war years were a tense and difficult time for islanders. Until late in the war, the territory of Hawaii was totally or partially under martial law, and its citizens’ civil liberties were curtailed. Military tribunals replaced civilian courts, and the press was heavily censored. Military officials were given the authority to control wages, working hours, and prices for goods; laborers could not travel between the islands or leave their jobs without permission.

The situation was particularly sensitive because of the more than 150,000 residents of Japanese descent. The Japanese residents were regarded with hostility and distrust by some of the local military authorities and civilians of other ethnic origins, particularly at the beginning of the war. Hawaii residents of Japanese ancestry were not interned, as were those on the West Coast of the mainland United States; there were too many of them, and Hawaii was too remote, to make relocation practical. But nearly 1,500 Japanese residents were arrested and detained in Hawaii, and thousands more were questioned by loyalty boards. However, no evidence of disloyalty by Japanese residents emerged, and thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry volunteered for military service. They were initially denied admission into the U.S. armed forces, but later fought alongside Japanese Americans from the mainland in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, becoming the most decorated regimental units in American military history.

Martial law over the islands was gradually eased, and civilian rule was restored in October 1944. After the war ended, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the military control of the islands and suspension of civil rights had been unconstitutional.

The end of the war brought dramatic social, political, and economic change to Hawaii. Among the factors driving the change were the growing power of the labor union movement and a decrease of racial prejudice, inspired by the bravery of Japanese American soldiers in the war. Both helped create a stronger Democratic Party to challenge the white, business-dominated Republican Party that had ruled since the 1890s.

The labor movement, which began organizing in Hawaii in the late 1930s, became a strong force soon after the war’s end, challenging the wealthy business elite. Led by the confrontational International Longshore Workers Union, the labor movement organized tens of thousands of dock workers and predominantly Asian farm laborers. Through negotiations and major strikes in 1946, 1949, and 1958, the unions succeeded in abolishing the so-called perquisite system on the pineapple and sugar plantations. Under the perquisite system, plantation owners supplied their workers with such basic necessities as housing, medical care, and, in some instances, food, but paid them very low wages. Largely as a result of union activities, the wages of plantation and dock workers increased several times over in the 1940s and 1950s, and tensions between the employers and unions gave way to labor stability as well as an increased standard of living for workers.

The Democratic Party increased in influence in the 1940s and 1950s, building a coalition of union members, Asian Americans, and war veterans, especially the Japanese Americans who had won recognition for their heroism. Most of the children and grandchildren of immigrants from Asia did not identify with the elite Republican Party. The Japanese (37 percent of Hawaii’s people), Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians (nearly 20 percent), and Filipinos (12 percent) leaned strongly toward the Democratic Party. The Chinese (7 percent of the population) were less willing to commit themselves to a party label, but the younger Chinese actively entering politics were predominantly Democratic.

By the mid-1950s, while the Republican Party under Dwight D. Eisenhower recaptured the presidency for the first time in 20 years, Democrats in Hawaii were assuming power. They were led by John A. “Jack” Burns, a former Honolulu policeman, who won a landslide victory in 1956 to be the Hawaiian territory’s delegate to Congress. Democrats also won strong majorities in both the territorial Senate and its House of Representatives. From that time, Hawaii became one of the most Democratic voting areas in the United States.

Between 1950 and 1960, Hawaii’s population rose from 499,794 to 632,772. The growth occurred almost entirely on Oahu, as immigrants arrived from the mainland and other islands; Oahu also attracted most of the increased investment. The 1950s saw Hawaii develop a large-scale tourist industry and a larger, more diverse manufacturing sector that included cement plants and food processing. Increased federal expenditures also stimulated the economy.

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History of Hawaii

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