Daniel Inouye (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Daniel K. Inouye was born to Japanese immigrant parents in Honolulu in 1924. When Inouye was just 17 years old, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor swept his nation into war and forever changed the course of his life. Inouye's heroic actions on an Italian battlefield during World War II eventually earned him his country's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, but it also cost him his right arm and his dreams of becoming a surgeon. Determined to pursue a career in public service, after Hawaii achieved statehood in 1959 Inouye became the first Japanese American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate. During the 1970s and '80s, he attracted national attention for his role in investigating two major political scandals, the Watergate scandal and the Iran-contra affair. One of the U.S. Senate's longest-serving members, Inouye shows no signs of slowing down.