President Eisenhower signing the official proclamation – Hawaii was now part of the U.S.
Hawaii, group of volcanic and coral islands 2,400 miles west of San Francisco, officially joined the union as the nation’s 50th state. President Eisenhower arranged a 4 p.m. (EDT) ceremony at the White House to proclaim statehood for the territory after a year effort by Hawaiian citizens, now numbering 585,000. Besides signing the statehood proclamation today, the President issued an order designating a new 50-star flag to become officially effective next July 4. The new banner will take the place of the 49-star flag which came official only last July 4. The 49-star emblem, to provide for Alaska, has a blue field. of seven staggered stars each. It supplanted the 47-year-old, 48-star flag which had six even rows of eight stars each. Soon after the Hawaiian proclamation, the government will put on sale a special 7-cent air mail stamp commemorating the event. The signing also will be the signal for Gov. William F. Quinn, a Republican elected as the state’s first governor last July 28, to take the oath in Honolulu, capital of the new state.
Quinn will then notify Washington. House member is Daniel K. Inouye, 34-year-old Democrat of Japanese parentage who lost an arm fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy in World War IT. Terms of the senators will be decided by a drawing after they take the oath. Swearing of the three will raise the senate to 100 members – 65 Democrats and 35 Republicans. House strength will go to 437–283 Democrats,153 Republicans, and one vacancy. Hawaii will rank 47th in ‘size among the 50 states and 44th in population. Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island have less area than Hawaii’s 6,434 square miles. In population, the island cluster surpasses Alaska, Delaware, Nevada, New Hampshire, Vermont: and Wyoming.
The official admission day celebration has been deferred until about Thanksgiving to give the new Legislature time to arrange the ceremonies. But this was the day that Hawaiians have been awaiting since they first petitioned Congress 56 years ago for admission as a state. President Eisenhower’s proclamation turning the dream into a reality meant the end of 59 years of territorial status for the multiracial Pacific island chain.
Here is a special broadcast of President Eisenhower signing the official proclamation on August 21, 1959 from NBC Radio.
We’re getting down to the wire:
