Nadao "Najo" Yoshinaga (August 8, 1919 – December 29, 2009) was a senator from Hawaii and a member of the

442nd Regimental Combat Team The 442nd Infantry Regiment ( ja, 第442歩兵連隊) was an infantry regiment of the United States Army. The regiment is best known as the most decorated in U.S. military history and as a fighting unit composed almost entirely of second-gene ...

Early life

Yoshinaga was born in

Wailuku, Maui Wailuku is a census-designated place (CDP) in and county seat of Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 17,697 at the 2020 census. Wailuku is located just west of Kahului, at the mouth of the Iao Valley. In the early 20th centur ...

on August 8, 1919. He graduated from

Maui High School Maui High School is a public high school founded in 1913 in Hamakuapoko, a sugarcane plantation town on the island of Maui in Hawaii. In 1972, the school moved to its new location in Kahului, Hawaii. Old Maui High School The original school was ...

. He studied at the

University of Hawaii at Manoa A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

, then joined the 442nd on February 23, 1942. After serving in the military, he studied law at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul. In 1998, it became the largest Ca ...

and became an attorney.

Career

Yoshinaga was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives during Hawaii's Democratic revolution. He then served as a senator from 1955 to 1974. During his tenure, he was especially interested in passing legislation related to labor and healthcare, such as the 1974 Prepaid Health Care Act. Yoshinaga was instrumental in getting the latter passed because he pushed for studies of

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

during the late 1960s. Yoshinaga also had a controversial position on

population control Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...

: not only was he for legalizing

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, but he also introduced a bill that would require every woman with more than two children to be sterilized. He started the Commission on Population Stabilization in the 1970s. During protests against Kalama valley's redevelopment, he proposed a bill in which the Senate would buy the land and allow the residents to stay there while researchers studied population growth in the area. Yoshinaga helped to establish the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. He also supported the

ILWU The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada. The union was established in 1937 after the 1934 Wes ...

. After retiring in 1974, he was a mentor to Democratic politicians. Even until his death on December 29, 2009, Yoshinaga visited the State Capitol once a week and closely followed President Obama's national healthcare plan.

References

External links

Oral history interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshinaga, Nadao 1919 births 2009 deaths 20th-century American politicians United States Army personnel of World War II American politicians of Japanese descent American military personnel of Japanese descent Hawaii Democrats Hawaii politicians of Japanese descent People from Wailuku, Hawaii University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni DePaul University alumni