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News & Current Events Apr 21, 2026 at 12:45 AM

Former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi, first U.S. governor of Asian American descent, dies at 100

Posted by SoulofThesteppe

Former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi, first U.S. governor of Asian American descent, dies at 100
NBC News
Former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi, first U.S. governor of Asian American descent, dies at 100
Ariyoshi led the state from 1973 to 1986. His time as governor was marked by Hawaii becoming a tourist destination and a booming population.
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DirkBabypunch 1 day ago +183
Oh yeah, there are still people alive who probably remember the US not having 50 states.
183
PaperOptimist 1 day ago +59
I mean, if they recall their childhoods, that's people who are in their 60s.
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Conscious-Tutor3861 1 day ago +32
Hawaii became a state in 1959, so ~70s to be a child before Hawaii became a state, ~80s to be a teenager, and ~90s to be an adult. There just aren't that many people around who remember a time before we had 50 states.
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PaperOptimist 1 day ago +6
Derp, I missed a decade when doing the numbers. But the point stands. If we go by the 4.5% figure for Americans over 75, that's still over 15 million people. Not a *huge* number by any means, but that's comfortably more than the population of Pennsylvania.
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malthar76 1 day ago +4
We all miss a decade here and there. That’s why the 90s was only like 15 years ago, right?
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PaperOptimist 1 day ago +3
Ugh, don't get me started. This past weekend, I nearly tried to correct someone when they referred to 2008 as "almost 20 years ago".
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CoralBooty 1 day ago +3
Yeah I just recently worked with a guy born in 1940, so he got his high school diploma before the last two were added
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hoguensteintoo 1 day ago +10
And they’re hell bent on sending us back there
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BookLuvr7 1 day ago +4
There are people who have watched the rise and fall of women's rights over their own bodies/to not be treated like property, that's for sure. Sadly, some states still give rapists paternity rights.
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lordaddament 1 day ago +1
The television was invented before 50 states too. Not really that long ago
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Coffee_And_Bikes 19 hr ago +1
My MIL was born in Hawaii before it was a state. It really wasn’t that long ago.
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Cynical_Classicist 1 day ago
I think that it only happened about 1960, Eisenhower signed this in.
0
No_Direction6688 1 day ago +88
He was a trailblazer when he became the first U.S. governor of Asian American descent.
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Desperate_Tea_6297 1 day ago +40
Trailblazer and literal centenarian, which is wild given how stressful politics is. Would be cool if local schools used his story to teach both Asian American history and Hawaii’s statehood era.
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BeIgnored 1 day ago +10
Hawaii actually has the longest lifespan of all states!
10
sunflowerastronaut 1 day ago +5
> and literal centenarian, which is wild given how stressful politics is. Politicians in Congress seem to live extremely long lives
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Cynical_Classicist 1 day ago +5
Yes... and not retire when they should. Look at Strom Thurmond and Chuck Grassley!
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certciv 19 hr ago +2
Having lots of money, and access to the best healthcare will tend to do that.
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ranassil 1 day ago +14
A true trailblazer who paved the way for so many
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Guernic 1 day ago +2
Why couldn’t it be Chuck Grassley???
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kobeyoboy 1 day ago +4
An American man who became the first American Governor with Asian descent passes away at 100 he was the governor of Hawaii.
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swagonflyyyy 1 day ago +2
Looks like a Yakuza boss. Respect.
2
Decent-Ganache7647 20 hr ago +2
Going to school on the U.S. mainland, Ariyoshi didn't feel a sense of being treated differently. "On the contrary, I enjoyed the fact that Hawaii had a reputation even then for people of different backgrounds coming together and living harmoniously," he wrote in his book.
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regeust 1 day ago -27
He's not of Asian American descent. He's Asian American or an American of Asian descent. Asian American descent is nonsensical.
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