Samuel Wilder King

Samuel King
11th Territorial Governor of Hawaii
In office February 28, 1953 – July 26, 1957
Appointed by	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded by	Oren E. Long
Succeeded by	William F. Quinn
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's at-large district
In office January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1943
Preceded by	Lincoln Loy McCandless
Succeeded by	Joseph Rider Farrington
Personal details
Born	Samuel Wilder King (1886-12-17)December 17, 1886 Honolulu, Kingdom of Hawaii
Died	March 24, 1959(1959-03-24) (aged 72) Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Pauline Nawahineokalai Evans
Children	2, including Samuel
Education	United States Naval Academy (BS)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1910–1924 1943–1946
Rank	Captain

Samuel Wilder King (December 17, 1886 – March 24, 1959) was the eleventh Territorial Governor of Hawaii and served from 1953 to 1957. He was appointed to the office after the term of Oren E. Long. Previously, King served in the United States House of Representatives as a delegate from the Territory of Hawaii. He was a member of the Republican Party of Hawaii and was the first of native Hawaiian descent to rise to the highest office in the territory.

His father James A. King (1832–1899) was a ship's master for Samuel Gardner Wilder, and later politician in the Republic of Hawaii.^[1] His mother was Charlotte Holmes Davis, daughter of part-Hawaiian Robert Grimes Davis, who descended from Oliver Holmes, Governor of Oʻahu under Kamehameha I. King was born December 17, 1886, in Honolulu and was a subject of the Kingdom of Hawai'i. A devout Roman Catholic, King attended Saint Louis School, but graduated from McKinley High School. Upon graduating, King went on to study at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He entered the United States Navy as a commissioned officer where he served from 1910 to 1924. At the time of his discharge, he had attained the rank of lieutenant commander. On March 18, 1912, he married Pauline Nawahineokalai Evans, another part-Hawaiian.^[2]

King returned to his hometown in 1925 where he entered the real estate profession. In 1932, he ran for his first public office and served for two years on the Board of Supervisors of Honolulu. In 1934, King was elected to the United States Congress as a delegate. He served in Washington, D.C., from January 1935 to January 1943.^[3] With the outbreak of World War II, King resigned from Congress to accept a naval commission to become a commander, then captain. He retired from military service in 1946.

Once again, King returned to his hometown and was appointed to a sub-cabinet office of the governor's administration. King served in the Emergency Housing Committee for a year. He was then appointed to the Hawaii Statehood Commission in 1947 where he stayed until 1953.^[3] President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed King to the governorship that year. He was the first governor of Hawaiian ancestry. He served in ʻIolani Palace until his resignation on July 31, 1957. During his term in office he signed HB 706 on June 5, 1957, which outlawed the death penalty in Hawaii. It became Act 282. He died in Honolulu March 24, 1959, just before Hawaii achieved statehood. He was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

His son Samuel Pailthorpe King (1916–2010) became a lawyer and Federal Judge.^[4] His grandson, Samuel Pailthorpe King, Jr. also became a lawyer and in 1985 established his own law practice with his wife, Adrienne King, also a lawyer, as King and King, Attorneys-At-Law. King's great-grandson, Samuel Wilder King II, is also a lawyer now practicing in Honolulu; his own son was named Samuel Wilder King III.^[5] King's great-granddaughter, violist and composer Leilehua Lanzilotti, was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music.^[6]

In 2018, King was the subject of the short documentary Samuel Wilder King: Hawaii Statehood directed by Carolina Gratianne and produced by Daniel Bernardi with the collaboration of El Dorado Films, the Veteran Documentary Corps, and the King family.^[7]

• List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans in the United States Congress
• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States

• United States Congress. "Samuel Wilder King (id: K000214)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.