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Well, when I got elected to Congress,

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the picture was
that Senator Inouye was senator,

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and Sparky was elected senator,
so those were the two senators.

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And Cec Heftel and I
became new House members.

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To have two senators like that,
Senator Inouye and his background

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and he was a respected member
of the Senate,

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it helped our cause on our side
as new members of Congress.

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And we could talk to them
and ask for advice,

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what we need to consider
and that kind of thing.

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So that was helpful at that time.

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Also in the House,
I developed friendships

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with other House members
who helped me in the House.

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So with that I was able to proceed.

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But at that time,
Senator Inouye was really rising.

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I want to tell you
that in all of those years,

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I would say that I had
a lot of pride knowing him,

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because what he was
and the kind of influence he had there

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and the kind of accomplishments that
he made for the country and for Hawaiʻi.

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At that time it was,
I would say, growing,

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his position in Congress was rising.

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(interviewer) Was that a result
of the Watergate investigation?

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Yes, Watergate,
and as we know,

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he did an excellent job chairing that,
putting that together.

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For me, coming from Hawaiʻi,
I felt that his style was sort of Hawaiʻi.

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I think that made a difference
in the way people responded.

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(interviewer)
How would you define that style,

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Senator Inouye’s political style?

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Well, he worked with people

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and not “I’m the chairman,
and this is what’s going to happen.”

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The other thing about him
was his stature.

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You know I always thought of him
as a person whose posture was upright,

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and that’s right to the end.

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He was always straight in posture
and his hair was always in place.

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He dressed well and because
he had lost an arm too, he dressed well.

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So he had that kind of an image
for me and for Hawaiʻi.

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As we know, and let me take a leap in here
and say he’s one of the people

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in the United States of America
that went up to the hilt.

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He went from the bottom all the way through
to become the President of the Senate,

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which is the highest position there is
because he was in line for the presidency.

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He was Chairman
of the Appropriations Committee,

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which is considered the top committee,
and that’s why I use the word “the hilt.”

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He was up there,
he had the Medal of Honor…