- Person
- 1942-1974
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
1909 Born John Anthony Burns at Fort Assinneboine, Montana, on March 30, son of Harry Jacob Burns, Sergeant Major, U.S. Army, and Anne Florida (Scally) Burns
1913 Family moved to Fort Shafter, Hawaii
1930 Graduated from St. Louis High School, Honolulu; attended one semester at University of Hawaii
1931 Married Beatrice Majors Van Vleet, June 8th, with whom he had three children: John Anthony, Jr., Mary Elizabeth, and James Seishiro
1945-1953 Became owner of Kalama Store, Kailua, a liquor and sundries store
1946-1948 Elected vice-chairman of Oʻahu County Committee of Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi
1946-1962 President and manager of Burns and Company, Ltd., a real estate firm
1948, 1950, 1954 Campaigned for Delegate to Congress from Hawaiʻi
1948-1952 Chairman, Oʻahu County Committee of Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi for two terms
1950, 1952 Elected chairman, Democratic Party Territorial Conventions of 1950 and 1952
1952-1956 Chairman, (Territorial) Central Committee of Democratic Party for two terms
1952-1968 Delegate to the biennial National Convention of the Democratic Party; in
1956, 1964 and 1968 also chairman of the delegation
1957-1959 Won two terms as Delegate to Congress from Hawaiʻi, serving as a nonvoting member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Appointed to Agriculture, Armed Services, and Interior and Insular Affairs Committees
1959 Returned to Hawaiʻi on June 6 to campaign for governor
1962-1974 Elected governor of Hawaiʻi, November, 1962, serving three terms. First took office on December 3, 1962
Sources:
1975 April 5, died in Hawaii at his Kailua home
Boylan, Dan. John A. Bums: the Man and His Times. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000.
Burns Papers (M-481 ), Campaign publicity, biographical material and other references within the collection.
Men and Women of Hawaii, Honolulu Star-Bulletin Press, Inc., 1972. (HSA call number: DU624.9 .M4 1972)