National Affairs: HAWAII: The Land & the People

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Little else disturbs the bustling, multiracial complex of Hawaii today. Even racial tension, in a spot where there are no fewer than 64 crossbreeds of humans, is less worrisome than that in the U.S. South; Hawaii's intensely loyal 185,000 Japanese sent thousands of their sons to war after Pearl Harbor, and they won a proud record. Bolstered by a high literacy rate, steady solvency (U.S. tax revenues for fiscal 1958: $166 million), a dedicated interest in government (average turnout at the polls: 90% v. 60% mainland presidential peak), the fabled land of polysyllabic kings, brown-skinned women and languorous beauty—supercharged with its brilliant mosaic of cultures—has now opened the door on a new epoch for itself.