Colorful wind surfers in Waihikula, Maui. 🏝️ Check out the link to see more timeless photos of tropical Hawaii! (📷 Ted Thai, 1979/LIFE Picture Collection) LIFEMagazine TedThai Summetime 1970s Hawaii
Ralph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/ShutterstockRalph Crane The LIFE Picture Collection/ShutterstockThe image and legend of Hawaii as a tropical paradise endures for countless reasons. Few places on earth can boast more dramatic or romantic landscapes; the weather is generally gorgeous; the variety of climates one can encounter within the space of a few miles from arid to tropical to near-alpine to sun-splashed beach is mind-boggling.
But paradise, as we all know, exists only in fairy tales—or, if a paradise did once exist in the Pacific, it long ago gave way to the complex, ambiguous and often politically fraught realities of the modern world. The Hawaii of the travel brochures—as marvelous as it might be in theory, and even at times in fact—is a beautiful construct that often ignores the island chain’s bumpier, and endlessly fascinating, history.
Here, LIFE.com presents color photographs made in 1959, the year that Hawaii was admitted to the Union. The admission took place on August 21, and in a March 1959 article, “Hawaii Beauty, Wealth, Amiable People,” for which these pictures were shot, LIFE painted a largely rosy picture of the place: The first proposal to make Hawaii a state was put forward more than a hundred years ago when President Franklin Pierce cast his eyes across the Pacific and proposed that the splendid and strategic islands be taken into the union. Pierce’s plan faded and it was not until 1898 that Hawaii was annexed as a U.S. territory. Proposals to make Hawaii a state have been on the books of Congress for more than 40 years. Now it seems almost certain that in this session Hawaii will achieve its aim.
As a territory, Hawaii has developed a sturdy economy based on U.S. military expenditures at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere, and on sugar, pineapple, tourism and livestock. The islands, which have a total area roughly that of New Jersey, have bred an incredibly polyglot and racially integrated population of nearly 600,000. This mean that Hawaiian statehood, besides conferring full U.S.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
See an explosion of color in these 30 photos from the Nat Geo archivesFrom stalks of the vivid yellow sunflowers to prayer flags on a mountainside—this selection of images from our archives is a kaleidoscope of colors.
Read more »
Someone Put ‘Morbius’ On A Game Boy ColorMorbin time has never looked so heavily pixelated.
Read more »
Somebody Put Morbius On Game Boy ColorIt's Morbin' Time for the Game Boy Color! In a new video, YouTuber Wulff Den has put Morbius onto [...]
Read more »
See an explosion of color in these 30 photos from the Nat Geo archivesFrom stalks of the vivid yellow sunflowers to prayer flags on a mountainside—this selection of images from our archives is a kaleidoscope of colors.
Read more »
After father dies in homemade fireworks explosion, family issues warning: ‘They aren’t worth it’Jesse Owen Thornton of Hawaii died in a homemade fireworks explosion. Now his family has a safety warning for others.
Read more »