Saints Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus
Martyrs
Born	c. 239 (Tarachus)
Died	304 Tarsus, Asia Minor
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church, Greek Orthodox Church
Canonized	Pre-congregation
Feast	October 11 (Roman Catholic Church), October 12 (Greek Orthodox Church)
Attributes	Tarachus is depicted as an elderly man, in the robes of a Roman citizen, with a spear. The others are depicted with crosses or spears.

Saints Andronicus, Probus (Provos), and Tarachus (Tharacus, Tarachos) were martyrs of the Diocletian persecution (about 304 AD). The Martyrologium Hieronymianum contains the names of these three martyrs on four different days (the four days 8–11 October evidently signify no more than the date on a single day), with the topographical identification: In Tarso Cilicie, on September 27 (ed. De Rossi-Duchesne, 126), to which corresponds the expression, In Cilicia, given on the two days of 5 April, and 8–11 October. The expression, In Palestina, given under 13 May (ibid., 60), is either an error or refers to a special shrine of the martyrs in Palestine.

Martyrdom of Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus

There are two accounts of their martyrdom, the first account being held by Thierry Ruinart (Acta Martyrum, ed. Ratisbon, 448 sq.) to be entirely authentic. According to these Acts, Tarachus (ca. 239- 304), a Roman who was a native of Claudiopolis in Isauria and a former soldier, the plebeian Probus of Side in Pamphylia, and the patrician Andronicus, who belonged to a prominent family of Ephesus, were tried by the governor Numerian Maximus and horribly tortured three times in various cities, including Tarsus, Mopsuestia, and Anazarbus of Cilicia.

According to tradition, Tarachus was beaten on his cheeks and neck with stones. His hands were also burned. He was hanged on a post and smoke was put underneath him to choke him; vinegar was forced down his nostrils; after enduring further tortures, he was carved to pieces. Probus was thrashed with whips, his feet were burned with red hot irons, his back and sides were pierced with heated spits; finally he also was cut up with knives. Andronicus was also cut to pieces with knives.

They were then condemned to death by wild beasts, and when the animals would not touch them in the amphitheatre they were put to death with the sword. Harnack, however, expressed doubts as to the genuineness of the account (Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, pt. II: Die Chronologie, I, 479 sq., note 5), and Hippolyte Delehaye (Les légendes hagiographiques, 135 sq.) puts the martyrdom in the class of legends of martyrs that he calls "historical romances". Three men, named Marcian, Felix, and Verus, witnessed their martyrdom and added an epilogue to the saints' Acts. They retrieved the bodies of the three saints, buried them, and watched over them the rest of their lives, requesting that they be buried in the same vault as the martyrs at the end of theirs.

Their feast is celebrated in the Roman Catholic Church on October 11, and in the Greek Orthodox Church on October 12.

External links[link]

Saints portal

• (English) Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus at the Catholic Encyclopedia
• (English) Saint of the Day, October 11
• (English) Provos, Andronicus, and Tarachos
• (English) Orthodox Church in America: Martyrs Tarachus, Andronicus, and Probus at Tarsus, in Cilicia (liturgical hymn dedicated to these saints)
• (English) Lives of the Saints

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

The Temple of Apollo is located at the end of Side's peninsula.

Side (Greek: Σίδη Side, Turkish: Side) was an ancient Greek city in Anatolia, in the region of Pamphylia, in what is now Antalya province, on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey. It is now a resort town and one of the best-known classical sites in Turkey, near Manavgat and the village of Selimiye, 75 km from Antalya) in the province of Antalya.^[1]

It is located on the eastern part of the Pamphylian coast, which lies about 20 km east of the mouth of the Eurymedon River. Today, as in antiquity, the ancient city is situated on a small north-south peninsula about 1 km long and 400 m across.

History[link]

Strabo and Arrian both record that Side was founded by Greek settlers from Cyme in Aeolis, a region of western Anatolia. This most likely occurred in the 7th century BC. Possessing a good harbour for small-craft boats, Side's natural geography made it one of the most important places in Pamphylia and one of the most important trade centres in the region. According to Arrian, when settlers from Cyme came to Side, they could not understand the dialect. After a short while, the influence of this indigenous tongue was so great that the newcomers forgot their native Greek and started using the language of Side. Excavations have revealed several inscriptions written in this language. The inscriptions, dating from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, remain undeciphered, but testify that the local language was still in use several centuries after colonisation. Another object found in the excavations at Side, a basalt column base from the 7th century BC and attributable to the Neo-Hittites, provides further evidence of the site's early history. The name Side is Anatolian in origin and means pomegranate.

Next to no information exists concerning Side under Lydian and Persian sovereignty.

Alexander the Great[link]

The Great Gate in the middle of Side's main street.

Temple of Apollo detail.

Alexander the Great occupied Side without a struggle in 333 BC. Alexander left only a single garrison behind to occupy the city. This occupation, in turn, introduced the people of Side to Hellenistic culture, which flourished from the 4th to the 1st century BC. After Alexander's death, Side fell under the control of one of Alexander's generals, Ptolemy I Soter, who declared himself king of Egypt in 305 BC. The Ptolemaic dynasty controlled Side until it was captured by the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. Yet, despite these occupations, Side managed to preserve some autonomy, grew prosperous, and became an important cultural centre.

In 190 BC a fleet from the Greek island city-state of Rhodes, supported by Rome and Pergamum, defeated the Seleucid King Antiochus the Great's fleet, which was under the command of the fugitive Carthaginian general Hannibal. The defeat of Hannibal and Antiochus the Great meant that Side freed itself from the overlord-ship of the Seleucid Empire. The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) forced Antiochus to abandon all European territories and to cede all of Asia Minor north of the Taurus Mountains to Pergamum. However, the dominion of Pergamum only reached de facto as far as Perga, leaving Eastern Pamphylia in a state of uncertain freedom. This led Attalus II Philadelphus to construct a new harbour in the city of Attalia (the present Antalya), although Side already possessed an important harbour of its own. Between 188 and 36 BC Side minted its own money, tetradrachms showing Nike and a laurel wreath (the sign of victory).

In the 1st century BC, Side reached a peak when the Cilician pirates established their chief naval base and a centre for their slave-trade.

Romans[link]

The consul Servilius Vatia defeated these brigands in 78 BC and later the Roman general Pompey in 67 BC, bringing Side under the control of Rome and beginning its second period of ascendancy, when it established and maintained a good working relationship with the Roman Empire.^[2]

Emperor Augustus reformed the state administration and placed Pamphylia and Side in the Roman province of Galatia in 25 BC, after the short reign of Amyntas of Galatia between 36 and 25 BC. Side began another prosperous period as a commercial centre in Asia Minor through its trade in olive oil. Its population grew to 60,000 inhabitants. This period would last well into the 3rd century AD. Side also established itself as a slave-trading centre in the Mediterranean. Its large commercial fleet engaged in acts of piracy, while wealthy merchants paid for such tributes as public works, monuments, and competitions as well as the games and gladiator fights. Most of the extant ruins at Side date from this period of prosperity.

One of the maps (portolani) of Piri Reis, taken from the Kitab-i Bahriye, which Piri produced in several editions, supplementing in 1520, but integrating it into subsequent editions.

Decline[link]

Side began a steady decline from the 4th century on. Even defensive walls could not stop successive invasions of highlanders from the Taurus Mountains. During the 5th and 6th centuries, Side experienced a revival, and became the seat of the Bishopric of Eastern Pamphylia. Arab fleets, nevertheless, raided and burned Side during the 7th century, contributing to its decline. The combination of earthquakes, Christian zealots and Arab raids, left the site abandoned by the 10th century, its citizens having emigrated to nearby Antalya.^[2]

In the 12th century, Side temporarily established itself once more as a large city. An inscription found on the site of the former ancient city shows a considerable Jewish population in early Byzantine times. However, Side was abandoned again after being sacked. Its population moved to Antalya, and Side became known as Eski Adalia ("Old Antalya") and was buried.

A hospital dating back to the 6th century.

This portion of the main street in Side is lined with the ruins of homes or shops, many of which feature their original mosaic tile flooring.

Ruins[link]

The great ruins are among the most notable in Asia Minor. They cover a large promontory where a wall and a moat separate it from the mainland. During medieval times, the wall and moat were repaired and the promontory houses a wealth of structures.

There are colossal ruins of a theatre complex, the largest of Pamphylia, built much like a Roman amphitheatre that relies on arches to support the sheer verticals. The Roman style was adopted because Side lacked a convenient hillside that could be hollowed out in the usual Greek fashion more typical of Asia Minor. The theatre is less preserved than the theatre at Aspendos, but it is almost as large, seating 15,000 - 20,000 people. With time and the shifting of the earth, the scena wall has collapsed over the stage and the proscenium is in a cataract of loose blocks. It was converted into an open-air sanctuary with two chapels during Byzantine times (5th-6th c.)

The well-preserved city walls provide an entrance to the site through the Hellenistic main gate (Megale Pyle) of the ancient city, although this gate from the 2nd century BC is badly damaged. Next comes the colonnaded street, whose marble columns are no longer extant; all that remains are a few broken stubs near the old Roman baths. The street leads to the a public bath, restored as a museum displaying statues and sarcophagi from the Roman period. Next is the square agora with the remains of the round Tyche and Fortuna temple (2nd c. BC), a periptery with twelve columns, in the middle. In later times it was used as a trading centre where pirates sold slaves. The remains of the theatre, which was used for gladiator fights and later as a church, and the monumental gate date back to the 2nd century. The early Roman Temple of Dionysus is near the theatre. The fountain gracing the entrance is restored. At the left side are the remains of a Byzantine Basilica. A public bath has also been restored.^[2]

The remaining ruins of Side include three temples, an aqueduct, and a nymphaeum. Side's nymphaeum – a grotto with a natural water supply dedicated to the nymphs – was an artificial grotto or fountain building of elaborate design.

There is also a virtually unknown, but expansive site, up in the Taurus foothills, several miles inland, known locally as Selacleure. Virtually unknown to the outside world and not represented on the internet at all, it is the Roman garrison, built by Mark Anthony, to support the city of Side. It covers at least a couple of square miles and is almost completely unexcavated, apart from two weeks in 1975, when the Turkish government funded two weeks of excavations. The site was, apparently, finally abandoned in the seventh century, when an earthquake caused the spring which fed the site with water to dry up completely. Many of the buildings are in remarkably good shape, particularly since, due to the lack of available stone, a significant quantity of the sites stonework contains egg and gravel based concrete blocks.

Turkish archaeologists have been excavating Side since 1947 and intermittently continue to do so.^[3]

Today[link]

In 1895 Turkish Muslim^[4][5][6] refugees from Crete moved to the ruined town and called it Selimiye. Today, Side has become a popular holiday destination and experiences a new revival.

It was a popular spot for watching the solar eclipse of March 29, 2006.

Having been the Bishopric of Eastern Pamphylia, it is still a titular see of the Roman Catholic church.

See also[link]

• Coinage of Side
• Manavgat Waterfall
• Oymapinar Dam
• Philip of Side
• Saint Probus of Side
• Sidetic language

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Side (Turkey)

• About Side and Manavgat
• Excellent Pictures - Pictures Of Side and Manavgat
• Side photos with explanations
• Hazlitt, Classical Gazetteer, "Side"
• Acceptable pictures of the museum, 105 of them
• Not bad pictures of the town, 230 of them
• Side Turkey Guide for UK Travellers

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

v t e Ancient settlements in Turkey Aegean Aegae Aizanoi Alabanda Alinda Allianoi Amorium Amyzon Antioch on the Maeander Apamea in Phrygia Aphrodisias Apollonia in Mysia Atarneus Bargylia Beycesultan Caloe Caryanda Celaenae Ceramus Colophon Cyme Didyma Docimium Ephesus Erythrae Euromus Gambrion Gryneion Halicarnassus Hierapolis Iasos Karmylissos Kaunos Klazomenai Knidos Labraunda Laodicea on the Lycus Latmus Lebedus Limantepe Magnesia on the Maeander Metropolis Miletus Myndus Myriandrus Myus Notion Nysa Oenoanda Orestias Pepuza Pergamon Perperene Phocaea Pinara Pitane Priene Sardis Sigeion Smyrna Stratonicea in Lydia Stratonicea in Caria Temnos Teos Tymion Black Sea Alaca Höyük Comana in the Pontus Euchaita Hattusa Hüseyindede Tepe Ibora Laodicea Pontica Nerik Nicopolis Pompeiopolis Salatiwara Samuha Sapinuwa Tripolis Yazılıkaya Zaliches Central Anatolia Alişar Hüyük Binbirkilise Çatalhöyük Derbe Dorylaeum Gordium Heraclea Cybistra Irenopolis Kaman-Kalehöyük Kerkenes Kültepe (Kanesh) Laodicea Combusta Mokissos Nyssa Pessinus Purushanda Tavium Tyana Eastern Anatolia Altıntepe Ani Melid Sugunia Tushpa Marmara Aegospotami Alexandria Troas Apamea Myrlea Apollonia on the Rhyndax Apros Assos Cardia Cebrene Chalcedon Cius Cyzicus Drusipara Faustinopolis Germanicopolis Lysimachia Nicomedia Sestos Skepsis Troy (Hisarlik) Mediterranean Alalakh Anazarbus Antigonia Antioch on the Orontes Antioch in Pisidia Antiochia Lamotis Antioch on the Cragus Antioch on the Pyramis Aphrodisias of Cilicia Ariassos Arsinoe Arycanda Aspendos Comana in Cappadocia Corycus (Kızkalesi) Cremna Cyrrhus Domuztepe Elaiussa Sebaste Epiphania Gözlükule Hacilar Irenopolis Issus Kandyba Karatepe Kibyra Mallus Mamure Castle Mezgitkale Mopsuestia Myra Olba Patara Perga Phaselis Rhosus Sagalassos Seleucia in Pamphylia Seleucia Pieria Seleucia Sidera Selge Side Sillyon Soli Sozopolis Tell Tayinat Termessos Tlos Xanthos Yumuktepe Southeastern Anatolia Antioch in the Taurus Antioch in Mesopotamia Apamea on the Euphrates Carchemish Çayönü Dara Edessa Göbekli Tepe Harran Kussara Nevalı Çori Sakçagözü Sam'al Samosata Sareisa Seleucia at the Zeugma Sultantepe Tille Tushhan Zeugma

Coordinates: 36°46′00″N 31°23′20″E / 36.7666667°N 31.38889°E / 36.7666667; 31.38889

1st Lt. Walter Haut ( June 2, 1922―December 15,2005) is the public information officer (PIO) at the 509th Bomb Group based in Roswell, New Mexico during 1947. Early on July 8, 1947 he was ordered by the base commander, Colonel William Blanchard, to draft a press release to the public, announcing that the United States Army Air Force had recovered a crashed "flying disc" from a nearby ranch. The press release garnered widespread national and even international media attention. The U.S. Army Air Force retracted the claim later the same day, saying instead that a weather balloon had been recovered. Haut also received some criticism and ridicule in the nation's press for putting out the original press release. The series of events eventually became known as the Roswell UFO Incident.

When interviewed about the incident decades later, he claimed only a minor role, but he expressed his belief that there was "no chance" senior officers who handled the recovered material, including base commander Blanchard, mistook a weather balloon for a flying saucer.

He later claimed greater involvement, including seeing alien corpses and a craft at a base hangar and handling the strange crash debris.

Biography[link]

Walter Haut was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 3, 1922. During World War II, he was a bombardier flying 35 missions against Japan. At Operation Crossroads, the A-bomb tests at the Bikini atoll in the summer of 1946, he dropped instrument packages to record data from the bomb blasts. In 1947, he became the public information officer for the 509th Atomic Bomb Group at Roswell Army Air Field in New Mexico. The base commander, Colonel William H. Blanchard, was a close personal friend.

In 1991, Haut and two other men founded the International UFO Museum where he presided as president until 1996. It is rumored that Haut died on December 15, 2005 at the age of eighty-three, however Haut is still alive and currently writing conspiracy books

Haut and the Roswell UFO incident[link]

In the first book on the subject, The Roswell Incident, Haut was said to be "not a witness."(p. 72) He told interviewers in 1979 that base commander Colonel William Blanchard asked him to write and distribute the press release but that was told that when he asked to see the object in question, "his request was impossible." (p. 73)

In UFO Crash at Roswell, Haut appears as a witness, though not to any of actual debris. During a March 1989 interview he said he knew "nothing" about what was recovered. (p. 139) He described being asked by Blanchard to write the press release. "I didn't hear about it until, I guess, Jess [Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer, who initially investigated and recovered some of the debris] was on his way to the flightline." (ibid) He did, however, describe what Marcel told him: "It was something he had never seen and didn't believe it was of this planet. I trusted him on his knowledge." (p. 142) He further stated: "I think there was a giant cover-up on this thing." (p. 143)

In an affidavit signed May 14, 1993, he repeated the above claimed sequence of events and added "I believe Col. Blanchard saw the material, because he sounded positive about what the material was. There is no chance he would have mistaken it for a weather balloon. Neither is there any chance that Major Marcel would have been mistaken.^[1]

By this time, Haut, along with Max Littell and Glenn Dennis had opened the International UFO Museum and Research Center.^[2]

Then, in a recorded interview from 2000 with Wendy Connors ^[3] and Dennis Balthauser,^[4] Haut claimed to have personally viewed an extraterrestrial or alien craft and a body in a Roswell Army Air Field base hangar and being present at a senior staff meeting where a cover-up of events was discussed. Haut also placed Brigadier General Roger M. Ramey ^[5] head of the Eighth Army Air Force in Fort Worth, Texas, at the meeting. Ramey would later tell the press it was in fact a misidentified weather balloon after Haut had put out the press release of the recovered "flying disc."^[6]

In December 2002, Haut also signed a sealed affidavit in which he went into more details about the craft, debris, bodies, and cover-up. Both the interview and affidavit were not to be released until after his death.^[7]

The full text of the affidavit was first published in June 2007 in the book Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60 Year Cover-Up.^[8] According to the authors, Haut had sworn to his friend Colonel Blanchard not to reveal in his lifetime the events he witnessed and therefore told researchers either that he couldn't remember or that he had only prepared and released the information that was given to him at the time and denied he knew anything else.^[9]

In his affidavit, Haut stated that on July 8, 1947, following the press release he put out in the afternoon, he was taken out to a base hangar by Colonel Blanchard. There he saw an egg-shaped craft about 15 feet long and several small bodies about four feet tall with large heads. He was convinced the bodies were alien and had come from a crashed spacecraft.

Haut also stated that there had been two major crash sites that he had become aware of the day before, the first a large debris field about 75 miles northwest of Roswell (the site investigated by Major Marcel), and the second, about 40 miles north of town, where the main craft and bodies were found. The north site had just been found by civilians on July 7, and apparently word had already gotten out about it in the public.

At the staff morning meeting on July 8, which Haut said he attended, key officers at the base were briefed and strange debris was handed around, which nobody could identify. Haut also said there was a discussion as to what the public was to be told. General Ramey had flown in to attend the meeting. Haut said Ramey suggested telling the public about the more distant debris field as a diversion from the more accessible and important body/craft site. He felt Ramey was following orders from The Pentagon. Haut added he was not aware at the time exactly what information was to be divulged. But the press release he put out a few hours later spoke of the more distant site in general terms, saying that the Army Air Force had come into possession of a "flying disc" with cooperation of a local rancher, and it was being flown on to "higher headquarters" after being examined at the base. "Higher headquarters" quickly turned out to be Gen. Ramey in Fort Worth, who within a few hours said the "flying disc" was a misidentified weather balloon.

Notes[link]

See also[link]

• Roswell Incident
• UFO
• [[conspiracy books]]

Sources[link]

• The Truth About the Crash at Roswell, Kevin D. Randle & Donald R. Schmitt, Avon Books, 1994.
• Witness to Roswell: unmasking the 60-year cover-up, Thomas J. Carey & Donald R. Schmitt, New Page Books, 2007.
• Obituary
• The Evening Standard
• December 26, 2002 Affidavit
• Dead Airman's Affidavit: Roswell Aliens Were Real

Martha Griffiths
58th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
In office January 1, 1983 – December 31, 1991
Governor	James J. Blanchard
Preceded by	James H. Brickley
Succeeded by	Connie Binsfield
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 17th district
In office January 3, 1955 – December 31, 1974
Preceded by	Charles G. Oakman
Succeeded by	William M. Brodhead
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the xxth district
In office January 1, 1949 – December 31, 1953
Personal details
Born	January 29, 1912 Pierce City, Missouri
Died	April 22, 2003 Armada, Michigan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Hicks George Griffiths
Alma mater	University of Missouri

Martha Wright Griffiths (January 29, 1912 – April 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954. Griffiths was the first woman to serve on the powerful House Committee on Ways and Means and the first woman elected to the United States Congress from Michigan as a member of the Democratic Party. She was also the person most responsible for including the prohibition of sex discrimination under Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 1982, Griffiths was also the first female elected as Lieutenant Governor of Michigan. Matilda Dodge Wilson was appointed the first female Lieutenant Governor of Michigan in 1939.

Martha Edna Wright was born in Pierce City, Missouri. She attended public schools, and went on to graduate with a B.A. from the University of Missouri in 1934. She choose to continue her education by studying law and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1940. She married Hicks George Griffiths (b. 1910), a lawyer and a judge as well as chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party from 1949–1950.

She worked as a lawyer in private practice then in the legal department of the American Automobile Insurance Co. in Detroit from 1941–1942 and then as the Ordnance District contract negotiator from 1942-1946. She was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, serving from 1949 to 1953. In 1953, she was appointed as recorder and judge of the Recorder's Court in Detroit and sat as judge from 1953–1954—the first woman to do so.

In 1954, Griffiths was elected as a Democrat from Michigan's 17th congressional district to the 84th Congress and was subsequently re-elected to the nine following Congresses, serving from January 3, 1955 to December 31, 1974 in the U.S. House. She sat as a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1956 as well as in 1968. She was not a candidate for re-election to the 94th Congress in 1974. During her time in Congress, Griffiths sponsored the Equal Rights Amendment, one of only a few proposed amendments to pass in Congress and be sent to the states for ratification.

After her congressional service, Griffiths returned to the practice of law and then served as the 57th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991 on the ticket of Governor James Blanchard. She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the National Women's Hall of Fame a decade later in 1993. She retired to her home in Armada, Michigan, where she lived until her death in 2003.

References[link]

• Martha Griffiths at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard

Patsy Mink
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 2nd district
In office September 22, 1990 – September 28, 2002
Preceded by	Daniel Akaka
Succeeded by	Ed Case
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1977
Preceded by	New district
Succeeded by	Daniel Akaka
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's At Large district
In office January 3, 1965 – January 3, 1971
Preceded by	Thomas Gill
Succeeded by	District eliminated[1]
Personal details
Born	Patsy Matsu Takemoto (1927-12-06)December 6, 1927 Maui, Hawaii
Died	September 28, 2002(2002-09-28) (aged 74) Honolulu, Hawaii
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	John Mink
Children	Gwendolyn Mink
Religion	Protestant

Patsy Matsu Takemoto Mink (Japanese: 竹本まつ, December 6, 1927–September 28, 2002) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii. Mink was a third generation Japanese American and member of the Democratic Party. She also was the Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

Mink served in the U.S. House of Representatives for a total of 12 terms, representing Hawaii's first and second congressional districts. While in Congress she was noted for authoring the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act. Mink won her last election after her death in 2002.

Mink was the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman elected to Congress. She was also the first woman elected to Congress from the state of Hawaii, and became the first Asian American to seek the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party in the 1972 election, where she stood in the Oregon primary as an anti-war candidate.^[2]

In recognition of her contributions towards equal rights in the country, Congress named the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act the "Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act".

Family background[link]

Mink's parents were second-generation Japanese Americans or Nisei. She was a Sansei, or third-generation descendant of emigrants from Japan.^[3] Her father, Suematsu Takemoto, was a civil engineer. Her mother, Mitama Tateyama, was a homemaker.^[4][5] Takemoto graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1922. Takemoto was the first Japanese American to graduate from the University of Hawaii.^[6]

For several years, he was the only Japanese American civil engineer working in Maui.^[6] Takemoto was passed over and not promoted several times during his career; instead the positions offered to white Americans.^[6] He resigned his local position in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, and moved to Honolulu with his family. Takemoto established his own land surveying company in Honolulu.^[6]

Her maternal grandparents were Gojiro Tateyama and his wife Tsuru. Gojiro was born in the Empire of Japan during the 19th century. He arrived in the Territory of Hawaii late in the century, and was employed as a worker on a sugar plantation. He later moved to Maui, and was initially employed as a worker for the East Maui Irrigation Company. Subsequently, Gojiro was employed as a store manager and filling station employee. He also delivered mail throughout the backcountry of Maui.

The Tateyamas lived in a shack by Waikamoi Stream. They had eleven children. William Pogue, Gojiro's employer at the Irrigation Company, arranged to have the Tateyama female children educated at the Maunaolu Seminary, a boarding school for Christian girls located in the town of Makawao.^[6]

Early years and education[link]

Mink was born in Paia on the island of Maui. She was raised by her parents on Maui.

She attended Maui High School and in her Junior year, Mink won her first election to become student body president. Her election to the position came with great challenges. She developed approaches to confront these challenges, and she drew on these experiences when later serving in the territorial legislature and in Congress. For example, the month before the election, Honolulu was attacked by Japan. As a consequence, most of the student body was uncomfortable with anything that was Japanese-oriented. Therefore, in order to get elected, Mink had to overcome these hard feelings. Mink also had to cope with being the only female who had ever showed ambition for student office in the school's history, something that was unheard of at the time. Mink orchestrated a strategy of impressing the various cliques on campus, including the popular football team. Her coalition-building strategy worked and she won a close election. In 1944, Mink graduated from high school as class valedictorian.

Mink moved to Honolulu where she attended the University of Hawaii at Mānoa. She spent one semester (Sept. 1946-Jan. 1947) enrolled at Wilson College in Chambersburg, PA. She then transferred to the University of Nebraska where she once again faced discrimination. The university had a long-standing racial segregation policy whereby students of color were forced to live in different dormitories from the white students. This annoyed Mink, and she organized and created a coalition of students, parents, administrators, employees, alumni, sponsoring businesses and corporations. Mink and her coalition successfully lobbied to end the university's segregation policies.

After her successful war against segregation at the University of Nebraska, Mink moved back to Honolulu to prepare for medical school. She received bachelor's degrees in zoology and chemistry from the University of Hawaii. However in 1948, none of the twenty medical schools to which she applied would accept women. A disappointed Mink decided the best way to force medical schools to accept women would be through the judicial process. Mink decided to go to law school.

Mink applied to the University of Chicago Law School. Unusually, the school had admitted women from its inception in 1902, and Mink attended law school with several other women. Mink obtained her juris doctor degree in 1951.

Family and early career[link]

While at law school, Mink met hydrologist John Mink (1924–2005), who was to become her husband and lifelong partner.

Newly married, Mink settled in Honolulu, where she began practicing law. In 1952, Patsy gave birth to her daughter Gwendolyn, who later became a prominent author and educator on labor and women's issues.

In 1956 as the Territory of Hawaii debated statehood, Mink was elected to the Hawaii Territorial Legislature representing her district in the territorial House of Representatives. Mink then served in the territorial Senate. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the Union. in 1962-1964, Mink served in the Hawaii State Senate.

U.S. Representative[link]

Patsy Mink during her first career in Congress

Mink with Lyndon Johnson after his trip to Hawaii for a conference on the Vietnam War, February 1966.

In 1965, Mink became the first female minority to join the ranks of Congress. She served six consecutive terms. During the 1972 Presidential race, Mink ran in the Oregon primary as an anti-Vietnam War candidate.

Mink took what she learned in high school and built some of the most influential coalitions in Congress. Her most important coalition was one to support the Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act, which she wrote, prohibiting gender discrimination by federally funded institutions, an outgrowth of the adversities Mink faced through college.

Mink also introduced the first comprehensive Early Childhood Education Act and authored the Women's Educational Equity Act. All of these laws written by Mink were declared landmark laws by Congress as they advanced equal rights in America beyond what could be imagined during the time. Title IX Amendment of the Higher Education Act was renamed by President George W. Bush on 29 October 2002 to become the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act.

From 1975 to 1977, during the 94th Congress, Mink was elected to a position in the House Democratic leadership, as Secretary of the House Democratic Caucus.^[7]

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State[link]

In 1976, Mink gave up her seat in Congress to run for a vacancy in the United States Senate. After she lost the primary election for the Senate seat to Spark Matsunaga, President of the United States Jimmy Carter appointed Mink as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. She served under Cyrus Vance and Edmund Muskie.

Return to U.S. Representative[link]

After her service in the Carter Administration, Mink settled in Honolulu, where she was elected to the Honolulu City Council. Her peers on the council eventually elected her Chairwoman, and she often butted heads with the controversial Mayor of Honolulu Frank Fasi.

In 1990, Mink won back a seat in Congress, serving alongside Neil Abercrombie who represented the First Congressional District of Hawaii.

Death[link]

On August 30, 2002, Mink was hospitalized in Honolulu's Straub Clinic and Hospital with complications from chickenpox. Her condition steadily worsened, and on September 28, 2002, Mink died in Honolulu of viral pneumonia, at age 74. Hawaii and the nation mourned as President George W. Bush ordered all flags to be lowered to half staff in honor of her contributions towards the equal rights of Americans. Mink received a national memorial and was honored with a state funeral in the Hawaii State Capitol Rotunda attended by leaders and members of Congress. She is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. In 2007, Central Oahu Regional Park on Oahu was renamed "Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park" in her honor.

Mink's death occurred one week after the 2002 primary election, too late for her name to be removed from the general election ballot. On November 5, 2002, Mink was posthumously re-elected to Congress. Her vacant seat was filled by Ed Case after a special election on January 4, 2003.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Nomura, Gail M. (1998). "Japanese American Women," in The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History (Mankiller, Barbara Smith, ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 10-ISBN 0618001824/13-ISBN 9780618001828; OCLC 43338598

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Patsy Mink at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Her profile in "Distinguished Asian Americans"
• Her profile in "American Women Administrators"
• Her profile in "Called from Within"
• Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority, a documentary by Kimberlee Bassford
• All Politics Profile on CNN
• Honolulu Advertiser Special Edition, September 29, 2002
• Honolulu Advertiser Special Edition, October 5, 2002
• National Organization for Women Memorial of Patsy Mink
• National Women's History Project Biography of Patsy Mink

v t e Members of the United States House of Representatives from Hawaii One At-large seat (1959–1963) At-large seat Inouye Two At-large seats (1963–1971) At-large seat A Gill · Mink At-large seat B Matsunaga Districts (1971–present) 1st district Matsunaga · Heftel · Abercrombie · Saiki · Abercrombie · Djou · Hanabusa 2nd district Mink · Akaka · Mink · Case · Hirono