Henry Alexander Baldwin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Alexander Baldwin (January 12, 1871 – October 8, 1946) was a Hawaiʻi banker, industrialist and Congressional Delegate to the United States House of Representatives representing the Territory of Hawaiʻi. He was one of the earliest leaders of the Hawaiʻi Republican Party.

[edit] Education

Born in the Maui township of Paliuli in the Kingdom of Hawaii, Baldwin was educated in Honolulu at Punahou School. His parents sent him to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts from which he graduated in 1889. In 1894, Baldwin obtained a degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and returned to Honolulu to become a sugarcane plantation owner. Sugarcane production propped by increasing trade with the United States made Baldwin a wealthy man.

[edit] Politics

Baldwin entered local politics in 1931 when he began his service in the Hawaiʻi Territorial Senate. He was senator until 1921 when he was called to higher office to fulfill the unexpired term of Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole in Washington, DC. Kalanianaʻole had died and Baldwin was elected to fill the vacancy for Congressional Delegate from March 25, 1922 to March 3, 1923. Despite pleas to continue service, he retired from politics and returned to his private business ventures. Baldwin emerged from retirement to serve in the Hawaiʻi Territorial House of Representatives in 1933. Following a single term, Baldwin returned to the upper chamber where he became senate president in 1937. He died at Paia, Maui County, Hawaii on October 8, 1946 and was buried in Makawao Cemetery, Makawao, Hawaii.