Senator Akaka's politics and political style have been fashioned and influenced by a lifetime of experiences as a child growing up in Territorial Hawaii, as a soldier in World War II, as an educator in Hawaii's schools, as a public employee of the State of Hawaii, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and finally as the nation's only U.S. Senator of Chinese and Native Hawaiian descent.

Danny Akaka was born in 1924, the last of eight children. His grandfather emigrated from China in the late 1880s and married a Native Hawaiian. His father worked as a molder for the old Honolulu Iron Works Company while his mother cared for four sons and four daughters. The Akaka children grew up in a poor but close-knit family. They all lived in a tiny, two-bedroom house in Pauoa Valley. "We didn't have much," recalls Akaka, "but we were raised in a very spiritual manner with a great love of family, which our parents passed on to us. Looking back, I'm amazed at how they were able to give us so much of the things that really mattered when they had so little."

Like many of his generation, Senator Akaka's youth was interrupted by World War II. Upon graduation from Kamehameha Schools in 1942 he served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a civilian worker, then as an active-duty soldier from 1943 to 1947 and was stationed in Saipan and Tinian. Following the war, Senator Akaka graduated from the University of Hawaii on the G.I. Bill. A strong believer in the power of education, he became a teacher and principal. He was selected as Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, which brought him in close touch with statewide needs.

He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1976, and appointed to the Senate to replace his close friend and colleague, the late Spark Matsunaga in 1990. Senator Akaka is now a Ranking Member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, the Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness and Management, the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks Historic Preservation and Recreation, and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia. He also serves on the Indian Affairs Committee and chairs the Congressional Task Force on Native Hawaiian Issues.

Senator Akaka and his wife Millie are the parents of four sons and a daughter who have blessed them with 14 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Senator Akaka is a member of historic Kawaiahao Church, where he served as a choir director for 17 years.