Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 28, 1992 TAG: 9202280144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO LENGTH: Medium
S.I. HAYAKAWA, CALIF. EX-SENATOR, EDUCATOR, DIES
Former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, the ever-surprising general semantics professor who leaped into public life when he scrambled atop a sound truck to face down anti-war protesters in 1968, died Thursday. He was 85.A former president of San Francisco State University who served one term in the U.S. Senate, Hayakawa's turbulent career never really lived up to its thrilling start, but he was remembered as a fierce individualist and mettlesome contender.
"He was invaluable during some very difficult times - a courageous man of integrity and principle," former President Reagan said.
Hayakawa had been suffering from bronchitis but the cause of death was unknown, said Andrea Kloh, spokeswoman for Marin General Hospital where Hayakawa died. He had been hospitalized since Tuesday.
Famous for his trademark tam-o'-shanter, as well as for the less dashing Senate nickname "Sleepy Sam," Hayakawa was remembered warmly by friends and adversaries.
Gov. Pete Wilson described Hayakawa as "a great California iconoclast."
"I was saddened to learn of the passing of my predecessor in the U.S. Senate. Certain images from S.I. Hayakawa's remarkable life will be burned into our memories forever," Wilson said.
Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, July 18, 1906, Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa came to the United States in 1927. As an academic, he was renowned in general semantics circles, but didn't burst onto the public scene until a chilly December day in 1968, his first day as acting president of what was then called San Francisco State College.
Fed up with student strikers, Hayakawa clambered onto a sound truck the war protesters brought on campus against his orders and yanked the wires from two speakers, temporarily silencing them.
Although many people criticized the act as heavy-handed, he became a national celebrity among critics of student protests against the Vietnam War.
The sound-truck episode gave Hayakawa a following among conservatives and he switched from Democrat to Republican, leaving the school to run for the U.S. Senate. A court ruling stopped his bid in 1974 - he hadn't been a Republican the required 12 months - but in 1976 he was successful, defeating incumbent Democrat John Tunney.
After that, Hayakawa's political fortunes waned.
A month before taking office it was reported he slept through Senate orientation sessions. He was dubbed "Sleepy Sam" in his first month after reports that he also slept through most of a briefing by President Carter. Four years later, it was revealed he napped through part of an informal meeting with President Reagan on Air Force One.
Hayakawa also made what he later admitted were ill-advised remarks.
Although of Japanese ancestry, Hayakawa said it was "perfectly understandable" that Japanese-Americans were sent to relocation camps during World War II.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.