Peter Tali Coleman

Peter Tali Coleman (December 8, 1919 – April 28, 1997) was the first person of Samoan descent to be appointed Governor of American Samoa, and later became the territory's first popularly elected Governor.[1] A member of the Republican Party, he is the only U.S. governor whose service spanned five decades (1956–1961, 1978–1985 and 1989–1993) and one of the longest-serving governors of any jurisdiction in American history.[2][3] In 1955, Coleman became the first of Samoan ancestry to serve as Attorney General of American Samoa.[4]

Peter Coleman
43rd, 51st, and 53rd Governor of American Samoa
In office January 2, 1989 – January 3, 1993
Lieutenant	Galea'i Poumele Gaioi Galeai
Preceded by	A. P. Lutali
Succeeded by	A. P. Lutali
In office January 3, 1978 – January 3, 1985
Lieutenant	Tufele Liamatua
Preceded by	Rex Lee
Succeeded by	A. P. Lutali
In office October 15, 1956 – May 24, 1961
Preceded by	Richard Lowe
Succeeded by	Rex Lee
High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Acting
In office July 1, 1976 – July 9, 1977
Preceded by	Edward E. Johnston
Succeeded by	Adrian P. Winkel
Chairman of the Republican Party of American Samoa
In office 1985–1988
Preceded by	none, position established by Coleman
Attorney General of American Samoa
In office 1955–1956
Succeeded by	Owen Aspinall
Personal details
Born	(1919-12-08)December 8, 1919 Pago Pago, American Samoa, U.S.
Died	April 28, 1997(1997-04-28) (aged 77) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Nora Stewart ​ ( m. 1941; his death 1997)
Children	13, including Amata
Education	Georgetown University (BA, LLB)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	World War II

He was the founding chairman of the territory's Republican Party, serving from 1985 to 1988.[5] He is the only person in American Samoa history to have served as both appointed and elected Governor.[6] During his first administration in the 1960s, Coleman chaired the convention which drafted the Constitution of American Samoa and his administration laid the foundation for the American Samoa Fono legislature. His administration also produced the official seal and flag of American Samoa.[7][8][9]

Coleman’s career spanned over the entire last half of the 20th century. He was a recipient of the 1997 American Samoan Governor’s Humanitarian Award and gained the chiefly title Uifa’atali from his home village of Pago Pago.[10] During his first term in office, a constitution, containing the bill of rights and providing protection for Samoans against alienation of their lands and loss of their culture, was approved in 1960, and an American Samoa flag was adopted.[11]

In 1951, he was the first of Samoan ancestry to receive a law degree from an American university[12] or from any university.[13] The Peter Tali Coleman Lecture on Pacific Public Policy has been a part of the Pacific Islands Project at Georgetown University, where Coleman received his degree.[14][15] In 1978, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Chaminade University of Honolulu and in 1970 from the University of Guam.[16]

Background

Early life and career

Born and raised in Pago Pago, American Samoa, Coleman attended the faifeau and Marist schools, before graduating from Saint Louis School in Honolulu, Hawaii. His parents were Navyman Patrick Dyke Coleman from Washington, DC, and Amata Auma from the Uifaatali family. His family title, Uifaatali, was bestowed on him in 1977. Coleman later joined the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of captain during World War II. He returned to the Samoan Islands in the early 1950s and practiced law in Pago Pago and in Apia. He received his law degree from Georgetown University, and served in American Samoa both as a public defender and as the territory's attorney general.[17]

Coleman was appointed governor of American Samoa in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower. At the conclusion of his term, he served a variety of positions in the Pacific Islands, including district administrator for the Marshall Islands, district administrator for the Marianas Islands, and deputy high commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, where he also served as acting high commissioner for one year.

When the Republican Party lost the White House in 1960, Coleman was assigned as deputy high commissioner of the U.S. Trust Territories. He served 17 years in that post, returning in 1977 to run in the first gubernatorial election. Coleman was the first Samoan to become Governor in 1956 and the only one who served by appointment. In 1977, he also became the first elected Governor in American Samoa. He was reelected in 1980, lost the 1984 election, and was reelected once again in 1988.[18]

Coleman became the first popularly elected Samoan after defeating Democrat A. P. Lutali with 60% of the votes in a special runoff election held on November 23, 1977. The election was described by the New York Times as “a major step toward self-determination by island’s residents.” After having turned down the proposal to elect their own Governor in three plebiscites, American Samoans in 1977 had also overwhelmingly approved the measure in which allowed them to elect that official.[19]

Death and legacy

Coleman died in 1997 in Honolulu after a two-year struggle with liver cancer.[20]

In 2014, his daughter Aumua Amata Radewagen, was elected Delegate to represent American Samoa in the United States House of Representatives. She is the first woman to represent American Samoa in Congress.[21][22] Peter T. Coleman and Nora Stewart of Honolulu were married in 1941. They had thirteen children, twenty-three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.[23]

Coleman’s legacy includes the effort to incorporate American Samoa in the Social Security system and the recognition and promotion of tourism as an economic development strategy. He began to rebuild and expand the Tafuna Airstrip to take jet planes. The policy for local autonomy moved further during his years as Governor.[24]

At the conclusion of Coleman’s three-year term, Coleman cited some of the achievements that made him proud. These included changes to the judiciary system with the addition of the district and village courts, the start of the Teacher Corps program, the addition of renal dialysis at LBJ Hospital, and the completion of the Aua-Top Mle and Aoa-Amouli roads.[25]

Coleman was responsible for the territory's membership in the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Regional Western Governors Association.[26]

Political resume

Coleman's political career included:[27][28]

• 1940-45: U.S. Army infantry servicing in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Hawai'i[29]
• 1946-47: Staff Secretary for Senator George H. Bender[30][31]
• 1951: Received a law degree from Georgetown University, where he was a John Hay Whitney Foundation fellow
• 1951-52: Pacific area analyst at the Interior Department in Washington, DC
• 1955-56: Attorney General of American Samoa
• 1956: Appointed governor of American Samoa, after serving as public defender (1952-55)
• 1961: Appointed district administrator of the Marshall Islands
• 1965: Named district administrator of the Mariana Islands
• 1969: Named deputy high commissioner of the U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
• 1977: Became first elected Governor of American Samoa
• 1980: Elected to a second term as Governor
• 1980: Co-founded the Pacific Basin Development Council
• 1982: Inducted into the U.S. Army Officers' Candidate School Hall of Fame in Fort Benning, GA[32]
• 1985: Honorary Consul for the Republic of Nauru
• 1985-88: Co-founding chairman of the Republican Party of American Samoa
• 1988: Member of the U.S. delegation to the centenary observance of the U.S.-Tonga Treaty of Friendship
• 1988: Served as a counsel to the Pacific Advisory Committee of George Bush's Fund for America's Future
• 1989: Elected to a third term as Governor
• 1992: Chairman of American Samoa's Bush-Quayle 1992 committee
• 1992: Honorary national chair of Asian Americans for Bush-Quayle '92
• 1992-93: Chairman of the Offshore Governor's Forum[33]

References

1. Craig, Robert D. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Polynesia. Scarecrow Press. Page 51. ISBN 9781461659389.
2. https://radewagen.house.gov/about/full-biography
3. Gay, Roxane (2019). The Women of the 116th Congress: Portraits of Power. The New York Times. Page 28. Abrams. ISBN 9781683357810.
4. http://www.pireport.org/articles/2002/09/23/samoa-deputy-pm-misa-explores-solutions-government-corruption
5. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/01/us/peter-coleman-77-governor-of-american-samoa.html
6. Shaffer, Robert J. (2000). American Samoa: 100 Years Under the United States Flag. Island Heritage. Pages 197 and 199. ISBN 9780896103399.
7. http://www.pireport.org/articles/2002/09/23/samoa-deputy-pm-misa-explores-solutions-government-corruption
8. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1
9. https://radewagen.house.gov/about/our-district
10. Craig, Robert D. (2002). Historical Dictionary of Polynesia. Scarecrow Press. Page 43. ISBN 9780810842373.
11. Lal, Brij V. and Kate Fortune (2000). The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1. University of Hawaii Press. Page 560. ISBN 9780824822651.
12. http://www.pireport.org/articles/2002/09/23/samoa-deputy-pm-misa-explores-solutions-government-corruption
13. https://www.congress.gov/crec/1998/04/01/CREC-1998-04-01-pt1-PgE545.pdf
14. http://www.pireport.org/articles/2000/05/12/georgetown-pacific-project-formally-established
15. http://www.samoanews.com/regional/guams-underwood-peter-tali-coleman-lecture-pacific-public-policy
16. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1
17. Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009). A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Page 262. ISBN 9781573062992.
18. Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009). A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Page 262. ISBN 9781573062992.
19. “GOVERNOR IS ELECTED IN AMERICAN SAMOA: Peter Coleman Is the First to Be Picked by Ballot - Leaders Were Named By U.S. for 77 Years.” New York Times (Nov. 24, 1977). Page 38.
20. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/01/us/peter-coleman-77-governor-of-american-samoa.html
21. Gay, Roxane (2019). The Women of the 116th Congress: Portraits of Power. The New York Times. Page 28. Abrams. ISBN 9781683357810.
22. Fili Sagapolutele (November 5, 2014). "1st woman elected as American Samoa delegate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved November 9, 2014.
23. Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009). A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Page 262. ISBN 9781573062992.
24. Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009). A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Pages 261 and 263. ISBN 9781573062992.
25. Sunia, Fofo I.F. (2009). A History of American Samoa. Amerika Samoa Humanities Council. Page 303. ISBN 9781573062992.
26. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1
27. Adamski, M. (1997, Apr 29). 'Man of the pacific' led American Samoa: Peter Coleman, 77, dies here after a two-year battle with cancer. Honolulu Star.
28. PETER TALI COLEMAN FIRST ELECTED GOVERNOR OF AMERICAN SAMOA: SOONER EDITION]. (1997, May 02). Pittsburgh Post.
29. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1
30. https://www.congress.gov/crec/1998/04/01/CREC-1998-04-01-pt1-PgE545.pdf
31. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-1998-04-01/pdf/CREC-1998-04-01-pt1-PgE545-2.pdf
32. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1
33. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/1997/5/22/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1029-1

External links

• Obituary in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin
• New York Times: Peter Coleman, 77, Governor of American Samoa
• Honolulu Advertiser: Nora Stewart Coleman, 85, former first lady of American Samoa

Political offices
Preceded by Richard Lowe	Governor of American Samoa 1956–1961	Succeeded by Rex Lee
Preceded by Edward E. Johnston	High Commissioner of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands Acting 1976–1977	Succeeded by Adrian P. Winkel
Preceded by Rex Lee	Governor of American Samoa 1978–1985	Succeeded by A. P. Lutali
Preceded by A. P. Lutali	Governor of American Samoa 1989–1993
Party political offices
First	Republican nominee for Governor of American Samoa 1977, 1980	Succeeded by Tufele Liamatua
Preceded by Tufele Liamatua	Republican nominee for Governor of American Samoa 1988, 1992	Succeeded by Peter Reid