John D. Waiheʻe III
American politician
John David Waiheʻe III (born May 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the fourth governor of Hawaii from 1986 to 1994. He was the first American of Native Hawaiian descent to be elected to the office from any state of the United States. After his tenure in the governor's office, Waiheʻe became a nationally prominent attorney and lobbyist.
Personal life and education
Waiheʻe was born in Honokaʻa on the Island of Hawaii. Upon graduating from Hawaiian Mission Academy, Waiheʻe attended classes at Andrews University in Michigan. There he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degrees in both business and history. He moved to Honolulu to attend the newly established William S. Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree in 1976. Waiheʻe is an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He married Lynne Kobashigawa and one of his sons, John Waiheʻe IV, is a statewide elected official on the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees (first elected in 2000).
The public source identifies “John D. Waiheʻe III” as american politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Waiheʻe and American.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q880678. VIAF identifies the subject as 69014753. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1946, 1986, 1994 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “John D. Waiheʻe III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.