Anela Kekepania

**Anela Kekepania** (May 16, 1942-October 4, 2019) was a Hawaiian politician, activist and soldier. He is most well known as the leader of the 1985 Hawaiian coup d'etat, after which he served as acting Prime Minister of Hawaii from March 19, 1985 until November 6, 1985. He then served as a member of the Reform Party in the Cabinet of the Kingdom of Hawaii until he retired in 2011.

## Early life

Anela Kekepania was born on May 16, 1942 to Kamakani Newalu and Kilohana Kalanianioli, in Honolulu, Hawaii. Hawaii was under Japanese occupation when the he was born, with the Hawaiian Empire having collapsed several months earlier. His father was detained and executed for attempting to escape Hawaii by rowboat in 1943, and Anela's remaining family was saved by American troops in mid 1944, when Hawaii was liberated. He excelled in school from a early age, ultimately graduating Harvard in 1960, after which he pursued a political career in the centre-left Reform Party of Hawaii, residing in Honolulu, meeting King Edward on multiple occasions.

## Political career, arrest

Anela pursued a extreme political career, repeatedly getting into trouble with the Honolulu Police Department for vandalizing posters with King Edward's face on it. He was arrested on May 19, 1981, however was bailed out by his cousin just hours later. He became a political activist against the absolute monarchy, wanting Edward's cousin, Lydia, to be brought to the throne, and was arrested again for plotting a coup against the Hawaiian government in 1983 to install Lydia to the throne.

His mother died in 1984, and after intense protests, he was released from prison in October 1984. He was now the leading figure of the resistance wing of the Reform Party, he lead a coup d'etat on March 18, 1985, installing Lydia to the throne, making himself acting Prime Minister and adding some young members of the movement, such as future prime minister Barack Obama, into the Cabinet of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

### As prime minister (March-November 1985)

He quickly ordered a arrest warrant on King Edward just hours after becoming prime minister, and enacted martial law. Many later stated that it appeared as if Hawaii was going to be worse off than before the coup, and in order to prevent him from becoming a total dictator and potentially aligning himself with the Soviet Union, American troops invaded and occupied the country on March 20. Despite this, they allowed his current regime to stand, on the terms that it didn't become dictatorial or align itself with the USSR.

The planned elections for January 1986 were "temporarily postponed" in October 1985, and when Anela attempted to pass a bill ordering American troops to withdraw from the country and officially aligning it with the Warsaw Pact, American troops entered the Royal Palace and arrested Queen Lydia and Anela Kekepania. They later released Queen Lydia and allowed her to remain monarch, but forced Anela to resign early on November 6, replacing him with rising star in the party Barack Obama, who was only 25 at the time. Obama would win the 1986 Hawaiian elections and would serve as prime minister until 2005 when he resigned.

## Later life and death

In 2004, Anela wrote a autobiography, titled "*From Prison to the Royal Palace: Anela Kekepania*", Anela became a member of the cabinet in 1991 after a election, and would serve as a member of the cabinet until 2011, when he retired. Anela was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2011, forcing him to retire, although chemotherapy managed to cure him of it in early 2013. However, the cancer lapsed and he was diagnosed with terminal aggressive lung cancer in September 2019, only being able to fight it with medication. He was hospitalized on October 14, and passed away early on October 16, he was 77.