Daniel Inouye: Daniel Inouye

Inouye Dept: WASHINGTON - Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, the influential Democrat who was one of the first Asian-Americans in Congress and played key roles in congressional investigations of the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals, died Monday. He was 88, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Less than an hour after Inouye's passing, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Inouye's death to a stunned chamber. "Our friend Daniel Inouye has died," Reid said somberly. Shocked members of the Senate stood in the aisles or slumped in their chairs and fILE - In this Feb. 11, 2009 file photo, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, center, joins other lawmakers in announcing agreement on the $789 billion economic stimulus measure designed to create millions of jobs and help take the nation out of recession, at the Capitol in Washington, as from left to right stand: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., Inouye, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. Inouye, the influential Democrat who broke racial barriers on Capitol Hill and played key roles in congressional investigations of the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals, died of respiratory complications, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, according to his office. He was 88. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File Inouye, a senator since January 1963, was the longest serving senator and was president pro tempore of the Senate, third in the line of presidential succession. His office said Monday that he died of respiratory complications at a Washington-area hospital. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.