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. 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. In 1955, Coleman became the first of Samoan ancestry to serve as Attorney General of American Samoa.
He was the founding chairman of the territory's Republican Party, serving from 1985 to 1988. He is the only person in American Samoa history to have served as both appointed and elected Governor. 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.
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. 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.
In 1951, he was the first of Samoan ancestry to receive a law degree from an American university or from any university. 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. In 1978, he received an Honorary Doctorate from Chaminade University of Honolulu and in 1970 from the University of Guam.
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.
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.
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.
Death and legacy.
Coleman died in 1997 in Honolulu after a two-year struggle with liver cancer.
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. Peter T. Coleman and Nora Stewart of Honolulu were married in 1941. They had thirteen children, twenty-three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
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.
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.
Coleman was responsible for the territory's membership in the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Regional Western Governors Association.
Political resume.
Coleman's political career included: