president pro tempore

またまた訃報です。日系人初の連邦議員として日米関係に貢献したダニエル・イノウエ氏が呼吸器合併症のため入院先の東部メリーランド州の病院で亡くなりました。享年88歳でした。
president pro temporeは「上院議長代行」という職名です。pro tempore、もしくはpro tempはラテン語のfor the timeという意味で、「 一時的に/な、 臨時に/な」という意味を表します。

彼の自伝である『上院議員ダニエル・イノウエ自伝―ワシントンへの道』（渓流社）を読んだのは学部時代に日系人の調査をしているときだったと思います。まさに民主党の重鎮（the influential Democrat）でした。合掌。（UG）

Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii dead at 88

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, 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 Monday. He was 88.

Inouye, a senator since January 1963, was currently the longest serving senator and was president pro tempore of the Senate, third in the line presidential succession. His office said Monday that he died of respiratory complications at a Washington-area hospital.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Inouye's death on the Senate floor.

Inouye was a World War II hero and Medal of Honor winner who lost an arm to a German hand grenade during a battle in Italy. He became the first Japanese-American to serve in Congress, when he was elected to the House in 1959, the year Hawaii became a state. He won election to the Senate three years later and served there longer than anyone in American history except Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who died in 2010 after 51 years in the Senate.

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121218p2g00m0in001000c.html