Long was born in
Altoona, Kansas and attended
Johnson Bible College in
Knoxville, Tennessee, the
University of Michigan, and
Columbia University in
New York City. He first came to Hawaii in 1917 as a
social worker in
Hilo. He then held various educational positions in the
public school system, eventually serving as a superintendent from 1933 to 1946. He was appointed Governor of the
Territory of Hawaii by
President of the United States Harry Truman in 1951 and served until 1953. Long served in the Hawaii Territorial Senate from 1956–1959. On July 28, 1959 he was elected to one of the two Senate seats from the newly formed State of
Hawaii, and took office on August 21, 1959. The other Senator elected was Republican
Hiram Fong. Long chose not to run for a full six-year term in 1962, and was succeeded by fellow Democrat and then-Rep.
Daniel Inouye, in January 1963. For his entire tenure Long was Hawaii's senior Senator; although he took office the same day as Fong, Long had a
seniority edge due to being a former Governor. Long appeared as a contestant on ''
What's My Line?'' shortly after taking office. One of the panelists,
Bennett Cerf, recognized him immediately and disqualified himself from the round. After three rounds of questioning, the rest of the panel successfully guessed him to be a senator from Hawaii. He died in 1965 after suffering an attack of asthmatic bronchitis in
Honolulu,
Hawaii and was buried in
Oahu Cemetery. Long's papers are stored at the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in their Catalog for Archival Materials. ==References==