Bingham, Hiram

Bingham, Hiram

(1789–1869) missionary; born in Bennington, Vt. He was a missionary to the people of the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) from 1819–40. He learned the Hawaiian language, devised a 12-letter alphabet and, with others, translated the Bible into Hawaiian.

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Bingham, Hiram

(1875–1956) explorer, U.S. senator; born in Honolulu, Hawaii (son of an American missionary). Having taken a Ph.D. in South American history, he concentrated on exploring Latin and South America through the early 1920s while teaching at Yale (1907–24). He is noted for discovering the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu (1911) and for writing the first book on Bolivar's march across the northern coast of South America (1909). Earning his pilots wings (1917), he was chief of the Air Personnel Division of the Air Service in Washington during World War I, serving in the same position for the Allied Expeditionary Forces in France. As a senator from Connecticut (Rep., 1924–32) he served on the President's Aircraft Board (1925) and drafted the Air Commerce Act (1926), the first attempt at federal regulation of civil aviation. He later became a director of banks and corporations and president of the National Aeronautic Association (1928–34). Becoming ever more conservative over the years, he headed the Loyalty Review Board of the Civil Service Commission (1951–53) and forced the dismissal of many government employees.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.