S. I. Hayakawa

Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (July 18, 1906-February 27, 1992) was an American educator and US Senator (Republican, California, 1977-1982).

Hayakawa was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was educated at the public schools in Calgary, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba. He earned degrees from McGill University, the University of Wisconsin and the Armour Institute of Technology.

His 1938 book Language in Thought and Action has been widely read, and is now in its fifth edition. It has popularised general semantics.

Hayakawa served as president of San Francisco State College (now University). He founded the political lobbying organization U.S. English, which is dedicated to making the English language the official language of the United States.