ON Jan. 9, 1978, the newly born CNMI government held its inaugural ceremonies whose highlight was the swearing in of the first Commonwealth governor and lt. governor — Carlos S. Camacho and Francisco C. Ada. Temporary federal district court Judge Russell E. Smith administered the oath of office.
In his inaugural address Monday, Jan. 9, 2023, the CNMI’s 10th governor, Arnold I. Palacios, noted that he was standing “on this very ground” where history was made 45 years ago. As MV’s reporter noted back then, “An event of this magnitude and originality is truly unprecedented in these islands.”
Among the guests were representatives from “many Pacific island nations,” Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Guam, Taiwan (“Republic of China”), and Washington, D.C. President Jimmy Carter was represented by his 25-year-old son Jeff who delivered a personal message from his dad.
According to MV, “An unspecified number, possibly as many as ten secret service agents presided over the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Carter…as they touched down at Saipan International Airport on Sunday evening.” With them “were the official representatives of the President, Under Secretary of [the] Interior James A. Joseph, [Director of the Office of Territorial Affairs] Ruth Van Cleve, Al Stern of the White House Domestic Affairs staff, and other Washington notables.”
On Inauguration Day, after the “dark-suited and solemn” governor and lt. governor of the new Commonwealth took their oaths, MV reported that a “2,000-strong crowd, which had slowly crept closer to the latte-modified podium broke into applause — a crowd interspersed with the brilliant white uniforms of perhaps as many as 30 U.S. Navy officers, strongly denoting the history of the U.S. military presence in the Micronesia as a whole since the end of WWII.”
In his inaugural address, Governor Camacho stated that this “is the inauguration of a new way of life for every man, woman and child in this new Commonwealth…. It is the inauguration of an era of high expectations and hopes.” He called on “everyone in the new government to direct their energies into a crusade that will place the Northern Mariana Islands high among the governments of the entire Western Pacific.” He likewise “reaffirmed the philosophies of his own campaign platform pertaining to the deficiencies in government and pledged himself to the betterment of the standard of living under his new administration.”
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, there are only two things certain to be mentioned, one way or another, by newly elected politicians: Change! Hope!
In the same issue, MV interviewed the NMI’s first and last resident commissioner, Erwin D. Canham. An appointee of President Gerald Ford, Canham was originally from Maine and a former editor of the Christian Science Monitor. He was, according to MV, “a 73-year-old former Rhodes scholar of unlimited experience in the ways of the world and government.”
“The people here are extraordinary adept at the political arts,” Canham told MV. “There is wheeling and dealing, but there is experience to be gained. There will no longer be a U.S. mainland ‘haole’ presence leaning over their shoulders. There will be selfishness and corruption, but here there is a chance that excesses can be controlled.”
As for the federal programs that would be extended to the brand new U.S. Commonwealth, Canham said: “[T]he federal bag of goodies is very appealing and many of these elements are badly needed and extremely desirable especially in the field of healthcare. And yet, the fact remains that this is a community of some 14,000 people which will be called upon to create a government superstructure merely to administer and meet the requirements of these programs which are appallingly complicated.”
Canham added, “Is there any way of curbing the elements of a welfare state which are undesirable in this community? … I think the government has got to say ‘no’ as well as ‘yes’ to the Santa Clauses who come from the federal government with their bags of presents. The trouble is that much of it is desirable and it is hard to make a case against a nutritional program in school and yet the impact of that on the family structure and responsibility is certainly very great.”
In 1981, the CNMI electorate voted for “hope!” and “change!” once again. In his inaugural address in Jan. 1982, 41 years ago, the new governor, Pedro “Teno” Pangelinan Tenorio, said: “We cannot rely forever on the assistance from the federal government. Such an attitude of dependence can only result in the loss of our own self-respect.”
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