April 3 was an historic date for the U.S. House of Representatives as well as for the people of American Samoa.
Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega gavelled in the House of Representatives in the Committee of the Whole House. It was the first time a person of Samoan ancestry has presided over U.S. House of Representatives.
Faleomavaega is the non-voting Delegate to the United States House of Representatives from American Samoa.
He was born August 15, 1943, in Vailoatai Village, and attended Brigham Young University, the University of Houston Law School and the University of California, Berkeley. He served in the United States Army from 1966 to 1969, and as an officer in the United States Army Reserve from 1982 to 1989. He and his wife are active members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Faleomavaega served as the administrative assistant to the American Samoa Delegate (1973–1975), as staff counsel for the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (1975–1981), and as Deputy Attorney General for the territory of American Samoa (1981–1984). He was also the Lieutenant Governor of American Samoa from 1985 to 1989. Faleomavaega was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives, serving from January 3, 1989 to the present.
Faleomavaega appeared on the Colbert Report's "Better Know a Protectorate" segment on August 9, 2007.
