Hyrum Rex Lee was an American government employee and diplomat who was the last unelected governor of American Samoa. Lee served as governor from 1961 to 1967, and again briefly from 1977 to 1978. Governor Lee's administration from 1961 to 1967 saw the establishment of schools, a new airport, roads, Rainmaker Hotel, an educational television system, new harbor facilities, and a fisheries cannery. Tourism boomed and there was an increasing acceptance of Western institutions, lifestyles, and ideas. Many residents relocated to California and Hawai'i or joined the U.S. Armed Forces.

American Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Centered on 14.3°S 170.7°W, it is east of the International Date Line and the Wallis and Futuna Islands, west of the Cook Islands, north of Tonga, and some 500 kilometers (310 mi) south of Tokelau. American Samoa is the southernmost territory of the United States and one of two U.S. territories south of the Equator, along with the uninhabited Jarvis Island.