and in 1968 to Aylmer's youngest brother Lester. Upon Lester's wife Helen's death, the island passed to his sons Bruce Robinson and Keith Robinson, the current co-owners. (See Sinclair-Robinson family tree) Niihau played a small role during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In what has come to be called the Niihau Incident (or the Battle of Niihau), a Japanese pilot whose Zero had been hit crash-landed on the island hoping to rendezvous with a rescue submarine. The pilot was apprehended and later escaped with the assistance of local Japanese residents, but he was killed shortly afterwards. Despite its self-imposed isolation, Niihau has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. military dating from 1924. There is a small Navy installation on the island. No military personnel are permanently stationed there, but the U.S. military has used the island for training special operations units, which included hiring Hawaiians who live on Niihau as "enemy" trackers. Society Politics The island of Niihau was considered as a possible location for the United Nations headquarters in 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had visited Hawaii in 1934. Under Cordell Hull, Roosevelt's Secretary of State, the State Department seriously studied the proposal. In 2004 President George W. Bush received all but one of the 40 votes cast on the island. The remaining vote was cast for Green Party nominee David Cobb. Fifty-one registered voters did not cast ballots. In 2006 Dan Akaka received 60% of votes in the 2006 Senate election to Cynthia Thielen's 36%. In 2008, Niihau's precinct was one of only 3 of Hawaii's 538 precincts to vote for John McCain over Barack Obama. McCain received 35 votes, Obama received 4, and Cynthia McKinney received 1. In the 2016 presidential election, 34 votes were cast for president, of which 20 were for Donald Trump and 10 for Hillary Clinton. In 2020, Donald Trump won 43 out of the 43 ballots cast in Niihau against Joe Biden. Population The 2010 census states that there were 170 people living on the island. However, witness accounts estimate that the population actually ranges between 35 and 50 people. Some support themselves largely by subsistence fishing and farming, while others depend on welfare. All residents live rent-free, and meat is free. Niihau has no telephone services and no paved roads. Horses are the main form of transportation; bicycles are also used. There are no power lines;