His mother wanted her son to be an American citizen whether he was one or not. Getting a Certificate of Live Birth, even back then, could be considered “proof” that her son was a citizen, no matter where he was born. It fools people in 2009. It would have fooled people in 1961....
My foreign friends could get Hawaii driver's licenses or better still, "Hawaii state ID cards" without being citizens. All they had to do was to go to the State offices on King Street in Honolulu and request one.
That was several years ago, and I don't know if the rules have changed. The good thing about having a "Hawaii State ID card" was that you could take it to the Mainland, tell people you were from Hawaii, and they wouldn't question your citizenship status. (After all, you had an official card from the State of Hawaii.)
I wonder if a Hawaiian "Certificate of Live Birth" can be obtained and used in the same way.