Norman Mineta

Norman Mineta

Norman Yoshio Mineta (born November 12, 1931 in San José , California ) is a former American politician .

Life

Career

Norman Mineta was born the son of Japanese immigrants and was initially not a US citizen. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Mineta family was taken to an internment camp near Cody , Wyoming , while interning Japanese Americans . It was here that Mineta met Alan K. Simpson , who later became the US Senator from Wyoming. Both were members of the Boy Scouts of America and have been friends since then. With the approval of the US authorities, Simpson was allowed to enter the camp with other scouts in order to establish contact with the Japanese-born scouts.

Mineta graduated from the University of California at Berkeley after the war , where he received his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1953 . He joined the US Army from 1953 to 1956 and served in military intelligence in Japan and Korea .

Political career

Mineta's political career began in 1967 when he was elected to the San Jose City Council. From 1968 to 1971 he was Deputy Mayor. In 1971 he successfully ran for the office of mayor of the city, thus winning over 60 percent of the vote and serving from 1971 to 1975.

In 1975 Mineta was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a member of his party, the Democrats . For 18 years he represented the 13th and from 1993 to 1995 the 15th constituency of California. From 1993 to 1995 he chaired the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure .

In July 2000, US President Bill Clinton appointed Mineta as Secretary of Commerce of the United States . He headed that department until January 2001. When George W. Bush moved into the White House , Mineta was sworn in as US Secretary of Transportation in January 2001 . Mineta was the only Democrat in the Bush Cabinet . Mineta's best-known orders include the order to force all aircraft to land over the airspace of the United States as a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 . At the end of September 2001, Mineta also presented a law that banned racial profiling at airports. In 2006 Mineta resigned from office to Republican Mary Peters at a personal request .

Private life

Norman Mineta is married to Danealia Mineta. He is the father of two biological sons and two step-sons.

Honors

In November 2001, was San Jose Airport in Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport was renamed in honor of the politician.

A research facility at San José State University also bears his name today . At the Mineta Transportation Institute will Intermodal traffic explored.

In November 2006, Mineta was honored by President Bush with the Presidential Medal of Freedom , followed by the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun in 2007 .

Others

In DC 9/11: Time of Crisis , a 2003 feature film, Mineta is played by actor George Takei .

Web links

Commons : Norman Mineta  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Norman Mineta in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Norman Mineta in the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)