Name	Norman Mineta
Order	14th
Title	United States Secretary of Transportation
Term start	January 25, 2001
Term end	July 7, 2006
President	George W. Bush
Predecessor	Rodney E. Slater
Successor	Mary Peters
Order2	33rd
Title2	United States Secretary of Commerce
Term start2	July 20, 2000
Term end2	January 20, 2001
President2	Bill Clinton
Predecessor2	William M. Daley
Successor2	Donald Evans
State3	California
District3	13th and 15th
Term start3	January 3, 1975
Term end3	October 10, 1995
Predecessor3	Robert J. Lagomarsino
Successor3	Thomas J. Campbell
Order4	59th
Title4	Mayor of San Jose, California
Term start4	1971
Term end4	1975
Predecessor4	Ron James
Successor4	Janet Gray Hayes
Title5	Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Term start5	1993
Term end5	1995
Predecessor5	Robert A. Roe
Successor5	Bud Shuster
Birth date	November 12, 1931
Birth place	San Jose, California
Spouse	Danealia Mineta
Children	David MinetaStuart MinetaRobert Brantner (stepson)Mark Brantner (stepson)
Party	Democratic
Alma mater	Haas School of Business (University of California-Berkeley)
Branch	United States Army
Unit	Intelligence

Norman Yoshio Mineta, (, Mineta Yoshio; born November 12, 1931) is a United States politician of the Democratic Party. Mineta most recently served in President George W. Bush's Cabinet as the United States Secretary of Transportation, the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration. On June 23, 2006, Mineta announced his resignation after more than five years as Secretary of Transportation, effective July 7, 2006, making him the longest-serving Transportation Secretary in the Department's history. On July 10, 2006, Hill & Knowlton, a public relations firm, announced that Mineta would join it as a partner. On August 10, 2010, it was announced that Mineta would join L&L; Energy, Inc as Vice Chairman.

Mineta also served as President Bill Clinton's Secretary of Commerce for the last six months of his term (July 2000–January 2001). Save for a span of five days between the end of Clinton's term and Bush's appointments, Mineta spent nearly six full years as a Cabinet member.

Biography

Early life, career, and family

Mineta was born in San Jose, California, to Japanese immigrant parents who were not allowed to become U.S. citizens at that time due to the Asian Exclusion Act. During World War II the Mineta family was interned for several years in the Heart Mountain internment camp near Cody, Wyoming, along with thousands of other Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans. Upon arrival to the camp, Mineta, a baseball fan, had his baseball bat confiscated by authorities because it could be used as a weapon. Many years later, after Mineta was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, a Los Angeles man sent Mineta a $1,500 bat that was once owned by Hank Aaron, which Mineta was forced to send back as it violated the House ban on accepting gifts valued over $250. Mineta was quoted as saying, "The damn government's taken my bat again."

While detained in the camp, Mineta, a Boy Scout, met fellow Scout Alan K. Simpson, future U.S. Senator from Wyoming, who often visited the Scouts in the internment camp with his troop. The two became, and have remained, close friends and political allies.

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley's School of Business Administration (since named in honor of Walter A. Haas, Sr.) in 1953 with a degree in Business Administration. Upon graduation, Mineta joined the US Army and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea. He then joined his father in the Mineta Insurance Agency.

Mineta is married to Danealia (Deni) Mineta. He has two sons, David and Stuart Mineta, and two stepsons, Robert and Mark Brantner.

Councilman and Mayor of San Jose

His political career began in 1967 when he was appointed to a vacant San Jose City Council seat by mayor Ron James. In 1969 he was elected to office for the first time, after completing the city council term he had been appointed to. He was elected vice mayor by fellow councilors during that term. In 1971 he ran against 14 other candidates to replace outgoing mayor Ron James. Mineta won every precinct in the election with over 60% of the total vote and became the 59th Mayor of San Jose, the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S. city. As mayor, Mineta ended the city's 20 year old policy of rapid growth by annexation, creating development-free areas in East and South San Jose. His vice mayor, Janet Gray Hayes, succeeded him as mayor in 1975.

United States Congress

From 1975 to 1995 he sat in the United States House of Representatives representing the Silicon Valley area. He co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as its first chair. Mineta served as chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee between 1992 and 1994. He chaired the committee's aviation subcommittee between 1981 and 1988, and chaired its Surface Transportation Subcommittee from 1989 to 1991.

During his career in Congress he was a key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. He pressed for more funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mineta, with his friend Republican Senate Whip Alan Simpson, was the driving force behind passage of H.R. 442, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized for and redressed the injustices endured by Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1995, George Washington University awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Medal to Mineta for his contributions to the field of civil rights.

Private sector

Mineta resigned his seat mid-term to accept a position with Lockheed Martin in 1995. The Democrats subsequently lost this district when Republican Tom Campbell defeated Democratic candidate Jerry Estruth in the special election held to fill the vacated seat. Mineta chaired the National Civil Aviation Review Commission, which in 1997 issued recommendations on reducing traffic congestion and reducing the aviation accident rate. Many of the commission's recommendations were adopted by the Clinton administration, including reform of the FAA to enable it to perform more like a business.

Secretary of Commerce

After serving as vice president of Lockheed Martin Corporation, he was appointed in 2000 by President Clinton as the United States Secretary of Commerce, making him the first Asian American to hold a post in the presidential cabinet.

Secretary of Transportation

He was appointed United States Secretary of Transportation by President George W. Bush in 2001, a post he was originally offered eight years previously by Bill Clinton. He was the only Democrat to have served in Bush's cabinet and the first Secretary of Transportation to have previously served in a cabinet position. He became the first Asian American to hold the position, and only the fourth person to be a member of Cabinet under two Presidents from different political parties (after Edwin M. Stanton, Henry L. Stimson, and James R. Schlesinger) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates would go on to be the fifth serving in that capacity under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama. In 2004, Mineta received the Tony Jannus Award for his distinguished contributions to commercial air transportation.

When he was re-elected, President Bush invited Mineta to continue in the position, and he did so until resigning in June 2006. When he stepped down on July 7, 2006, he was the longest serving Secretary of Transportation since the position's inception in 1967.

September 11

During the September 11, 2001 attacks, Mineta issued an order to ground all civilian aircraft traffic for the first time in U.S. history.

Mineta's testimony to the 9/11 Commission about his experience in the Presidential Emergency Operating Center with Vice President Cheney as American Airlines flight 77 approached the Pentagon was not included in the 9/11 Commission Report. In one colloquy testified by Mineta, the vice president refers to orders concerning the plane approaching the Pentagon:

}}

Commissioner Lee Hamilton queried if the order was to shoot down the plane, to which Mineta replied that he did not know that specifically.

Mineta's testimony to the Commission on Flight 77 differs rather significantly from the account provided in the January 22, 2002 edition of the Washington Post, as reported by Bob Woodward and Dan Balz in their series "10 Days in September"

This same article reports that the conversation between Cheney and the aide occurred at 9:55 am, about 30 minutes later than the time Mineta cited (9:26 am) during his testimony to the 9/11 Commission.

After hearing of Mineta's orders, Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette issued orders to ground all civilian aircraft traffic across Canada, resulting in Operation Yellow Ribbon. On September 21, 2001, Mineta sent a letter to all U.S. airlines forbidding them from practicing racial profiling; or subjecting Middle Eastern or Muslim passengers to a heightened degree of pre-flight scrutiny. He stated that it was illegal for the airlines to discriminate against passengers based on their race, color, national or ethnic origin or religion. Subsequently, administrative enforcement actions were brought against three different airlines based on alleged contraventions of these rules, resulting in multi-million dollar settlements.

The Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport in San Jose was named after him in November 2001 when Mineta was serving as Secretary of Transportation. The Mineta Transportation Institute, located at San Jose State University, and California State Highway 85 are named after him.

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow announced on June 23, 2006, that Mineta would resign effective July 7, 2006, because "he wanted to," with a spokesman for Mineta saying he was "moving on to pursue other challenges." He left office as the longest-serving Secretary of Transportation in history.

After leaving Bush administration

Hill & Knowlton announced on July 10, 2006, that Mineta would join the firm as vice chairman, effective July 24, 2006.

In 2007, the Japanese government conferred the Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun.

In December 2006, Mineta was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

On February 4, 2008, the day before the closely contested California Democratic Primary, Mineta endorsed Barack Obama.

Beginning in summer 2008, Mineta began service as Chairman of a Panel of the National Academy of Public Administration overseeing a study of modernization efforts at the United States Coast Guard. Other notable members of the Panel include former Office of Personnel Management Director Janice Lachance and former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.

He served as the keynote speaker at the UC Berkeley December Graduates Convocation on December 13, 2009.

August 10, 2010 was named as Vice Chairman of L&L; Energy (LLEN), which is headquartered in Seattle and operates coal mines and other facilities related to coal production in China.

On April 30, 2011, Mineta served as the commencement speaker at Grand Valley State University's afternoon ceremony.

Awards

L. Welch Pogue Award for Lifetime Achievement in Aviation, 1999.

See also

List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines

9/11 Commission Report

References

External links

{{U.S. Secretary box | before= William M. Daley | after= Donald Evans | years= July 20, 2000 – January 20, 2001 | president= Bill Clinton | department= Secretary of Commerce}} {{U.S. Secretary box | before= Rodney E. Slater | after= Mary Peters | years= January 25, 2001 – July 7, 2006 | president= George W. Bush | department= Secretary of Transportation}}

Category:1931 births Category:Living people Category:United States Secretaries of Commerce Category:United States Secretaries of Transportation Category:Clinton Administration cabinet members Category:George W. Bush Administration cabinet members Category:San Jose City Council members Category:Mayors of San Jose, California Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from California Category:United States Army officers Category:American military personnel of Japanese descent Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Category:Haas School of Business alumni Category:California Democrats Category:Japanese-American internees Category:American politicians of Japanese descent Category:Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Category:Members of the United States Congress of Asian descent

de:Norman Mineta fr:Norman Mineta hr:Norman Mineta it:Norman Mineta ja:ノーマン・ミネタ no:Norman Mineta pl:Norman Mineta sh:Norman Mineta fi:Norman Mineta sv:Norman Mineta zh:诺曼·峰田