Top of page

Remembering Norman Mineta

Share this post:

This is a guest post by Informal Learning Office’s virtual intern, Eori Tokunaga. 

Norman Yoshino Mineta (Democrat), 13th District, California, member of the United States House of Representatives. 1974, Congressional Portrait Collection

Norman Yoshio Mineta, who passed away earlier this month, had a long and influential history in American politics and was a proponent of restitution for Japanese American families who were incarcerated during World War II. We are celebrating his contributions to this country and the Library this month during Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In 1971, Mineta was elected the first Japanese American mayor for his hometown of San Jose, California. He would later serve as a member of the House of Representatives for twenty years, as the 33rd Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce from 2000 to 2001, and as the 14th Secretary of the United States Department of Transportation from 2001 to 2006. During his tenure he oversaw the Coast Guard’s response to the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Terrorist attacks – federal aviation security standards. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta during the Senate Commerce hearing. September 20, 2001, photograph by Scott J. Ferrell.

Born and raised in California, Mineta and his family were among 120,000 civilians of Japanese descent who were forcibly removed from their homes and confined in camps during World War II. Years later, Norman Mineta co-sponsored the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 to grant reparations to Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps as a result of Executive Order 9066.  The bill states that the government’s decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans was based on “racial prejudice and wartime hysteria.”

Young residents of Japanese ancestry awaiting a bus at the Wartime Civil Control Administration station. They are part of the first group of 664 San Francisco evacuees to be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. San Francisco, Calif. Apr. 1942. Photograph by Dorothea Lange.

“There were good citizens who didn’t rise up to protest what was happening to their Japanese American friends and neighbors in 1942. But if we will speak out when we see someone’s constitutional rights being violated, if we will act together, then we are strong enough to withstand any evil, internal or external, that threatens to unravel this beautiful tapestry that is America.”

High school recess period, Manzanar Relocation Center, California, 1943. Photograph by Ansel Adams.

In 2019, Mineta shared his childhood experiences first-hand during a talk at the Library with authors Andrea Warren and Monica Hesse. Warren captures Mineta’s journey from a boy who simply loved baseball to a man who represented his community in her book “Enemy Child: The Story of Norman Mineta.”

“We often liken America to a melting pot where we blend together, giving us one identity. But I think our strength is rooted in our differences. We are all strands of yarn–different textures, different colors–woven together, we make a strong, integrated whole.”

– Norman Mineta in “Enemy Child”

Timestamps for key topics include:

  • 24:02–Mineta’s experience as a child when the notices for Executive Order 9066 first started appearing
  • 35:20–Mineta’s experiences as a Boy Scout in the camps and meeting Alan Simpson, who would later serve in Congress with Mineta
  • 38:55–How Mineta and Alan Simpson worked together on the Civil Liberties Act of 1988
  • 39:48–Mineta’s life immediately after the camps, returning back to San Jose
  • 45:55–Mineta’s dad’s efforts to support the war effort during World War II
  • 46:36–Mineta’s experience as Secretary of Transportation, particularly during 9/11
  • 49:50: Q& A with students begins

We leave you with the advice that Mineta spoke to the young people in the audience:

At 51:31:

“You own two things that no one else owns: your name and your integrity. Protect both of those. Protect both.”

And at 52:43:

“There are no shortcuts in life…whatever you’re going to do in life, you’ve got to have integrity, trust, and respect to get things done.”

To learn more about Mineta, his contributions to the Library’s collections, and the Library’s Asian and AAPI collections:

Comments (3)

  1. “You own two things that no one else owns: your name and your integrity. Protect both of those. Protect both”

    Such wise words. What a loss, and what an honor that he was able to meet with students at the Library.

    Thank you Eori and Sasha for this beautiful tribute.

  2. Mr. Mineta was rightly regarded by many as a man of integrity and honesty and will be missed.
    The regard that people had for him makes it all the more puzzling to me that no one ever told him that his account of the events of 9/11 was not in fact correct. Mr. Mineta repeated this account time and time again over a period of 20 years, of being in the Whitehouse bunker when the plane hit the Pentagon, when clearly this was not the case. As someone who valued his integrity and his good name I am sure he would have welcomed this being pointed out to him but unfortunately no one ever did.
    What makes this very significant is that his account was ,and is still, one of the mainstays of the conspiracies related to the events of 9/11, something that I am sure Mr. Mineta would not have wanted to be associated with in any way.

  3. I posted a comment here a day or so ago and I wonder has it not been approved or is it still being considered for posting.
    Regards,
    Colin Doran

Add a Comment

This blog is governed by the general rules of respectful civil discourse. You are fully responsible for everything that you post. The content of all comments is released into the public domain unless clearly stated otherwise. The Library of Congress does not control the content posted. Nevertheless, the Library of Congress may monitor any user-generated content as it chooses and reserves the right to remove content for any reason whatever, without consent. Gratuitous links to sites are viewed as spam and may result in removed comments. We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content on the Library site. Read our Comment and Posting Policy.


Required fields are indicated with an * asterisk.