Norman Mineta Interview (page: 6 / 9) Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation	Print Interview

Secretary Mineta, in 1988, you and Senator Simpson worked together for reparations for Japanese Americans, didn't you?

Norman Mineta: Absolutely. Absolutely. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. The Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) had passed a resolution in 1978 saying, "We will undertake a legislative program to seek redress for the evacuation/internment of those of Japanese ancestry, and redress of $25,000 per person." Well, at that point, there was Senator (Daniel) Inouye, Senator (Spark) Matsunaga from Hawaii, Congressman Bob Matsui and I from California. So we had this one-sentence resolution from the national Japanese American Citizens League convention, wondering "What are we going to do with this now?" So as we kept meeting among ourselves, and with the JACL, Dan said, "Look, until we educate our colleagues about this, we are not going to get anywhere." Now, there was the Warren Commission that talked about the Kennedy assassination. There was the Commission on the Kent State slaughter. So what we should do is to have a commission, because those were bestsellers, they were on television. In this way we would be able to get to the depths of why the evacuation and internment occurred. So in 1978, we then established a legislation called the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, and that group, with Thurgood Marshall as one of the members, studied the whole issue, and by 1980, they issued a report saying that the evacuation was due to wartime hysteria, historical racial discrimination, and weak political leadership.

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I had a brilliant young legislative director by the name of Glenn Roberts. His brother Steve Roberts was with The New York Times. Glenn Roberts took the report from the Commission and translated that into legislative language, and that became the Civil Liberties Act of 1980. President Reagan signed that legislation on August 10, 1988, so it became the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which had the operative words in there, and the Congress, on behalf of the nation, apologizes and pays redress of $20,000 per person for those who are now still living. I was very, very proud to be part of that legislative effort coordination. For our people to be able to admit to their own mistakes, and to come forward like that was very, very gratifying.

How did you get into politics? Did you know what you wanted to do with your life when you got out of college?

Norman Mineta: During World War II, my dad always felt that he wanted to do something towards the war effort, and so he ended up teaching at the University of Chicago under the Army Specialized Training Program, ASTP, teaching Japanese to U.S. Army personnel. He would give me those lesson plans, and I would say I didn't want anything to do with Japan during World War II. He said, "No, no, no, I want you to learn Japanese." So I did.

When we came back to San José in 1946, I completed high school and went to Berkeley. I started out in Aeronautical Engineering, but after I took calculus, I decided -- for the safety of the country and my own future -- I had better find something else to do. My dad always wanted me to be in the insurance business with him, so I changed course and finished in business.

You didn't set out to be a public servant?

Norman Mineta: No, but...

Get the Flash Player to see this video. My dad had always encouraged all of us to be involved in community services. He said, "I don't care whether the outlet is church or Japanese American Citizens League, or wherever, but always pay back the community." I started out in our Japanese Methodist Church. Eventually, that made me a representative to the Santa Clara County Council of Churches, and then in 1962, Governor Pat Brown appointed a young Japanese American lawyer in San José to the Municipal Court bench, the first Japanese American to be appointed to the Court, 1962. I was at Wayne Kanemoto's investiture and the Mayor of San José said, "Norm, Wayne has to resign from the Human Relations Commission. Would you consider going on the Human Relations Commission?" So I investigated what that was all about, and decided yes, I would.

Then I started the Housing Authority. In the meantime, I was active in the insurance business with my dad.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Then, in 1967, we had our first direct election of a Mayor of San José. One of the members of the City Council won that post, and so he said, "Would you consider putting your name in to fill the vacancy of my leaving the Council seat?" So I went to see my dad and I said, "There is a possibility I could be on the City Council," and he said, "You know, I always encouraged all of the kids to be in community service, but I really never expected that to lead to a political job." He said, "You know, there is an adage in Japanese: Where you are in politics, you are going to be like the nail sticking out on that board. And you know what happens to that nail? It always gets hammered." And I always say to papa, "Papa, you were so right." But, he encouraged it, and so he did see me go on the City Council. He did see me elected Mayor of San José, but he never saw me elected to Congress.

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