Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Honda (Mike) Congressional Papers
MSS.2017.01.04
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Title: Mike Honda Congressional Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS.2017.01.04
Physical Description:
21 boxes
(21 Linear Feet)
Date (inclusive): 1942-2016
Physical Description: Good
Abstract: The Mike Honda Congressional Papers contain documentation of Mike Honda's congressional and political career as a House Representative
of California. The material in the collection also covers his involvement in numerous committees and caucuses.
21 boxes from the office of out-going California District 17 Representative Mike Honda.
The Mike Honda Papers consist of materials that encompass major aspects of Honda's career as a politician and California House
Representative. Subjects include HR 1198: a Honda-sponsored bill requesting the Japanese government to make amends for their
role in World War II atrocities involving Prisoners of War (POW) and comfort women or sex slave labor; papers documenting
legislative issues concerning the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); the death by friendly fire case files
of soldier and former football player Pat Tillman; congressional papers regarding the development of nanotechnology and the
NASA Ames research center; the expansion of VTA/BART in the Bay Area, California; the legislative advancement of aviation
and airport security after the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001; the congressional advancement of climate change and
education equity within the United States and the Bay Area; and the clean-up and transformation of San Jose, California's
former Air Force station atop Mt. Umunhum into a historical and environmental park. The collection also contains materials
related to various other legislative, political, civil, and international work that Honda was involved in including issues
like anti-bullying, transgender equality, the Ethiopian Caucus, and the advancement of education on the disease hepatitis.
The material in the collection is primarily paper, booklets, and news and magazine articles. However, there are also some
cassettes, CDs, DVDs, books and manuscripts, and digital files that accompany this collection as well.
The Mike Honda Congressional Papers are arranged into thirteen series: Series I: POW Files; Series II: Comfort Women; Series
III: CAPAC; Series IV: Pat Tillman; Series V: Research and Technology; Series VI: VTA:BART Extension to Silicon Valley; Series
VII: Aviation Security; Series VIII: Climate Change; Series IX: Education Equity; Series X: Mt. Umunhum; Series XI: Congressional
Subject Research Files; Series XII: Personal Papers and Correspondence; Series XIII: Digital Files
Mike Honda is a former politician and educator. He is currently based in San Jose, CA. He first became active in politics
in 1971 when he was appointed by San Jose Mayor Norman Mineta to the city's planning commission. He was later elected to the
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 1990 and then to the California State Assembly in 1996, serving until 2001. He
served in Congress from 2001 to 2017, and as a U.S. House Representative for California's 17th Congressional District from
2013 to 2017.
Born Michael Makoto Honda on June 27, 1941, in Walnut Grove, California, he is a third generation Japanese American or "sansei."
When Honda was 9 months old, he and his family were forced from their home and sent to live at the Granada Relocation Center,
a Japanese internment camp in Colorado. Honda remained there from 1942-1945, and upon his release, he and his mother moved
to Chicago where his father had settled, working as a teacher at Northwestern. Following in his father's footsteps, Honda
enjoyed a thirty year career as an educator, employed as a science teacher and principal of two public schools. He was also
elected to the San Jose Unified School Board in 1981.
From 1965-1967, Mike Honda served as a Peace Corps volunteer in El Salvador.
In 2000, Honda won the Democratic nomination for California's 15th District. During the month of November 2003, Chairman of
the Democratic National Committee Terry McAuliffe appointed Honda as deputy Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
Under the chairmanship of Howard Dean, in February 2005, Honda was elected vice chair of the DNC, and later in 2009 was reelected,
serving until 2013. Redistricting led Honda to represent California's 17th Congressional District, beginning on January 3,
2013. He eventually lost the position to Ro Khanna in the 2016 election.
Early Committees and Caucuses
From 2001 to 2007, Honda served on the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. He was also a ranking member
of its Energy Subcommittee from 2005-2007. Honda also served on the US House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
In 2007, Nancy Pelosi appointed Honda to the US House Committee on Appropriations where he served on the subcommittees of
Commerce, Justice, Science, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. Honda was a part of the Congressional Asian Pacific
American Caucus (CAPAC), founded by Norman Mineta, and was chair from 2004 to 2011. He was also the founder and chair of the
Congressional Anti-Bullying Caucus and the Congressional Ethiopian Caucus as well as vice chair and founding member of the
LGBT Equality Caucus. In addition, he was the co-chair of both the Congressional Hepatitis Caucus and the Democratic Caucus
New Media Working Group. Honda was also the vice-chair for new members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. From 2005
to 2016, Honda was the Commissioner of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Later Congressional and Political Involvement
Honda helped facilitate an appropriation that extended the VTA/BART into Silicon Valley.
In 2001, Honda and Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher introduced H.R. 1198, the Justice for United States Prisoners
of War Act. This bill was an attempt to achieve reparations (verbal, written, and monetary) from the Japanese Government for
atrocities committed against POWs during WWII. Although the legislation was popular, with 230 co-sponsors, the bill stalled
within the three committees it was referred to, and was never passed to the House for a vote. In addition, no companion legislation
appeared in the Senate, which would be needed for the bill to become a law.
In 2007, Honda proposed H.R 121, which stated that Japan should formally acknowledge, apologize, and accept historical responsibility
for its role in the comfort women issue, regarding the sexual slavery of women in occupied territories before and during World
War II. There was no opposition to the resolution within the House of Representatives, and on July 30, 2007, Honda's resolution
was passed. Obama signed the bill into law on January 17, 2014.
In 2008, Honda, along with President Obama, introduced the Enhancing STEM Education Act in the House (HR 6104) and Senate
(S.3047.) Portions of these bills were included in the America COMPETES Act reauthorization, which was signed into law on
January 4, 2011.
With regard to the environment, Honda secured federal funding for the clean-up and demolition of the former Almaden Air Force
Station on Mt. Umunhum in Santa Clara County. The site had been contaminated by hazardous materials used by the military.
The area reopened as a park and historic site in the Spring of 2017. In 2014, he introduced the Climate Change Education Act
(HR 4461), which attempted to address the issue of educating the public on the causes and possible solutions to climate change.
For the advancement of science and technology, Honda supported the principle of network neutrality, and in 2014, cosponsored
the Open Internet Preservation Act (H.R. 3982). He was also a proponent of government intelligence transparency, and an opponent
of the NSA's public surveillance tactics. In 2002, Honda introduced the first nanotechnology bills in Congress, and in 2003,
he helped introduce the Nanotechnology Research and Development Act of 2003, which led to the creation of the National Nanotechnology
Initiative.
Copyright has not been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections and Archives. All requests for
permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission
for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions
also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational
purposes.
Collection is open for research. Access to digital files is by permission from the Director of Special Collections and Archives
only.
This collection was initially processed by Victor Rodriguez II, December 2017. Final processing was completed by Kate Steffens,
April 2018. Accruals consisting of constituent mail added by Kate Steffens in September 2019.
Mike Honda Congressional Papers, MSS-2017-01-04, San José State University Library, Special Collections & Archives
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Ex-prisoners of war
Comfort women
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Institute
Asian American legislators.
Tillman, Pat, 1976-2004
Nanotechnology
San José State University. Library. Special Collections & Archives