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Title: Norman Y. Mineta papers
Dates: 1975-1996
Languages: English
Collection number: 2003.229.1
Creator:
Mineta, Norman Y.
Collection Size:
45 linear feet
Repository:
Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, Calif.)
Los Angeles, California 90012
Abstract: Norman Yoshio Mineta (1931-) was the first Japanese American to serve as Mayor of a major American city and the first from
the continental United States to be elected to Congress. Spanning from 1975 to 1996, this collection consists of correspondence,
memoranda, government publications, speeches, newspaper clippings, books, briefings, photographs, video and audio recordings,
and meeting notes. These materials document Congressman Mineta's involvement in the redress movement. Also included are some
non-redress materials related to civil rights issues, especially as they pertain to Asian Americans and Americans from the
Pacific Islands, as well as materials that document his campaign activities.
Physical location: Japanese American National Museum
100 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Collection is open for research by appointment only.
Please contact the Japanese American National Museum Collections Management and Access Unit by email (collections@janm.org)
or telephone (213-830-5615).
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in this collection must be submitted to the Collections
Management and Access Unit at the Japanese American National Museum (collections@janm.org).
[Identification of item], Norman Y. Mineta papers. 96.370, Japanese American National Museum. Los Angeles, CA.
Biography / Administrative History
Norman Yoshio Mineta was the first Japanese American to serve as Mayor of a major American city and the first from the continental
United States to be elected to Congress. Mineta was born in San Jose, California on November 12, 1931. During World War II,
he and other Japanese Americans living on the West Coast were incarcerated in concentration camps because of their ancestry.
Mineta and his family were interned at the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming from 1942 to 1945. Upon returning
from camp, he graduated from San Jose High School in 1949 and the University of California, Berkeley in 1953. After college,
Mineta served in the United States Army from 1953-56. After he left the Army, he went into the family insurance business.
Mineta began his career in politics in 1962 as a member of the San Jose Human Relations Commission and served on the Board
of Directors for the San Jose Housing Authority in 1966. In 1967, he was elected to the San Jose City Council and later served
as Mayor from 1971 to 1974. In 1974, Mineta was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
During his tenure in Congress, Mineta was appointed to the position of Democratic Deputy Whip and became a member of the Democratic
Steering and Policy Committee. He also served on the Public Works and Transportation Committee, chairing four of the six subcommittees:
Surface Transportation, Aviation, Investigations and Oversight, and Public Buildings and Grounds. He authored the Airport
and Airways Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1987, the Hazardous Material Transportation Uniform Safety Amendments of
1990 and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. Because of his long-standing efforts, Mineta was elected
Chair of the Public Works and Transportation Committee in 1993. After serving nine terms, Mineta left office in 1995 to accept
a position as senior vice president of Lockheed Martin IMS.
Perhaps Mineta's greatest legacy in Congress was his work on redress for Japanese Americans who were interned in concentration
camps during World War II. As a ten year old boy in 1942, Mineta and his family were forced to leave their home in San Jose
and were detained in the Heart Mountain concentration camp. Like other Japanese Americans living on the West Coast, the Mineta
family lost a great deal due to the incarceration: they gave away most of their possessions since they could only take to
camp what they could physically carry; their savings account at the Yokohama Bank was frozen by the government; and they were
forced to sell their family insurance agency in San Jose. These personal experiences of internment would later influence Mineta
to become an important force in Congress for redress legislation.
The redress movement was a grassroots movement that began in the Japanese American community in the 1970s. By 1978, many Japanese
American activists were pushing for legislation which demanded that the government pay each former camp internee $25,000 and
formally apologize for injustices committed during World War II. In 1979, Mineta and three other Nikkei congressmen, Senators
Daniel Inouye and Masayuki "Spark" Matsunaga of Hawai'i, and Representative Robert Matsui of California, met with leaders
of the Japanese American community to discuss the possibility of redress for Japanese Americans. After much discussion, the
group recommended that a formal commission be formed to investigate the justification for the camps to determine if redress
was an appropriate remedy. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96-317 which created the Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWRIC held pubic hearings throughout the nation and concluded that the
interment was a result of "race prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a lack of political leadership." They also recommended that
the government issue a formal apology and pay each surviving internee $20,000 in redress.
Acting on the CWRIC recommendations, Mineta and the other Nikkei Congressmen sponsored several redress bills in the 1980s
and lobbied fellow members of Congress for support. On September 17, 1987, the 200th anniversary of the United States Constitution,
the redress bill HR 442 was passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 243 to 141. Later, the Senate passed its version
of the redress bill S 1009 on April 20, 1988. On August 10, 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of
1988 which called for a formal apology and $20,000 in compensation to each survivor of the concentration camps. At a tribute
dinner held in his honor in 1995, Mineta recalled the privilege of signing HR 442 after it had passed the House of Representatives:
"There has never been a moment when I loved this country more," he said. Redress was " the best expression of what this nation
can be and the power of government to heal and make right what was wrong."
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers of Congressman Norman Y. Mineta cover the period from 1975 to 1996 and measure approximately 45 linear feet. This
collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, government publications, speeches, newspaper clippings, books, briefings,
photographs, video and audio recordings, and meeting notes. These materials document Congressman Mineta's involvement in the
redress movement. Also included are some non-redress materials related to civil rights issues, especially as they pertain
to Asian Americans and Americans from the Pacific Islands, as well as materials that document his campaign activities. Mineta's
office staff selected materials to donate to the Japanese American National Museum, therefore, the Museum holds only a part
of Mineta's congressional office files.
Series 1: General Office Files, 1975-1996: The bulk of the Mineta collection comprises general office files. This series of
materials consists of correspondence, memoranda, newspaper clippings, news releases, and photocopies of testimony transcripts,
drafts and final copies of House of Representatives and Senate bills, program brochures, and meeting notes mostly documenting
Mineta's efforts and involvement on behalf of Japanese American redress. However, there are also some non-redress materials
relating to race relations, racism and other Asian American affairs. In this series, files are arranged alphabetically by
subject, and then chronologically or alphabetically within each topic.
Series 2: Publicity Files, 1981-1995: Mineta's testimonies, speeches, news releases, and memoranda regarding his television
and radio interviews have been grouped together and arranged in chronological order.
Series 3: Government Publications, 1980-1992: Government documents include committee prints, issues of the Congressional
Record and Federal Register, and transcripts of hearings. These have been arranged alphabetically by type, and then chronologically
within each type.
Series 4: Press Clippings, 1981-1992: The press clipping files, which focus on the development of the House of Representatives
Bill, H.R. 442, have been arranged chronologically.
Series 5: Printed Materials, 1955,1969,1976-1994: Books, articles, and other background materials related to the redress movement
have been grouped together and arranged in alphabetical order.
Series 6: Photographic Mateirals, 1979-1995: There is approximately one cubic foot of black and white, and color prints in
various sizes. Negatives are also grouped in this series. The bulk of these are candid images documenting Mineta's various
activities such as his attendance at town hall discussions, dinners, ceremonies and celebrations. Dated photographs have been
arranged in chronological order. Unidentified and undated images are found at the end of the series and are arranged in alphabetical
order.
Series 7: Audio Visual Materials, 1976,1985-1993: The audio and video materials in VHS format, 3/4 and 1 inch tapes consist
of Mineta's television and radio interviews, and other commercial audio and video productions related to the redress movement.
These are arranged chronologically. Undated recordings are found at the end of the series, and are arranged in alphabetical
order.
Series 8: Ephemera, 1984-1995: A few small pieces of campaign memorabilia have been arranged alphabetically by object type/name.
Series 9: Norman Y. Mineta Campaign Files, 1974-1993: This series includes correspondence, brochures, reports and reference
materials that document Norman Y. Mineta's campaign activities.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Mineta, Norman Yoshio, 1931-
Japanese Americans
United States. Congress.
Reparations for historical injustices.
United States. Act to Implement Recommendations of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians
San Jose (Calif.)