http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf938nb3m0 No online items Gabriela A. Montoya Japanese American National Museum 100 North Central Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90012 Phone: (213) 830-5615 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.janm.org/ © 2011 Japanese American National Museum. All rights reserved. 2003.229.1 1 Finding aid for the Norman Y. Mineta papers Collection number: 96.370 Japanese American National Museum Los Angeles, California Processed by: Pui-Ching Ho Date Completed: 1999 Encoded by: Gabriela A. Montoya © 1999 Japanese American National Museum. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary 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 Access Collection is open for research by appointment only. Please contact the Japanese American National Museum Collections Management and Access Unit by email ([email protected]) or telephone (213-830-5615). Publication Rights 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 ([email protected]). Preferred Citation [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. 2003.229.1 2 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. Arrangement 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. 2003.229.1 3 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