Norman Yoshio Mineta died on May 3, 2022. He was a Japanese-American politician who was the only Democratic Cabinet Secretary in the Bush administration.
Mineta was a first-generation Japanese American who was interned during WWII and went on to become one of the country’s most visible Asian American political leaders.
He was also a big-city mayor, a 10-term congressman, and a Cabinet secretary of Transportation in President George W. Bush’s Cabinet.
In 1971, he became the first Asian American to manage a major U.S. city, his hometown of San Jose, which was in the middle of a recession.
Mineta was well respected for his competence in the byzantine regulations controlling the country’s roadways, trains, and airports as a Democratic congressman and then as a Cabinet member under Democratic and Republican administrations.
George W. Bush gave Mr. Mineta the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, months after his resignation in 2006.
He was 90 years old.
Norman Mineta children: Stuart Mineta, David Mineta
Mineta was the father of David and Stuart Mineta.
Their mom was May Hinoki who divorced their dad back in the day.
