His remarkable life took him from growing up in an internment camp to Congress and two Cabinet posts, and restoring the reputation of Japanese Americans.

Hiroo Watanabe, Sankei Shimbun / JAPAN Forward

Mineta devoted his political life to restoring the reputation of Japanese- Americans. Congresswoman Doris Matsui (77), who was born in an internment camp, says Mineta fought “tirelessly to educate Americans about the terrible prejudice and injustice that led to Japanese American incarceration during World War II.”

Norman Mineta, a long-term United States Congressman who served as a Cabinet Secretary in both Democratic and Republican administrations, died of heart ailments on May 3 at his home in Maryland. He was 90.

A second-generation Japanese American, Mineta became the first Asian-American to become a Cabinet member when President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, named him Commerce Secretary. He later served as Transportation Secretary under President George W. Bush, a Republican, playing a critical role during the 9/11 terror attacks.

The native of San Jose, California and his family were sent to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming in 1942. The detainment came after then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed an executive order that resulted in the removal of Americans of Japanese ancestry from all along the West Coast of the United States, causing many to lose their homes and livelihoods.

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