Norman Mineta, secretary of transportation during Sept. 11 era, dies at 90
Norman Mineta, who broke racial barriers for Asian Americans serving in high-profile government posts and ordered commercial flights grounded after the Sept. 11 terror attacks as the nation’s federal transportation secretary, died Tuesday. He was 90.
John Flaherty, Mineta’s former chief of staff, said Mineta died peacefully at his home surrounded by family in Edgewater, Maryland.
“His cause of death was a heart ailment,” Flaherty added. “He was an extraordinary public servant and a very dear friend.”
Mineta broke racial barriers for Asian Americans in becoming mayor of San Jose. He also was the first Asian American to become a federal Cabinet secretary, serving un- der both Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican George W. Bush.
Bush went on to award Mineta the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In a statement, the former president said Mineta was “a wonderful American story about someone who overcame hardship and prejudice to serve in the United States Army, Congress, and the Cabinet of two Presidents.”
“As my Secretary of Transportation, he showed great leadership in helping prevent further attacks on and after 9/11. As I said when presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Norm has given his country a lifetime of service, and he’s given his fellow citizens an example of leadership, devotion to duty, and personal character,” the former president added.
The son of Japanese immigrants who spent two years of his childhood at a World War II internment camp, Mineta began his political career leading his hometown of San Jose before joining the Clinton administration as commerce secretary and then crossing party lines to serve in Bush’s Cabinet.
As Bush’s transportation secretary, Mineta led the department during the crisis of Sept. 11, 2001, as hijacked commercial airliners barreled toward U.S. landmarks. After a second plane crashed into the World Trade Center, Mineta ordered the Federal Aviation Administration to ground all civilian aircraft — more than 4,500 in flight at the time. It was the first such order given in the history of U .S. aviation.
It was Mineta who was subsequently charged with restoring confidence in air travel in the aftermath of the terror attacks. He oversaw the hasty creation of the Transportation Security Administration, which took over responsibility for aviation security from the airlines.
Within a year, the TSA had hired tens of thousands of airport screeners, put air marshals on commercial flights and installed hightech equipment to screen air travelers and their luggage for bombs.
The effort was derided at the time for wasteful spending and causing long lines at airports.
In 2006, he resigned at age 74 after 5 and ½ years in his post, making him the longest-serving transportation secretary since the agency was created in 1967.
Mineta’s foray into politics came in 1967, when San Jose’s mayor tapped him to fill a vacant seat on the city council. He won re-election and served four more years on the council before winning the city’s top seat in 1971, making him the first Asian-American mayor of a major city.
Mineta was elected to Congress in 1974 and served 10 terms representing Silicon Valley. During his tenure, he pushed for more funding for the FAA and co-authored a landmark law that gave state and local governments control over highway and mass transit decisions.
The co-founder of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus also scored a personal victory when he helped win passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which required the U.S. government to apologize to the 120,000 Japanese Americans forced to live in wartime internment camps. Former internees also received reparations of $20,000 each.