By Keiichiro Otsuka,
Norman Mineta, who became the first Japanese American member of a U.S. Cabinet in 2000, declined an earlier offer to serve under President Bill Clinton as he preferred to continue working as a lawmaker, according to his wife.
Mineta passed up Clinton's call to become transport secretary shortly after the president's inauguration in early 1993, saying, "I can do more for you" as chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Works and Transportation, Danealia Mineta said in a recent interview with Kyodo News.
Seven years later, the Democratic congressman assumed the post of commerce secretary in July 2000 after his predecessor William Daley joined Al Gore's campaign for the presidential election in November that year.
Gore lost to George W. Bush in the election but the new Republican president nominated Mineta for transport secretary, the only Democrat in his Cabinet.
"He didn't jump on and say yes" when he got the call from Vice President-elect Dick Cheney, Danealia Mineta, 78, said, quoting her late husband as responding, "I can't give you an answer. I have got to talk to people within my own (Democratic) party."
She said, "The first person he talked to was Clinton, and he said to Norm(an) that he should do it. The second person he talked to was Vice President Al Gore and he said that Norm should do it."
Mineta called all the people that were in leadership with him and "there were a few, but very, very few, who said don't do it," she said.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, the Bush administration tightened aviation safety measures and security checks on passengers.
While pushing such measures, Mineta asked all U.S. airlines to ensure passengers of Middle Eastern or Muslim background were not subjected to racial or religious profiling.
As a U.S. citizen of Japanese descent, Mineta was taken to the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming from his home in San Jose, California, following Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and fought against discrimination when he entered politics after World War II.
Danealia Mineta, a former United Airlines cabin attendant, said she is convinced her husband's decision after the 9/11 attacks was "absolutely right" and he "never allowed discrimination against others."
Mineta worked passionately to restore the honor of Japanese Americans who were sent to the wartime camps. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, in 2006 and died in 2022.
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