Northwestern Events Calendar

Oct
5
2016

Admiral Weber Lecture: Norman Y. Mineta, "National Security and Civil Rights"

When: Wednesday, October 5, 2016
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM CT

Where: McCormick Foundation Center, 1870 Campus Drive , Evanston, IL 60208 map it

Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students

Contact: John Robert Mocek  

Group: Department of Political Science

Category: Academic

Description:

The Department of Political Science is honored to present Norman Y. Mineta as part of the Admiral Weber Lecture Series.

 

Norman Mineta served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995 representing California’s Silicon Valley area. He co-founded the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and served as its first chair. Mineta served as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure between 1992 and 1994, and chaired the committee's aviation subcommittee between 1981 and 1988, and chaired its Surface Transportation Subcommittee from 1989 to 1991.

During his career in Congress, Mineta was a key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. He pressed for more funding for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mineta was the driving force the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which officially apologized for and redressed the injustices endured by Japanese Americans during World War II. In 1995, George Washington University awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Medal to Mineta for his contributions to the field of civil rights.

Mineta was appointed in 2000 by President Bill Clinton as the U.S. Secretary of Commerce, making him the first Asian American to hold a post in the presidential cabinet. In 2001, Mineta was appointed United States Secretary of Transportation by President George W. Bush, a post he was originally offered eight years previously by Bill Clinton. He was the only Democrat to have served in Bush's cabinet and the first Secretary of Transportation to have previously served in a cabinet position. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Mineta sent a letter to all U.S. airlines forbidding them from practicing racial profiling; or subjecting Middle Eastern or Muslim passengers to a heightened degree of pre-flight scrutiny. Mineta became the first Asian American to hold the position, and only the fourth person to be a member of Cabinet under two Presidents from different political parties.

The Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport in San Jose was named after him in November 2001 when Mineta was serving as Secretary of Transportation. The Mineta Transportation Institute, located at San Jose State University, and portions of California State Highway 85 are named after him.

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