Mineta, Norman (1931– )

US politician and public servant, secretary of transportation 2001–2006, under Republican president George W Bush. Previously secretary of commerce 2000–01 under the Democratic president Bill Clinton, he was the first Asian American to hold cabinet office. He was mayor of San Jose, California, 1971–74, and US House representative for California's Silicon Valley 1975–95. He is an advocate of public–private partnerships and has an interest in high-technology transport solutions.

Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 US citizens of Japanese ancestry who were forced into internment camps during the World War II. Later, in 1988, as a member of Congress, he helped draft a bill that offered an official apology and compensation to the surviving victims of the US internment camps. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, he served in the US army 1953–56, as an intelligence officer in Japan, and later worked in his family's insurance company, before entering local politics in San Jose, in 1967. He was vice-president of the Lockheed Martin Corporation 1995–2000.