From Press Dispatches
July 3, 2006

U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, a former mayor of San Jose (CA) in 1971 before serving the U.S. House of Representatives from that area for 21 years, announced his resignation on June 23. It becomes effective July 7.

Mineta, 74, who addressed a Plenary Session in Las Vegas of the Conference of Mayors Annual Meeting in early June, is the only Democrat in the Bush Cabinet and also served as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in the last six months of the Clinton Administration.

An American citizen of Japanese descent, Mineta was sent to an internment camp along with his family during World War II.

In 1992 to 1994, Mineta was Chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee but resigned his House seat 10 months after the Republicans gained control in the 1994 elections.

Mineta, the first Asian American Cabinet Secretary, was the 14th Secretary of Transportation, and the longest serving of them.

In a resignation letter to President Bush, Mineta said that after “over five productive and memorable years, it is time for me to move on to other challenges.”

Mineta was head of the Transportation Department on September 11, 2002, when all civilian planes were grounded for the first time ever.

President Bush said in a statement that Mineta performed “a crucial role that day,” leading the successful effort to bring tens of thousands of passengers aboard commercial aircraft to safe landings.

Within a year of the Sept. 11 attacks, Mineta oversaw the establishment of the Transportation Security Administration.

Mineta was an author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 which shifted decisions on highway and mass transit planning to state and local governments. The new law was strongly supported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and is credited with an increase in mass transit ridership and transportation options like bike paths.