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Norman Yoshio Mineta (Japanese: 峯田 良雄, November 12, 1931 – May 3, 2022) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, Mineta served in the United States Cabinet for Presidents Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and George W. Bush, a Republican.
Mineta was the mayor of San Jose from 1971 until 1975. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California from 1975 until 1995. Mineta served as the United States Secretary of Commerce during the final months of Bill Clinton's presidency. He was the first person of East Asian descent to serve as a U.S. cabinet secretary.As the United States Secretary of Transportation for President Bush, Mineta was the only Democratic cabinet secretary in the Bush administration. He oversaw the creation of the Transportation Security Administration in response to the September 11 attacks that had occurred early in his tenure. On June 23, 2006, Mineta announced his resignation after more than five years as Secretary of Transportation, effective July 7, 2006, making him the longest-serving Secretary of Transportation in the department's history. A month later, the public relations firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies announced that Mineta would join it as a partner. In 2010, it was announced that Mineta would join L&L Energy, Inc. as vice chairman.
Mineta died on May 3, 2022, from a heart ailment in Edgewater, Maryland, at the age of 90.