Former Transport Secretary Mineta Remembered
Norman Mineta, one the most influential transportation secretaries to hold the office, was remembered as a tireless public servant and decisive leader following his death this week at the age…

Norman Mineta, one the most influential transportation secretaries to hold the office, was remembered as a tireless public servant and decisive leader following his death this week at the age of 90. Mineta was in the big chair on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and made the unprecedented decision to close U.S. airspace and order all aircraft in the air to land at the closest suitable airport. He was chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee when the General Aviation Revitalization Act was passed. The bipartisan bill protects manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits and is credited with the resurgence of general aviation manufacturing.
As a boy, Mineta was held in an internment camp for Japanese citizens during the Second World War and then volunteered for the Army in Korea. He was a councilor and mayor of San Jose in the late 1960s and early 1970s and served 20 years in Congress before going to work for Lockheed Martin in 1995. He was the only Democrat in the George W. Bush administration in his tenure as Transportation Secretary. The city of San Jose named the airport after him in 2001.
