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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release June 29, 2000
          PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES NORMAN Y. MINETA AS SECRETARY OF 
                      THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

     President Clinton today announced his intent to nominate Norman Y.

Mineta as Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta, of Edgewater, Maryland, currently serves as Vice President of Special Business Initiatives at Lockheed Martin Corporation. Mr. Mineta is a former Member of the United States House of Representatives and has a long and distinguished record of public service. First elected to Congress in 1974 to represent Silicon Valley, he became the first Asian American to chair the important U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Public Works and Transportation. During his tenure in Congress, Mr. Mineta's legislative and policy agenda was wide and varied, including major projects in the areas of transportation, economic development, science and technology policy, trade, the environment, intelligence, the budget and civil rights.

As a native of San Jose, California, Mr. Mineta and his family were among the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry forced into internment camps by the United States Government during the Second World War. While serving in Congress, he founded and chaired the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and was the driving force behind the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which provided an official apology and redress to over 100,000 Japanese Americans interned in camps during World War II. In 1995, George Washington University awarded Mr. Mineta with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Medal for his contributions to the field of civil rights.

Mr. Mineta was confirmed by the Senate on May 24, 2000 as a member of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and was recently appointed by the President as chair of the Advisory Commission on Asian American and Pacific Islanders.

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