“This year’s other recipients of the medal are: Paul Johnson, a conservative British historian; Natan Sharansky, Russian rights advocate and author of “The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror;” Blues guitarist B.B. King; the late Negro League baseball star John “Buck” O’Neil; geneticist Joshua Lederberg; former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta; New York Times columnist William Safire; literacy advocate Ruth Johnson Colvin; and Xavier University President Norman C. Francis.”
Norman Mineta is one of the most selfless, honest public servants I can remember. In addition to his work as Secretary of Transportation, he will be remembered for his accomplishments as mayor of San Jose and then as a U.S. Representative from that district. Among other things, he was the key author of the landmark Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which served as a basis for highway and transit planning in the years that followed. George Bush was fortunate to have him serve as a member of his cabinet. He and Colin Powell, IMO, are the only two to have left the cabinet with their reputations enhanced.
That’s right. He was interned at the Heart Mountain camp near Cody, Wyoming. The reason for his being awarded the medal was more for his work in civil rights rather than in the transportation field. BTW, shuttling the internees (over 100,000) around the U.S. (many were moved several times) was a major logistics operation for the railroads. It also required the delivery of substantial resources to build and support of what became mini-cities, along with tying up large numbers of government workers and soldiers.