Norm Mineta
As a 10-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Mineta was the principal author of the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which provided a then record federal surface transportation investment.
In 2000, President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. commerce secretary, making him the nation’s first Asian-American Cabinet member. In a political rarity, the Democrat remained in the Cabinet under the Republican leadership of President George W. Bush, who appointed him as U.S. transportation secretary. Mineta’s 5 ½-year tenure in that position is the longest in the department’s history, prompting Bush to describe him as “someone who understands that a sound infrastructure in America will lead to economic opportunity for all Americans.”
