Photo & text credit: Council Leader Kirk Zeller (Nichibei Medtech Advisors, LLC)
The grand opening of the Mineta-Simpson Institute was held on August 27 honoring the legacy of Secretary Norman Mineta and Senator Alan Simpson. Secretary Mineta and Senator Simpson met as 12 year-old boys during a Boy Scout event held at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp and this chance meeting changed history.
They both went on to become elected to Congress and it was through their close collaboration along with the support of Senator Daniel Inouye and others that led to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, President Reagan’s apology to Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II, and the remunerations that followed during President George HW Bush’s administration. Senator Alan Simpson and his family were in attendance as well as Secretary Mineta’s wife and children. The grand opening was held in conjunction with the annual pilgrimage to Heart Mountain which occurred during the two-day period immediately prior to the grand opening. Hundreds of descendants of those interned gathered at a venue in Cody, Wyoming and at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center 14 miles outside of Cody.