The Mars Project: Journey Beyond The Cold War Analysis

1295 Words6 Pages

Masayuki Matsunaga was born on the island of Kauai in 1916 to a modest farm family. After working his way through college and graduating in 1941, he voluntarily joined the U.S. Army. In World War II, he served in the famed 100th Infantry Battalion, got wounded twice, and was awarded the Bronze Star. He joined the Military Intelligence Service to serve at the Pacific theater. At that point, he legally changed his name to "Spark" Masayuki Matsunaga, taken from his childhood nickname based on a cartoon character.
He then earned a law degree from Harvard, was an assistant public prosecutor in Honolulu, and served in the Hawaii Territorial Legislature from 1954 -1959. His position as House Majority Leader in the last year enabled him to play a major …show more content…

Senate and was Chief Deputy Whip for 12 of his 14 years there. He was instrumental in passing legislation for civil rights; reparations for Japanese Americans interned during World War II; space exploration; renewable energy resources; and peace, the latter resulting in the establishment of the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, D.C. In 1986, his book “The Mars Project: Journeys Beyond the Cold War” was published. Sparky Matsunaga was an avid poet, piloting legislation that led to the creation of the U.S. Poet Laureate position at the Library of Congress. He died in 1990 at the age of 73. Shortly thereafter, the Institute for Peace at the U.H. at Manoa was renamed the Matsunaga Institute for Peace.
Norman Mineta
Norman Mineta was born in San Jose, California, to Japanese immigrant parents who were not U.S. citizens at that time. During World War II the Mineta family was interned for years in the Heart Mountain internment camp. Upon graduation, Mineta joined the US Army and served as an intelligence officer in Japan and Korea. His political career began in 1967 when he was appointed to a vacant San Jose City Council seat by Mayor Ron James. In 1971, He was elected the 59th Mayor of San Jose, becoming the first Asian American mayor of a major U.S.

Open Document