Robert Takeo Matsui (September 17, 1941 – January 1, 2005)
was an American politician from the state of California. Matsui was a member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and served in the
U.S. House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
as the
congressman for
California's 5th congressional district
California's 5th congressional district is a U.S. congressional district in California.
The district is located in the northern San Joaquin Valley and central Sierra Nevada. The district includes all of Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Ma ...
from 1979 until his death at the end of his 13th term.
The Robert T. Matsui United States Courthouse in Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
is named in his honor.
Early life and education
A third-generation Japanese American
are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...
, Matsui was born in Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...
,[ and was six months old when he and his family were taken from Sacramento and ]interned
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
by the U.S. government at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center
The Tule Lake National Monument in Modoc County, California, Modoc and Siskiyou County, California, Siskiyou counties in California, consists primarily of the site of the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, one of ten concentration camps constructe ...
in 1942.[, house.gov/matsui; retrieved January 9, 2007.]
Matsui graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1963 with a BA in political science, and then from the Hastings College of Law
The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California ...
in 1966.[ He founded his own Sacramento law practice in 1967.][
]
Political career
In 1971, Matsui was elected to the Sacramento City Council
The Sacramento City Council is the governing body of the city of Sacramento, California. The council holds regular meetings at Sacramento City Hall on Tuesdays at 6:00 pm, with exceptions for holidays and other special cases.
Sacramento's city co ...
.[ He won re-election in 1975 and became vice mayor of the city in 1977.][
In 1978, Matsui ran for the Democratic nomination in what was then the 3rd District after 12-term incumbent John E. Moss announced his retirement. He won a five-way Democratic primary with 36 percent of the vote, besting a field that included State Assemblyman Eugene Gualco and Sacramento Mayor ]Phil Isenberg
Phillip L. Isenberg (born February 25, 1939) served in the California State Assembly from 1982 to 1996. He represented the city of Sacramento and surrounding areas.
Political career
Prior to his service in the Assembly, he was mayor of Sacramen ...
.
He defeated Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Sandy Smolley with 53 percent of the vote. He would never face another contest nearly that close in what has long been the most Democratic district in interior California, and would be reelected 13 times. After his initial contest, he never dropped below 68 percent of the vote. He was reelected in 1982 with no major-party opposition, and was unopposed in 1984. His district was renumbered as the 5th District after the 1990 Census.
In 1988, Matsui succeeded in helping pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (, title I, August 10, 1988, , et seq.) is a United States federal law that granted reparations to Japanese Americans who had been wrongly interned by the United States government during World War II. The act was ...
, which produced an official apology from the Federal government for the World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
internment program and offered token compensation to victims. He was also instrumental in the designation of Manzanar internment camp as a national historic site and in obtaining land in Washington, D.C. for the memorial to Japanese-American patriotism in World War II.
He was a chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...
of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means
The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other progra ...
, and third-ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee. During his term he was noted for his staunch opposition to privatization of Social Security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
. He had a mostly liberal voting record having opposed the Defense of Marriage Act, the ban on partial-birth abortions, and the Private Securities and Litigations Reform Act.
In what would be his last election, 2004, he faced Republican Mike Dugas and easily won a 14th term with 71.4% of the vote, compared to Dugas' 23.4%. Opponents Pat Driscoll (Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
) and John Reiger ( Peace and Freedom Party), won 3.4% and 1.8% of the vote, respectively. (DCCC chairs are chosen in part because they are not expected to face serious competition for re-election.)
Personal life
He was married to Doris Okada who, until December 1998, worked as deputy assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Public Liaison for President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, leaving to become senior advisor and director of government relations at the firm of Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC before winning election to her late husband's seat. The Matsuis had one son, Brian, who received his undergraduate and law degree from Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
.
Death
On December 24, 2004, Matsui entered Bethesda Naval Hospital
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC), formerly known as the National Naval Medical Center and colloquially referred to as the Bethesda Naval Hospital, Walter Reed, or Navy Med, is a United States' tri-service military medi ...
with pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
.[ It was a complication from ]myelodysplastic syndrome
A myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is one of a group of cancers in which immature blood cells in the bone marrow do not mature, and as a result, do not develop into healthy blood cells. Early on, no symptoms typically are seen. Later, symptoms may ...
, a rare stem cell
In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can differentiate into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type o ...
disorder that causes an inability of the bone marrow to produce blood products, such as red blood cell
Red blood cells (RBCs), also referred to as red cells, red blood corpuscles (in humans or other animals not having nucleus in red blood cells), haematids, erythroid cells or erythrocytes (from Greek ''erythros'' for "red" and ''kytos'' for "holl ...
s, white blood cell
White blood cells, also called leukocytes or leucocytes, are the cell (biology), cells of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body against both infectious disease and foreign invaders. All white blood cells are produced and de ...
s and platelet
Platelets, also called thrombocytes (from Greek θρόμβος, "clot" and κύτος, "cell"), are a component of blood whose function (along with the coagulation factors) is to react to bleeding from blood vessel injury by clumping, thereby ini ...
s. He died of pneumonia on January 1, 2005.
In the special election on March 8 to fill the vacant seat, Matsui's widow Doris won with over 68 percent of the vote; she was sworn in on March 10, 2005.Doris Matsui's official biography
, retrieved on January 9, 2007
See also
*
*List of United States Congress members who died in office
There are several lists of United States Congress members who died in office. These include:
*List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)
*List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–1949)
*List of ...
References
External links
Robert T. Matsui Legacy Project Road to Redress and Reparations
at CSU Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
Campaign finance data from the 2004 election
Robert T. Matsui Annual Writing Competition
at Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund
*
*
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsui, Bob
1941 births
2005 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American politicians of Japanese descent
Asian-American members of the United States House of Representatives
California lawyers
California politicians of Japanese descent
Deaths from cancer in Maryland
Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome
Deaths from pneumonia in Maryland
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Japanese-American internees
Members of the United States Congress of Japanese descent
Sacramento City Council members
Asian-American city council members
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of California, Hastings College of the Law alumni