Presidential Proclamations and Videos Help Open Mineta-Simpson Institute
NAP Contributor
▲Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson tours the new exhibit about his and the late Norman Mineta’s life and public careers. Photo credit: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
A proclamation from U.S. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and video tributes from former U.S. Presidents George W. Bush and William J. Clinton helped open the new Mineta-Simpson Institute near Powell, Wyoming, during the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation’s annual pilgrimage on July 25-27, 2024.
▲Left to right: Maggie Simpson-Drabaugh, Vanessa Yuille, Mika Dyo, and Tamlyn Tomita leading the cast in the play, “Question 27, Question 28”. Photo credit: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
The institute, created to spread the ideals of public service demonstrated by the late U.S. Secretary Norman Mineta and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson, features a 250-seat conference center, production studio and new archival and artifact storage.
Visiting speakers at the pilgrimage included Shelly Lowe, chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities; former U.S. Representative Mike Honda, D-California; Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History; Debra Kawahara, president-elect of the American Psychological Association; and Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum.
Left: Eric Muller receives the LaDonna Zall Compassionate Witness Award from Shirley Ann Higuchi, chair of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation. Photo credit: Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.▼
Simpson and Deni Mineta, wife of the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Transportation , spoke on Saturday, July 27, about the importance of working with people from different backgrounds and with different political beliefs. Mineta and Simpson first met as Boy Scouts at the Heart Mountain camp near Powell in 1943. Mineta was incarcerated at the camp that held 14,000 Japanese Americans, while Simpson lived in nearby Cody, Wyoming.Mineta and Simpson each received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. presidents of the opposite political party. They were known for their ability to bridge partisan differences and get things done.
The foundation presented its LaDonna Zall Compassionate Witness Award to Eric Muller, a University of North Carolina law professor who developed Heart Mountain’s permanent museum exhibit. He has also written four books about the Japanese American incarceration during World War II.
During the pilgrimage’s session, participants watched a presentation of the play, Question 27, Question 28, featuring actor Tamlyn Tomita, a Heart Mountain descendant who starred in The Karate Kid II and The Joy Luck Club, among dozens of other film and television credits.
The pilgrimage drew 440 participants, including 180 first-time visitors. Forty-five former incarcerees, who are in their 80s and 90s, attended the event.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, a Smithsonian Affiliate, preserves the site where some 14,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 through 1945. Their stories are told within the foundation’s museum, Heart Mountain Interpretive Center, located between Cody and Powell. For more information, call the center at (307) 754-8000 or email info@heartmountain.org.
