<Begin Segment 19>

BN: Now, you started with Douglas and then you moved to Boeing?

SM: Well, Boeing bought them.

BN: Oh, now Douglas became part of Boeing, so you didn't leave anywhere, you just kind of became Boeing.

SM: Became Boeing.

BN: What were kind of the best things about the work you were doing in terms of just your own personal enjoyment or satisfaction?

SM: While at Boeing?

BN: Yes, what did you like about the job? Sounds like you really enjoyed it.

SM: Yes. Like many engineers, my main job was to solve problems. Rockets fail, airplanes fail, and analyzing it and trying to figure out what caused the failure, what design changes need to be made, that was my specialty in those days, and I enjoyed doing it. But I guess it was my interest and ability to communicate with people that drove me into the business side of the company, the marketing side, and to help develop new clients and keep programs sold. And I enjoyed doing that, I really enjoyed meeting people and conveying, helping them find the right products.

BN: Now, when you talk about rockets, of course, we get into the whole space race. So was the work you're doing tied to the space program, NASA stuff?

SM: Well, that was part of my job. I had other jobs, but NASA was one of my important clients, the Air Force was another important client. I remember meeting Dan Inouye when I was in Washington, and gathered for some social events. And I remember the first time I met Dan Inouye, and I had my speech planned, what to tell him and what to talk about my products. Went up to Dan and I said, "Dan, I'm Sam Mihara, Japanese American. Glad to meet you." And he asked, "Who do you work for?" I said, "Boeing." And before I could say anything, he says, "Sam, don't worry, your program is covered." [Laughs] He did my selling for me. He said, "Don't worry. I'm voting for your program, don't worry." Weird. That was the strangest meeting I had with Dan Inouye.

BN: Probably everyone that Dan meets is asking him for something, so he probably assumed that's what you were doing.

SM: Right, right. He looked at me and as soon as I said Boeing, "Sam, don't worry." But the other meeting I found was interesting. I met for the first time Norm Mineta, he was in Congress, it was in 1986, and he was working on the redress bill. And so we started talking about Heart Mountain, we talked about California, and then he started talking about what he's doing. And I said, "Can I do anything? Can I help?" and Norm said, "Yes." "You live in Orange County, California?" conservative part of the country. Contact your local congressman and point out the importance of redress. And so I did that, I went to the local congressman in Orange County. They had a staffer there in the office handling that kind of activity, I talked to him, and it worked out pretty well. And then I found out after the bill was signed in 1988, Norm sent me a copy of the bill with his autograph, nice touch. Says, "Thanks for your help, Norm Mineta." Very, very nice. No wonder he's a successful congressman. He knows how to take care of his constituents.

BN: Did you know him from before?

SM: I didn't know him before, no, no. I had no idea, I was just roaming the Congress looking for Japanese Americans who were pretty rare. But I found out Norm was there, and as I recall, he was on a... oh, he was representing San Jose.

BN: San Jose, yeah. No, I meant at Heart Mountain.

SM: I didn't know he was at Heart Mountain until we talked about camp, and then I told him the camp and he said, "I was at Heart Mountain," said, "So was I," that's how we communicated.

BN: He's a couple years older than you.

SM: Yes, I think about two years.

BN: Two years, but when you're kids, that's a lot.

SM: He was Boy Scout and I was a Cub Scout, yeah. And then you know the story, he met Alan Simpson and all that.

BN: Very well-known story.

SM: Yes.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.