Robert T. Matsui served in the House from 1979
to 2005, but his earliest memories were of an
internment camp where his family was separated
and where they lived like prisoners, denied their most basic
constitutional rights. That experience was formative for
Matsui. “Adversity made [Matsui] stronger, and along the
way he helped countless others to find strength as well,”
noted an observer who reflected on Matsui’s long political
career.1 A social liberal with a pro-market approach to
trade, Matsui’s workhorse style of legislating earned the
respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle during
his 26 years in the House.
Robert Takeo (Bob) Matsui was born on September
17, 1941, in Sacramento, California, to Yasuji and Alice
Matsui, less than three months before Japan’s surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor.2 Both his parents were born in
Sacramento. Following the U.S. declaration of war against
Japan, six-month-old Robert Matsui and his family were
evacuated from their hometown to an internment camp in
April 1942 as part of the relocation of Japanese Americans
from the Pacific Coast.3 Becoming family number 25261,
the Matsui family initially was sent to the Tule Lake camp
in Newell, California—a remote location in the extreme
northeast corner of the state. Alice and Robert Matsui
were moved to a camp in Caldwell, Idaho, while Yasuji
was separated from his family and sent to a Weiser, Idaho,
work camp. Alice Matsui gave birth to Robert’s sister,
Barbara, at the Caldwell facility.4 Eventually, the Matsui
family reunited and returned to Sacramento following
their release three years later. Like most internees whose
livelihoods were shattered, the Matsui’s lost their family
produce business in Sacramento during internment. After
the war, they had to rebuild their lives.
Robert attended William Land Elementary School,
California Junior High, and later graduated from
C. K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento, California,
in 1959. In 1963 he graduated from the University of
California, Berkeley, with a degree in political science. At
Berkeley, he met Doris Okada, another wartime internee
who was born at an internment camp in Poston, Arizona.5
In 1966 Matsui received his JD from the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco
and practiced as a lawyer in Sacramento. Robert and Doris
married in 1968 and had one son, Brian.
As a young man studying at Berkeley in 1961, Matsui
was motivated by the words of President John F. Kennedy’s
inaugural address to enter into public service. Matsui
felt inspired to “look beyond ourselves, and look to our
community, our state, and our nation to see how we can
improve the lot of every American.”6 At the age of 29,
Matsui, a lawyer in a private practice, was encouraged to
run for the Sacramento city council in 1971.7 Reflecting
on this first election, Matsui said, “For historical purposes,
I think it’s good to say people were coming to me, asking me
to run, but the reality is that that’s not the way these things
happen. You have to want it.”8 This election marked the first
time the city council was divided into districts. Matsui ran
a grassroots campaign and won, earning the distinction as
the first Japanese American to hold this position.9 He served
until 1978, and his time on the council included a year as
vice mayor of Sacramento in 1977.
Matsui also worked as the campaign manager for U.S.
Representative John Moss’s 1972, 1974, and 1976 reelection
contests.10 After 13 terms in the House, Moss
announced his retirement at the end of the 95th Congress
(1977–1979) and suggested that Matsui run for the open
seat.11 He seemed a natural fit. Like Moss, he was a liberal
with a pro-business approach.12 Matsui won a tight, fiveway
Democratic primary for the urban district, which
encompassed the California state capital. In the general election for the 96th Congress (1979–1981), Republican
Sandy Smoley ran a competitive race against Matsui in the
largely Democratic district. Speaker of the House Thomas
P. (Tip) O’Neill of Massachusetts and President Jimmy
Carter both stumped for Matsui, who struggled with name
recognition in the campaign.13 Ultimately, Matsui prevailed
by a margin of 13,000 votes, winning 53 percent of the
total.14 “I think there [are] only a few times in a person’s
life that they have an opportunity to do something very
important and this is my opportunity,” he told a reporter
after the election. “It might be frustrating, at the same
time I can do it.”15 He won each of the next 12 general
election campaigns by wide margins, and despite weighing
a U.S. Senate run in 1990, remained in the House for the
duration of his political career.
As a House freshman, Matsui initially was assigned to
the Government Operations and Judiciary Committees.
One year later, he left Judiciary and won a seat on the
influential Interstate and Commerce Committee (later
named Energy and Commerce), an assignment previously
held by his predecessor John Moss.16 As a sophomore
in the 97th Congress (1981–1983), Matsui left his
other committee assignments for a post on the exclusive
Ways and Means Committee and a spot on the Select
Committee on Narcotics. In the 100th Congress (1987–1989), Matsui left Narcotics, and in the 102nd Congress
(1991–1993), he joined the Budget Committee.
It was with the assistance of the California delegation
and House leadership that Matsui received the coveted
Ways and Means seat.17 When he became the first
Asian-American Member to serve on that panel, Dan
Rostenkowski of Illinois, the committee’s autocratic
chairman, commented that Matsui was philosophically “a
pretty good package.”18 In 1993 Matsui became interim
chair of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human
Resources, succeeding Harold Ford Sr. of Tennessee.19 A
year later, Matsui was tapped again to serve as an interim
chair, this time on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on
Trade when Sam Gibbons of Florida moved up to chair the
full committee. “The trade subcommittee has a number
of important issues to address this year, and it will take a
concerted effort by our members to meet the challenges
ahead of us,” Matsui said. “I have the utmost confidence in
our committee’s ability to meet those challenges.”20 Matsui
later left the Subcommittee on Trade and moved to the
Subcommittee on Social Security.
On the Ways and Means Committee for most of his
congressional career, Matsui used his knowledge of the
tax code and the memory of his family’s experience with
internment to help further social change and to look
out for the needs of the most vulnerable Americans. In
1985 Ways and Means took center stage as the Ronald
Reagan administration pushed a plan to overhaul the tax
code. With Matsui’s assistance, Chairman Rostenkowski
managed to push through the politically difficult bill
(H.R. 3838). The legislation—eventually signed into law
as the Tax Reform Act of 1986—reduced the number
of tax brackets, altered corporate tax rates, streamlined
deductions, and increased personal tax exemptions.21 In an
op-ed, Matsui argued that the bill, “is fairer and better than
the current tax code.” He added, “It may not be perfect,”
but “a whole lot more low- and middle-income Americans
will be enjoying more of the fruits of their own labor.”22
Matsui also used his seat on the Ways and Means
Committee to push for social equality. “If you think about
welfare reform, if you think about the immigrant-bashing,
if you think about Medicare/Medicaid cuts, essentially
they’re going after the powerless groups that have no
constituency that is vocal, that votes, that are involved
in the political process,” he once observed.23 Matsui
challenged the William J. (Bill) Clinton administration
to ensure that its welfare reform proposals did not place
unrealistic burdens on the recipients of federal aid.
During Ways and Means subcommittee testimony in the
103rd Congress, Matsui confronted officials from the
Department of Health and Human Services, “Can you
discuss this with me in a way that I will feel satisfied and
comfortable that we can move forward and that these
people will not be screwed?”24 He railed against President
George W. Bush’s proposal to privatize Social Security,
challenging the administration to produce a solid plan.
“If the president and leaders of his party are serious about Social Security reform, I urge them to come forward with a
concrete legislative proposal,” he said.25
In the House, Robert Matsui championed the cause
of Japanese-American redress. Joined by fellow California
Representative Norman Y. Mineta, who also spent part
of his childhood in internment camps, Matsui fought for
reparations. From the beginning, Matsui declared he would
not accept any monetary compensation to keep detractors
from accusing him of self-interest.26 During testimony
before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative
Law and Governmental Affairs in 1983, Matsui mourned
Japanese Americans’ loss of constitutional rights.27
In the 99th Congress (1985–1987), Matsui and Mineta
first introduced the Japanese American reparations bill, the
Civil Liberties Act. It was assigned the symbolic number
H.R. 442 to honor the Japanese-American 442nd Combat
Team, one of the most decorated units of World War II
(Senators Spark M. Matsunaga and Daniel K. Inouye of
Hawaii served in the 442nd). Referred to the Judiciary
Committee, the bill did not make it to the floor. But in
the 100th Congress, Mineta and Matsui steered the Civil
Liberties Act to House passage on September 17, 1987.28
In an emotional House Floor speech, Matsui retold his
family’s heart-wrenching story of being uprooted from
their home.29 In the Senate, Spark Matsunaga introduced
the legislation and led the effort to get the bill to the
Senate Floor, where it passed with bipartisan support.30 In
August 1988, it won final passage and was signed into law
by President Reagan. The Civil Liberties Act recognized
the injustice of internment, issued a formal apology to
internees, and provided each surviving internee a sum of
$20,000 from the United States government.31
In the final year of the George H. W. Bush
administration, the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) became a top issue before Congress. The
controversial implementation legislation had become a
focal point of the 1992 presidential election cycle and a
divisive issue for Democrats.32 Democrats in the House
worried about their working-class base and the potential
loss of jobs if companies moved to Mexico for cheaper
labor. By the time NAFTA came up for consideration in
the House, a pro-NAFTA Democrat, Bill Clinton, was
President. But the measure, H.R. 3450, was opposed by
Democratic leadership, including Leader Richard Gephardt
of Missouri and Whip David Bonior of Michigan. Unable
to rely on his party’s Whip operation, which was actively
rallying support against the legislation, President Clinton
turned to Matsui, a free trade proponent and an influential
member on the Ways and Means Committee.33 Without
the formal Whip’s office, Matsui led the Democratic
House NAFTA Liaison Group.34 He managed most of
the floor debate in lieu of the bill’s sponsor, Ways and
Means Chairman Rostenkowski. Matsui also persuaded
Republican colleagues to gather the necessary House
votes, noting that “many of us as we began this process of
NAFTA, just as you felt about us, had trepidations about
whether each of us could trust each other.… Democrats
and Republicans, feel that we have reached a new
beginning with each other.”35 Led by Republican Whip
Newt Gingrich of Georgia, most Republicans stood behind
the trade agreement. With only 102 House Democrats
supporting the bill, it passed, 234 to 200.36 President
Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement
into law on December 8, 1993.37
On the whole, Matsui supported free trade policies and
stayed true to that interest throughout his congressional
career. In 2000 he was called upon again by the Clinton
administration to help gather the necessary votes to grant
permanent normal trade relations with China (H.R. 4444).38
Initially hesitant to accept the job of rounding up the
votes, Matsui was convinced by Commerce Secretary
William Daley.39 The China trade bill had two main
hurdles to overcome to win support : its economic impact
in America and China’s human rights record. During
debate, Matsui addressed the economic benefits and turned
his attention to human rights. “Now, let me also talk about
the issue of human rights. China’s human rights record is
terrible. We understand that. We, obviously, should put
the focus on them, and we believe that the Levin–Bereuter
bill, will, in fact, do that. But what is really interesting is
that many of the Chinese dissidents that have the luxury of
living in the United States are opposed to this. But those that live in China, the Chinese Democracy Movement,
they want us to pass this, because they want to engage the
United States. They think if they gain economic power,
they will be able to oppose the central government of
China. So we need to vote yes on this legislation for the
future of our country and certainly, for prosperity and
peace throughout the world.”40
Matsui’s pragmatic approach to the idea that open trade
would promote human rights allowed him to focus on the
benefits while rounding up the necessary votes. The effort
underscored his reputation as a legislative workhorse. “I
enjoy trying to work through a strategy on how you get
218 votes,” he said.41 Matsui saw the open market with
China as imperative. “I’ve always believed that technology
and trade were the two engines that really drive economic
growth,” he observed. “If we want to continue to be the
number one nation in the world when it comes to job
creation, when it comes to leading the cutting edge, we
have to understand that these things are important.”42 The
trade relations bill passed the House 237 to 197 and was
signed into law on October 10, 2000.
In December 2002, fellow Californian and
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi tapped Matsui to chair
the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
(DCCC), which supports Democratic House candidates.
Matsui was accustomed to fundraising for the party, having
co-chaired the party’s fundraising commission and serving
as the party treasurer during the Clinton administration.43
As the chair of the DCCC, Matsui assumed the position as
the chief fundraiser. In making the announcement, Pelosi
noted that Matsui’s “legislative and political acumen,”
made him a natural choice.44 Upon his selection, Matsui
commented, “I think this gives me an opportunity to play
a significant role in our efforts to take the House back.”
He added, “It’s an added responsibility, there’s no question,
but it’s one where I’ll be able to play a leadership role in
terms of the 2004 elections.”45
But, following the 2004 election cycle, Matsui’s
health deteriorated. After a brief battle with pneumonia,
complicated by a rare blood disease, the 63-year-old
Congressman died on January 1, 2005, in Bethesda,
Maryland, surrounded by his family. A private person,
Matsui had not publicly disclosed his illness, so his sudden
passing came as a shock to the congressional community,
which held a special memorial service in the U.S. Capitol’s
Statuary Hall.
Attending the ceremony, former President Bill Clinton
eulogized Matsui as embodying “everything that was right
with America. And whether he was right on every issue or
not, and whether every battle we fought together was the
right position or not, he was the right sort of person.”46
Matsui’s friend, political commentator Norm Ornstein,
recalled the Californian’s depth of knowledge on the issues
and his equally deep commitment to his constituents.
“Bob became a world-class expert on welfare and Social
Security,” Ornstein said “He was a policy wonk who
loved politics, a gentle man who had a fierce attachment
to his values and policy views, a partisan who wanted to
work with those across the aisle, and a man who could
use ferocious rhetoric to defend the downtrodden but
who seemed to have no enemies, even among those he
excoriated.”47 In his home state of California, Robert
Matsui’s body lay in state at the capitol in Sacramento. In
March 2005, Doris Matsui succeeded her husband in a
special election, winning the election with 68 percent to
continue, as she put it, “Bob’s work” in the House.48
View Record in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
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