Matsui, Robert Takeo

▪ 2006

      American politician (b. Sept. 17, 1941, Sacramento, Calif.—d. Jan. 1, 2005, Bethesda, Md.), was U.S. congressman from the 5th district of California from 1979 until his death. From 1942 to 1945 the U.S. government confined Matsui and his family in an internment camp on suspicion of disloyalty because of their Japanese ethnicity. In 1971 Matsui was elected to the city council of Sacramento, where he remained, becoming vice mayor in 1977, until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1978. Matsui worked for the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s and helped write legislation that was instrumental in creating the State Children's Health Insurance Program; he also led in the effort that resulted in a fund for reparations for the 120,000 Japanese-Americans who spent time in internment camps during World War II.

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