ABSTRACT
Norman Y. Mineta became a co-sponsor of the bill that originally was introduced by Congressman Edward Roybal, and with his sponsorship the Japanese American Citizens League had a new incentive to support passage of the bill. It was through Danielson's efforts that the first congressional hearing on the hibakusha aid bill was finally scheduled for Los Angeles on March 31, 1978, nearly six years after the bill was first introduced. Supporters of the bill feared that even if a hearing were held it would certainly be in Washington, which would have made it extremely difficult to send any witnesses. The problem of the hibakusha in the United States was not fully understood even within the Japanese American community, let alone by the American public at large. The hibakusha were indeed of concern to many elderly Issei and Kibei Nisei, but it remained to be seen how many would actually show up at the hearing.
