Patsy Matsu Mink (née Takemoto; Japanese: 竹本 マツ,[1] December 6, 1927 – September 28, 2002) was an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Hawaii.

William Pogue, Gojiro's employer, arranged to have Tateyama's daughters educated at the Maunaolu Seminary, a boarding school for Christian girls located in the town of Makawao.

He resigned his local position in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, and moved to Honolulu with his family, where he established his own land surveying company.

[16] Takemoto moved to Honolulu where she attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with medical school and a career in medicine her ultimate goal.

[17] Although her campaign was successful, in 1947 Takemoto experienced a serious thyroid condition that required surgery and moved back to Honolulu to recover and finish her final year of college at the University of Hawaii.

Although she had a difficult time adjusting to the harsh winters[14] and found her courses tedious, Takemoto became a popular figure at the International House.

[19] While playing bridge there one evening, she met John Francis Mink, a former U.S. Air Force navigator and World War II veteran,[20] who was enrolled in geology classes.

[3][21][28] With the help of her father, she established a private firm and began teaching law courses at the University of Hawaii to earn money while she built her practice.

She was elected "chairman of the territory-wide Young Democrats", which according to Esther K. Arinaga and Renee E. Ojiri was "a group that would wield a remarkable influence over Hawaiian politics for several decades".

[32] That year at the national convention in Los Angeles, she gained recognition when she spoke on the party's position in regard to civil rights.

[36][37] Her independent nature continued to guide her decisions[43] and she focused on issues that had been important to her in the Hawaiian legislature, such as children, education, and gender equality.

Phillips had been denied a position because she was a woman with children and Mink's objection highlighted, for the first time in an evaluation of a court nominee, the inequalities faced by working women.

[15] Mink sued the Environmental Protection Agency in 1971, to obtain copies of documents that were being withheld by Nixon's office with regard to nuclear testing on Amchitka Island.

Frustrated by the roll-backs by the Nixon administration of civil liberties and the continuance of the Vietnam War, Mink entered the presidential race in 1971 hoping to become the Democratic Party's nominee.

Arriving in April, the women met with Nguyễn Thị Bình, foreign minister for North Vietnam, as well as representatives for the South Vietnamese and United States governments.

These included the Consumer Product Safety and Equal Employment Opportunity Acts of 1972; the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974;[46] and various bills dealing with discrimination in insurance practices, pensions, retirement benefits, social security, survivor's benefits and taxation; equitable jury service; health care issues; housing discrimination based on marital status; and privacy issues.

[46] Together with Abzug and Representative Margaret Heckler of Massachusetts, she pledged to sponsor and support legislation for a U.S. women's conference for the United States Bicentennial.

[50] In 1976, learning that she had been given the experimental drug diethylstilbestrol, during her pregnancy, which unwittingly placed both her and her daughter at risk of developing cancer, Mink brought a class action lawsuit against Eli Lilly and Company and the University of Chicago.

[43][60] That year, she also filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission which successfully required radio stations to provide equal air time to opposing views.

After she lost the primary election for the Senate seat to Hawaii's other U.S. Representative, Spark Matsunaga, President Jimmy Carter appointed Mink as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

[60] She worked on environmental issues such as deep sea mining, toxic waste, and whale protection, holding the post from March 1977 to May 1978.

[36][50] Mink resigned from the Carter Administration in 1980, accepting a position as president of the Americans for Democratic Action in Washington, D. C. She was the first woman to head the national organization and served three consecutive one-year terms.

When the Senate Judiciary Committee denied Anita Hill the opportunity to give testimony, Mink, and other congresswomen, including Barbara Boxer of California, Louise Slaughter of New York, and Pat Schroeder of Colorado, marched to the Capitol to protest the decision.

[61] She co-sponsored the Gender Equity Act of 1993, pressed for universal health care,[44] and introduced a bill to protect reproductive decisions as an individual right.

[66][55] She worked on legislation regarding displaced homemakers, minimum wage increases, occupational safety, pay inequality, and violence against women.

She opposed legislation that would limit liability for product injuries and work place discrimination and objected to the ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

[66] She was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act[55] and staunchly opposed the creation of the United States Department of Homeland Security, fearing that it might avert civil liberties and result in another occurrence of policies like the internment camps for Japanese Americans during World War II.

[29] Mink and other members of the House of Representatives objected to counting the 25 electoral votes from Florida which George W. Bush narrowly won after a contentious recount.

[29] In recognition of the national mourning of her death, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered all flags at military institutions lowered to half staff in her honor.

As the bill was an educational funding law, women's athletic director, Donnis Thompson used it as leverage to expand sporting opportunities at the university in spite of intense opposition.