Moscone-Milk Assassinations
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The Moscone-Milk Assassinations took place on Monday, November 27, 1978 when Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White in San Francisco City Hall.
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[edit] Preceding events
Dan White was an unstable man throughout his life. He became a police officer then quit and moved away then came back and joined the police department again and then quit to join the San Francisco Fire Department. He was then elected to the board of supervisors while still on the SFFD and had to resign as a firefighter because a city official can't have two city government jobs. This salary wasn't enough to keep White's family supported. This was one of the reasons White resigned from the Board. On November 10, 1978, White resigned from the Board of Supervisors. Many suspected that he resigned because he didn't support a gay rights bill that was made into law and this is probably one of the many reasons he resigned. White then decided that he wanted his job back.
[edit] Assassinations
George Moscone was ready to announce that he had chosen a new supervisor to fill White's vacant seat and he was going to announce that at 11:30 AM. Harvey Milk was in his office across City Hall and was in a happy mood that morning. Dan White was going to City Hall with a gun hidden in his jacket and asked a friend who didn't know what White was up to drive him to City Hall. Moscone was meeting with Willie Brown and had his appointee Don Horanzy and his family, are in the reception area. White then left his friend and asked him to pick him up later. White then entered through a basement window to avoid the metal detectors at the main entrance. The person in the room was wondering why White was coming through the window. Obviously recognizing him, and being told White lost his keys to the supervisor’s entrance, the person believed him and let him go unknown about White's plot.
[edit] Moscone's Assassination
White then goes through the rotunda to get to the mayor's office and enters a smaller less crowded reception room. The secretary let White in but made sure it was for a short time. White then confronted Moscone asking for his job back and Moscone kept on saying no. They went into another room where White shot Moscone two times in the abdomen and twice in the head. White then escaped through a window and re-entered city hall.
[edit] Milk's Assassination
White then passed by Dianne Feinstein and said a brief hello. White then ran into Harvey Milk and wanted to talk to him. Milk and White began to argue and White shot Milk three times in the back and twice in the head. White then went through the rotunda and left City Hall and went back to his friend's car. Deputy Mayor Rudy Nothenberg found Moscone. Nothenberg didn't see Moscone in there and then went into the other room and found Moscone face down with blood everywhere. Milk was found by Dianne Feinstein just a short time later. Feinstein then announced that both Moscone and Milk were killed and that she was the Mayor for the time being. White was then taken by his friend to nearby St Mary's Cathedral to meet his wife. White then told his wife about what happened and she urged him to turn himself in. Just an hour later, White turned himself in at the Northern Police Station where he worked and was arrested for the murders.
[edit] Aftermath
Moscone and Milk were honored and mourned greatly by San Francisco. Their bodies lay in state at City Hall for people to come and pay their respects to Moscone and Milk. Moscone had his funeral at St Mary's Cathedral attended by 4,500 people. He was then buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma. Milk was cremated and his ashes were spread across the Pacific Ocean. White was tried but found not guilty in the murders, which sparked the White Night Riots. Dan White then committed suicide in 1985 while on parole. Moscone and Milk and greatly honored in San Francisco and are to people, martyrs of gay-rights
