George Moscone

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George Moscone

37th Mayor of San Francisco
In office January 8, 1976 – November 27, 1978
Preceded by	Joseph Alioto
Succeeded by	Dianne Feinstein

Born	November 24, 1929 San Francisco, California
Died	November 27, 1978 San Francisco City Hall
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Gina Bodanza
Religion	Roman Catholic

George Richard Moscone (November 24, 1929–November 27, 1978) (pronounced "mos-cone-ee") was the mayor of San Francisco, California from January 1976 until his assassination in November 1978.

1 Background
2 Career
- 2.1 Early politics
- 2.2 Mayor of San Francisco
3 Assassination
4 Legacy
5 In popular culture
6 References

[edit] Background

Moscone was born in San Francisco, California. His father was a San Quentin State Prison guard and his mother a homemaker. Moscone attended University of the Pacific and then Hastings College of the Law, where he got his law degree. While in college, Moscone befriended John Burton, who would later become a US Congressman. During this time Moscone also met and married his wife, Gina. The Moscones would go on to have four children.

[edit] Career

[edit] Early politics

John Burton's brother, Phillip, a member of the California State Assembly recruited Moscone to run for an Assembly seat in 1960 as a Democrat. Though he lost that race, Moscone would go on to win a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1963. On the Board, Moscone was known for his defense of the poor, racial minorities and small business owners. In 1966 Moscone ran for and won a seat in the California State Senate. Moscone was quickly rising through the ranks of the California Democratic Party and became closely associated with a loose alliance of progressive politicians in San Francisco led by the Burton brothers. This alliance was known as the Burton Machine and included John Burton, Phillip Burton, and Assemblyman Willie Brown. Soon after his election to the State Senate, Moscone was elected by his party to serve as Majority Leader. He successfully sponsored legislation to institute a school lunch program for California students. In 1974 Moscone briefly considered a run for governor of California, but dropped out after a short time in favor of California Secretary of State Jerry Brown. Moscone was an early proponent of gay rights, and in conjunction with his friend and ally in the Assembly, Willie Brown, Moscone managed to pass a bill repealing California's sodomy law. The repeal was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown.

[edit] Mayor of San Francisco

Moscone decided in 1975 to run for Mayor of San Francisco. In a close race in November of that year, Moscone placed first with conservative city supervisor John Barbagelata second and moderate supervisor Dianne Feinstein coming in third. Moscone and Barbagelata thus both advanced to the mandated runoff election in December where Moscone narrowly defeated the conservative supervisor. Progressives also won the city's other top executive offices that year as Joseph Freitas was elected District Attorney and Richard Hongisto was re-elected to his office of Sheriff. Moscone's first year as Mayor was spent preventing the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team from moving to another city and advocating a city-wide ballot proposition in favor of district election to the Board of Supervisors. Moscone was the first mayor to appoint large numbers of women, gays and lesbians and racial minorities to city commissions and advisory boards. One of his most controversial appointments was that of the Reverend Jim Jones, head of the Peoples Temple, to the city's Housing Commission. The People's Temple would later be discovered to be a thinly-veiled cult headed by the demagogic and mentally unstable Jones. Moscone also appointed liberal former Oakland Police Chief Charles Gain to head the San Francisco Police Department. Gain (and by extension Moscone) became highly unpopular among rank and file San Francisco police officers for proposing a settlement to a lawsuit brought by minorities claiming discriminatory recruiting practices by the police force.

During his tenure, Moscone adamantly opposed the construction of the proposed Yerba Buena convention center, arguing that the massive structures would displace hundreds of longtime working class residents from the SOMA neighborhood. Ironically, the convention center, one of the largest in the United States, currently bears his name.

In 1977 Moscone, Freitas and Hongisto all easily survived a recall election pushed by defeated Moscone opponent John Barbagelata and business interests. That year also marked the passage of the district election system by San Francisco voters. The city's first district elections for Board of Supervisors took place in November of 1977. Among those elected were the city's first openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk, single mother and attorney Carol Ruth Silver, Chinese-American Gordon Lau and conservative fireman and former police officer Dan White. Milk, Silver, and Lau along with John Molinari and Robert Gonzales made up Moscone's allies on the Board, while Dan White, Dianne Feinstein, Quentin Kopp, Ella Hill Hutch, Lee Dolson, and Ron Pelosi formed a loosely organized coalition to oppose Moscone and his initiatives. Feinstein was elected President of the Board of Supervisors on a 6-5 vote, with Moscone's supporters backing Lau. It was generally believed that Feinstein, having twice lost election to the office of mayor would support Kopp against Moscone in the 1979 election and retire rather than run for the Board again.

[edit] Assassination

Main article: Moscone-Milk Assassinations

Late in 1978, Dan White resigned from the Board of Supervisors. His resignation meant that Moscone would chose White's successor, and thus could tip the Board's balance of power in Moscone's favor. Recognizing this, those who supported a more conservative agenda talked White into changing his mind. White requested that Moscone re-appoint him to his former seat.

Moscone originally indicated a willingess to do so, but more liberal city leaders, including Milk, lobbied him against the idea, and Moscone ultimately decided not to re-appoint White. On November 27, 1978, White went to San Francisco City Hall to meet with Moscone and make a final plea for re-appointment. When Moscone refused to yield, White shot Moscone to death, then went to Milk's office and also shot Milk to death.

White later turned himself in at the police station where he was formerly an officer. Even though he had carried a gun, 10 extra rounds, and crawled through a window to avoid metal detectors, White denied premeditation.

Dianne Feinstein, President of the Board of Supervisors, was sworn in as the city's new mayor and in the following years would emerge as one of California's most prominent politicians.

[edit] Legacy

Moscone is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California. Today, both he and Milk are mourned as martyrs of the gay rights movement.

Moscone Center, San Francisco's largest convention center and exhibition hall, and Moscone Recreation Center are named in his honor.

Moscone and Milk also have two schools named after them. George Moscone Elementary and Harvey Milk Elementary.

The term "Twinkie defense" has its origins in the trial that followed, in which Dan White was given a lesser sentence of manslaughter instead of murder.

In 1980, sculptor Robert Arneson was commissioned to create a monument to Moscone to be installed in the new Moscone Convention Center. The bust portraying Moscone was done in Arneson's typically crude and expressionistic style and was considered acceptable by San Francisco's Art Commission. However, the pedestal which the former Mayor's head rested on was deemed inappropriate and Arneson was asked to change it. At issue were references to Harvey Milk, the assassinations, the "Twinkie Defense," the White Night Riots, and Diane Feinstein's mayoral succession that Arneson had included on the surface of the pedestal. Arneson refused to make alterations to the work, returned the commission, and later resold the sculpture.

[edit] In popular culture

The Dead Kennedys' version of "I Fought the Law" contains numerous refernces to Moscone's murder

[edit] References

Wolfgang Saxon. "George Moscone, a Firm Mayor Who Stressed Anticrime Effort." The New York Times. November 28, 1978. B12.
Wallace Turner. "San Francisco Mayor is Slain; City Supervisor Also Killed; Ex-Official Gives Up to Police." The New York Times. November 28, 1978. A1
George Moscone at the Notable Names Database