Pat Brown
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| Edmund Gerald Brown, Sr. | |
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| In office January 5, 1959 – January 2, 1967 |
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| Lieutenant | Glenn M. Anderson |
| Preceded by | Goodwin Knight |
| Succeeded by | Ronald Reagan |
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| Born | April 21, 1905 San Francisco, California |
| Died | February 16, 1996 (aged 90) Beverly Hills, California |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Bernice Layne |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
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Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown Sr. (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was the 32nd Governor of California, serving from 1959 to 1967.
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[edit] Background
Brown was born in San Francisco, the son of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. He was one of four children. His father was Irish Catholic, his mother a German Protestant. He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years. When he was 12 years old, he sold Liberty Bonds on street corners. He would end his spiel with, "Give me liberty, or give me death."[citation needed] The nickname was a reference to his Patrick Henry-like oratory. He graduated from Lowell High School where he was a high school debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. After high school, Brown skipped college and instead worked in his father's cigar store and ran an illegal gambling room,[citation needed] while studying law at a local night school. He graduated from San Francisco Law School in 1927. He took some University of California extension courses, but acquired his broad knowledge through reading widely.
Pat Brown started a law practice in San Francisco. He ran as a Republican for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost. He waited until 1939 to run again, this time as a Democrat, for District Attorney for San Francisco against Matthew Brady. Again, he lost. He ran again for the same position in 1943, and finally won. He served here for seven years, and made his name attacking bookies and underground abortion providers,[citation needed] before running for, and winning, election as Attorney General of California. He served in that role for eight years. While he was the Attorney General, he was the only member of the Democratic Party to win statewide election. In 1949, he raided Sally Stanford's elegant San Francisco bordello [1].
In 1958, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of California. He defeated U.S. Senator William F. Knowland by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points. He was reelected in 1962, defeating former Vice President Richard Nixon. He lost the 1966 election to another future Republican President, Ronald Reagan.
Brown's two terms as governor are generally regarded as successful. His time in office was marked by an enormous water-resources development program (which later evolved into the California Aqueduct, which also bears his name "The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct" ), the enactment of the California Master Plan for Higher Education, fair employment practices, state economic development commission, and a consumers' council. He sponsored some forty major proposals. Only five failed to pass the legislature: state-wide minimum wage, regulation of unions, campaign finance, and an oil tax. He more than doubled the amount of state highways.[citation needed]
As for capital punishment, Brown commuted 23 death sentences (first time just second day after taking office) and allowed 36 executions[2], including highly controversial case of Caryl Chessman in 1960 and Elizabeth Duncan - last female put to death before national moratorium was enacted.
Brown himself opposed the death penalty[3] and no execution took place after 1963 Berkeley.edu][4].
During Chessman case he also proposed death penalty to be abolished, but proposal failed[5]. His Republican successor, Ronald Reagan, was a firmly death penalty supporter and oversaw last pre-Furman execution in California in 1967.
[edit] Personal life
Brown met his wife, Bernice Layne, when he was young. They were childhood sweethearts. They married in 1930. She was the daughter of a San Francisco police captain. They had four children: a son, Edmund, Jr. ("Jerry"), and three daughters: Kathleen Brown, Barbara Brown Casey, and Cynthia Brown Kelly. In 1974, Jerry Brown was elected the 34th Governor of California. He was reelected in 1978, was defeated in a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1982, and was elected California Attorney General in 2006. Kathleen Brown was elected California State Treasurer in 1990 and was defeated in a bid for Governor of California in 1994. Pat Brown's granddaughter's, Sascha Rice and Hilary Armstrong, are currently making a documentary film on their grandfather. [www.patbrowndocumentary.com]
Pat Brown died aged 90 in Beverly Hills and is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma.
| “ | My son asked me what I hoped to accomplish as Governor. I told him: essentially to make life more comfortable for people, as far as government can. I think that embraces everything from developing the water resources vital to California's growth, to getting a man to work and back fifteen minutes earlier if it can be done through a state highway program. | ” |
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- — Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, Sr.
[edit] Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate
Unlike his son, Jerry, Pat Brown never seriously ran for President of the United States, but he frequently was California's favorite son, running exclusively in his home state.
During 1952 Democratic primaries Brown placed distant second to Estes Kefauver in total votes (65.04% to 9.97%)[6], losing vote in California to him[7].
While Governor, Brown was again California's favorite son in 1960, winning his home state with a large margin to only opponent George H. McLain[8]. Like other favorite sons (like Governor of Ohio Michael DiSalle of Florida Senator George Smathers) he was not a serious candidate, like John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Adlai Stevenson II or Stuart Symington. Thanks to his sole California victory, however, he was again second in total vote, just behind Kennedy[9]. Despite this he won one vote for President at 1960 Democratic National Convention[10].
During 1964 primaries he technically, again thanks to only California's votes[11] placed first in primary total number[12]. He, like other candidates (except George Wallace), was only a stalking horse for incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson, whose nomination was assured.
As for Vice Presidency he briefly sought nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, winning one vote[13].
[edit] Political party identity in California
Prior to 1959, loyalty to a political party was not important in California. Through a practice known as cross-filing, a person could run in both the Democratic primary and the Republican primary at the same time. As indicated in the article on the California Democratic Party, Governor Earl Warren did so in 1946 and 1950. Cross-filing was abolished in 1959. Thus the fact that Brown first ran for office as a Republican and later as a Democrat was not, at that time, as significant in California as it would have been elsewhere.
[edit] Bibliography
- Rarick, Ethan California Rising: The Life and Times of Pat Brown, University of California Press. (2005) ISBN 0520236270, the standard scholarly biography
- R. Rapoport. California Dreaming: The Political Odyssey of Pat & Jerry Brown, Berkeley: Nolo Press, ISBN 0917316487
[edit] References
- ^ SFGate.com 19 December 1999
- ^ New York Times
- ^ [http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/uchistory/archives_exhibits/masterplan/bios.html
- ^ [1]
- ^ New York Times
- ^ ourcampaigns.com
- ^ [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=35874 ourcampaigns.com
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=35944
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55200
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=58375
- ^ ourcampaigns.com
- ^ [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55202 ourcampaigns.com
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=59952
[edit] External links
- Official Biography and portrait from State of California
- Brown family of California at Political Graveyard
www.patbrowndocumentary.com
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Frederick N. Howser |
California Attorney General 1951–1959 |
Succeeded by Stanley Mosk |
| Preceded by Goodwin Knight |
Governor of California 1959–1967 |
Succeeded by Ronald Reagan |
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