Alan Cranston
Alan MacGregor Cranston (June 19, 1914 – December 31, 2000) was an American politician and journalist who served as a United States Senator from California from 1969 to 1993, and as a President of the World Federalist Association from 1949 to 1952.
Alan Cranston
Alan K. Simpson
Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Robert Byrd
Ted Stevens
Alan K. Simpson
December 31, 2000 (aged 86)
Los Altos, California, U.S.
2
1944–1945
Born in Palo Alto, California, Cranston worked as a journalist after graduating from Stanford University. After serving as California State Controller, he was elected to the Senate in 1968. He served as the Senate Democratic Whip from 1977 to 1991. In 1984, Cranston sought the Democratic presidential nomination, advocating a nuclear freeze during the later stages of the Cold War. He dropped out after the first set of primaries.
In 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee reprimanded Cranston for his role in the savings and loan crisis as a member of the Keating Five. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, he decided not to run for a fifth term. After his retirement from the Senate, he served as president of the Global Security Institute and advocated for the global abolition of nuclear weapons.
Early life and education[edit]
Cranston was born in Palo Alto, California, the son of Carol (née Dixon) and William MacGregor Cranston. He attended Pomona College for one year and studied abroad for a summer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico before graduating from Stanford University in 1936 with a degree in English.[1]
Public office[edit]
State Controller[edit]
A Democrat, Cranston was elected California State Controller in 1958, reelected in 1962, and defeated for reelection in 1966.
U.S. Senator[edit]
In 1968, Cranston was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Senate, defeating Republican state Superintendent of Schools Max Rafferty in the general election after the staunchly conservative Rafferty had narrowly defeated the liberal Republican incumbent, Thomas Kuchel, in that party's primary.
The election was marred by mudslinging. A conservative writer, Frank Capell, authored a pamphlet suggesting that Cranston might have had Communist leanings in his youth, and that during his stint at the Office of War Information he helped falsely convince Franklin D. Roosevelt that Nazi Germany had perpetrated the Katyń massacre. Many of the same allegations were recycled in an article that ran in American Opinion in 1974 titled "Alan Cranston: The Shadow in the Senate". (The article's title was a reference to Lamont Cranston, the main character in the popular radio program The Shadow.)
During his first few months in office, Cranston introduced a resolution calling for President Nixon to halt closing 59 Job Corps Centers.[5] He amended the original resolution to include a June 30 deadline that would allow Congress to do a study of the targeted facilities and removed language criticizing the Nixon administration for damaging trainees' lives by closing the facilities. In April 1969, the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee approved the revised Cranston proposal in a vote of 10 to 6. Cranston predicted victory for the resolution when it was taken up for a vote by the entire chamber,[6] but the Senate defeated it on May 13, 1969, by a vote of 52 to 40.[5]
In a September 12, 1971 statement, Cranston disputed the Pentagon's claims that military manpower and national security would be threatened if Congress did not renew Nixon's draft authority and said he would filibuster the draft measure.[7]
In September 1973, Cranston introduced an amendment that would reduce American forces overseas by 20% in the next 18 months and would include naval forces. It was introduced as a fallback amendment to the 40% reduction in American forces overseas Senator Mike Mansfield had offered.[8]
In November 1973, Cranston announced his support for the nomination of Gerald Ford as vice president. He said his support came after consulting "several hundred persons—Democrats and Republicans, business and labor leaders, elected politicians and party functionaries—in his own state of California" and finding little opposition to Ford.[9]
On April 23, 1974, Cranston stated that members of the Veterans Administration had been encouraged to contribute to Nixon's reelection campaign and that head of the Veterans Administration Donald E. Johnson was privy to these activities. Cranston's allegations were corroborated later that day by a former VA employee.[10]
In 1974, Cranston defeated Republican H.L. "Bill" Richardson, a conservative state senator previously affiliated with the John Birch Society. Cranston polled 3,693,160 votes (60.5%) to Richardson's 2,210,267 (36.2%).
In 1979, after 19 senators signed a letter indicating that their support for the SALT II treaty hinged on President Jimmy Carter's response to its impact on U.S. defense posture, Cranston said their concerns were legitimate but mostly did not "relate directly to the text of the SALT II treaty" and it was likely that their reservations about the treaty could be resolved without using killer amendments.[11]
In 1980, Cranston defeated Republican Paul Gann, 4,705,399 (56.5%) to 3,093,426 (37.1%). His campaign was notable for a July 31 benefit that was the last concert the Eagles played at together for 14 years. During the event Cranston's wife thanked Eagles guitarist Don Felder for performing, to which Felder reportedly replied, "You're welcome...I guess." Bandmate Glenn Frey took exception to Felder's comment, leading to onstage bickering and the band's breakup immediately after the concert.[12][13]
In March 1981, Cranston was one of 24 elected officials to issue a joint statement calling on the Reagan administration to find a peaceful solution to the Ulster conflict.[14]
In April 1981, during a Senate floor speech, Cranston asserted that India and Pakistan had entered the final stages of their preparation for nuclear test sites, speculating that India "will decide to make another test at the Pokaran site in the next few months" and Pakistan "could produce the fissile materials for a similar test, perhaps by the end of this year, most likely by the end of 1982." He did not identify the source of his information, but senior Reagan administration officials verified "the gist of Senator Cranston's information."[15]
The New York Times called Cranston a "bald, craggy-looking, none-too-charismatic man."[16]
Cranston was reelected in 1986, narrowly defeating Republican nominee Congressman Ed Zschau after an expensive and heated election.
On October 2, 1990, Cranston was one of nine senators to vote against the nomination of David Souter for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.[17][18]
Retirement and death[edit]
He dedicated his retirement to the global abolition of nuclear weapons, first through the Nuclear Weapon Elimination Initiative of the State of the World Forum, and then as President of the Global Security Institute, which he founded in 1999.[22]
He lived in Los Altos, California, from his retirement until his death on December 31, 2000.