Pat Brown
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he was later elected Attorney General of California in 1950, before becoming the state's governor after the 1958 California gubernatorial election.
This article is about the California politician. For other uses, see Pat Brown (disambiguation).
Pat Brown
Earl Warren
Goodwin Knight
February 16, 1996 (aged 90)
Beverly Hills, California
Democratic (1932–1996)
Republican (before 1932)
Lawyer
Born in San Francisco, Brown had an early interest in speaking and politics. He skipped college and he earned an LL.B. law degree in 1927. In his first term as governor, Brown delivered on major legislation, including a tax increase and the California Master Plan for Higher Education. The California State Water Project was a major and highly complex achievement. He also pushed through civil-rights legislation. In a second term, troubles mounted, including the defeat of a fair housing law (1964 California Proposition 14), the 1960s Berkeley protests, the Watts riots, and internal battles among Democrats over support or opposition to the Vietnam War. He lost the 1966 California gubernatorial election for a third term to future president Ronald Reagan; his legacy has since earned him regard as the builder of modern California.[1][2]
His son Jerry Brown was the 34th and 39th Governor of California, as well as the 31st Attorney General of California, holding two offices he once held. His daughter, Kathleen Brown, was the 29th California State Treasurer.
Background[edit]
Brown was born in San Francisco, California, one of four children of Ida (née Schuckman) and Edmund Joseph Brown. His father came from an Irish Catholic family, with his grandfather Joseph immigrating from County Tipperary, Ireland. His mother Ida was from a German Protestant family.[3][4][5] He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years; the nickname was a reference to his Patrick Henry–like oratory. When he was 12 and selling Liberty Bonds on street corners, he would end his spiel with, "Give me liberty, or give me death."[6]
Brown was a debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society at San Francisco's Lowell High School, where he held twelve offices of student government; he graduated from Lowell in 1923. Rather than pursue an undergraduate degree, he instead worked in his father's cigar store, which doubled as a gambling shop. He studied law at night, while working part-time for attorney Milton Schmitt, receiving an LL.B. degree from San Francisco Law School in spring 1927. After passing the California bar exam the following fall, he began full-time employment in Schmitt's office.[7][8]
Brown ran as a Republican Party candidate for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost badly; he moved to the Democratic Party in 1934, as the Great Depression had made him lose confidence in the pro-business Republican Party. He quickly became a New Dealer, and an active party participant. His second attempt at election to public office came in 1939, running for District Attorney of San Francisco against Matthew Brady, an incumbent of twenty-two years, who beat him handily.[4][8]
District attorney[edit]
Four years after his defeat, Brown ran for district attorney again in 1943 with the slogan "Crack down on crime, elect Brown this time." His victory over Brady was decisive, coming to the surprise of San Francisco politicians, as well as bookmakers who had put 5 to 1 odds against his election. He was reelected to the office in 1947, and after seven years in office, received the support of Republican Governor Earl Warren. He emulated the course followed by Warren when the Governor himself was the Alameda County district attorney. His actions against gambling, corruption, and juvenile delinquency brought attention to his office.[9]
In 1946, as the Democratic nominee, Brown lost the race for Attorney General of California to Los Angeles County District Attorney, Frederick N. Howser. Running again in 1950, he won election as Attorney General and was re-elected in 1954. As Attorney General, he was the only Democrat to win statewide election in California.[10]
Brown's wife, Bernice Layne, was a fellow student at Lowell High School, but it was not until the completion of his law degree, and her teaching credential, that they began a courtship. Following his loss in the Assembly election, he and Bernice eloped in 1929.[8] They had four children, who were all born in San Francisco:
In 1958, as governor-elect, Brown appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show What's My Line?[32]
Brown died at age 90 in Beverly Hills and is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma.
Presidential and vice presidential candidate[edit]
Unlike his son Jerry Brown, Pat himself never seriously ran for President of the United States, but was frequently California's "favorite son." During the 1952 Democratic primaries, Brown placed distant second to Estes Kefauver in total votes (65.04% to 9.97%),[33] losing California to Kefauver.[34] During Governor Brown's first term, the national census confirmed that California would become the nation's most populous state.[35] This, along with Brown's political popularity, would contribute to two national presidential victories, when he pledged his votes to the national candidates, John F. Kennedy in 1960, and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, at the Democratic conventions. As governor, Brown was again California's favorite son in 1960, winning his home state with a large margin to his only opponent, George H. McLain.[36] Running only in the California primary, the state's sheer population size placed him second, behind the eventual nominee, John F. Kennedy,[37] thus repeating his 1952 state and national rankings. However, only one delegate cast his vote for Brown at the 1960 Democratic National Convention.[38]
During the 1964 primaries, by running again only in California, the nation's largest state electorate vote, Brown placed first this time in both the California and the Democratic national primary total,[39] besting the eventual nominee. However, along with over a dozen other candidates, aside from George Wallace, Brown was a stalking horse for incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson, whose nomination was assured.[40]
Brown also briefly sought the vice presidential nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention, winning one vote.[41]