Willie Brown: From Texas Roots to California Political Icon
Willie Lewis Brown Jr. stands as a towering figure in late 20th and early 21st-century American politics. His journey from a segregated upbringing in Mineola, Texas, to becoming the first African American Speaker of the California State Assembly and a two-term mayor of San Francisco is a testament to his political acumen, resilience, and ability to navigate complex political landscapes. Brown's career, spanning over four decades, has left an indelible mark on California and the nation.
Early Life and Education: Laying the Foundation
Born on March 20, 1934, in Mineola, Texas, Willie Brown's early life was shaped by the realities of segregation and racial tensions. Despite these challenges, he developed an early interest in government. In 1951, Brown migrated from Texas to California, virtually penniless. He enrolled at San Francisco State, hoping to become a math instructor. Although Brown did not initially meet the qualifications for San Francisco State College, a professor facilitated his admission on probation. He adjusted to college studies by working especially hard to catch up in his first semester. Once in college though, he was quickly swept up into the world of campus politics. He joined the Young Democrats and became friends with John L. Burton. He became active in his church, and in the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. Brown worked as a doorman, janitor, and shoe salesman to pay for college.
In 1955, he received a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State University). After earning a degree in political science, Willie Brown went to Hastings law school, where he was elected president of his class. Three years later, in 1958, he earned a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law. Brown also worked as a janitor while attending law school.
Early Career and Rise in California Politics
There were few African American attorneys practicing in San Francisco at the time, and Brown made a name for himself in the community by taking on cases other attorneys would have dismissed as hopeless. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brown was one of a few African-Americans practicing law in San Francisco when he opened his own business. He practiced criminal defense law, representing pimps, prostitutes, and other clients that more prominent attorneys would not represent. One early case was to defend Mario Savio on his first civil disobedience arrest.
In 1964, Brown won election to the California State Assembly. Elected to the Assembly in 1964, Brown entered office when Pat Brown was governor. He continued to be reelected to the Assembly until 1995. Throughout the ’60s and onto the ’70s, Brown played an increasingly important role in the California Democratic Party. He made his first impact on the national stage in 1972, when he electrified delegates to the Democratic National Convention with a fiery speech delivered during a credentials fight.
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In the 1960s, Brown served as chair of the Legislative Representation Committee, a powerful position that helped him climb the Assembly ranks. Appointed to chair the Legislative Representation Committee, he used the post to enhance his position in the legislature and to facilitate his rise to power. He became the Democrats' Assembly whip in 1969. Brown also served on the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.
The Speakership: A Reign of Power and Influence
When Unruh stepped down in 1974, Brown seized the chance to run for Speaker of the Assembly but did not win. By 1980, Brown was ready to try for the Speakership again, and won the office with an unexpected coalition of 28 Republicans and only 23 Democrats. Brown was California's first Black American speaker of the Assembly, and served in the office from 1981 to 1995. From 1980 to 1995 he exercised unprecedented power in the legislature as the longest-serving speaker of the Assembly in state history.
Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Brown exercised unprecedented power in the legislature, dictating budget agreements to a succession of Governors, Democratic and Republican. Brown's long service in the Assembly and political connections, his strong negotiation skills, and the Assembly's tenure system for leadership appointments combined to give Brown nearly complete control over the California legislature by the time he became Assembly Speaker.
In 1990, he helped negotiate an end to a 64-day budget standoff. When Willie Brown ran for re-election in 1994, California’s newly-enacted term limits assured that it would be his last stint in the legislature. Although Brown easily retained his Assembly seat in 1994, Republicans won a one-vote majority in the California State Assembly and it appeared that Willie Brown’s record-setting tenure as Speaker was finally over. Brown pulled off a remarkable upset, clinging to his leadership of the Assembly by a margin of a single vote, cast by a Republican member whose loyalty Brown had won in an earlier session. When the Republican dissenter was recalled in a special election, Brown stunned the opposition again, by persuading another Republican member to stand for Speaker against the Republicans’ chosen leader. Brown’s choice won the votes of all Democrats and a single Republican in the Assembly. When Brown’s chosen successor was also recalled, he persuaded Democrats to support the candidacy of the one Republican who had supported Brown’s choice for Speaker, thereby dooming the hopes of Brown’s Republican rival for a third time. The Republican majority were forced to withdraw their first choice and elected a fourth Speaker for the brief remainder of the Assembly session.
As Speaker, he worked to defeat the Three Strikes Law. Brown led efforts in the Assembly for state universities to divest from South Africa and to increase AIDS research funding. He helped obtain state funds for San Francisco, including funding for public health and mental health funds. Brown had a reputation in the Assembly for his ability to manage people. Republican State Senator Ken Maddy of Fresno noted Brown's ability to "size up the situation and create, sometimes on the spot, a winning strategy." According to Hobson, "He was a brilliant daycare operator. … He knew exactly how to hold the hand of his Assembly members.
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Mayor of San Francisco: Leading a City Through Change
Willie Brown had returned to San Francisco to run for Mayor. He faced considerable challenges, including an incumbent opponent with broader appeal to the political center, and two challengers from the left, one with considerable appeal to the city’s large gay community. Brown’s natural base of support among African Americans counted for little in a city where they were less than a quarter of the city’s population. After a fiercely fought primary contest, Brown won the right to face the incumbent mayor head-on in the general election and won the endorsement.
In 1995, Brown ran for mayor of San Francisco. In his announcement speech, he said San Francisco needed a "resurrection" and that he would bring the "risk-taking leadership" the city needed. Brown placed first in the first round of voting, but because no candidate received 50% of the vote, he faced incumbent Frank Jordan in the December runoff. Brown gained the support of Supervisor Roberta Achtenberg, who had placed third in the first round of voting. He campaigned on working to address poverty and problems with Muni. He called Jordan the "inept bumbler" and criticized his leadership. Willie Brown won and began his term as one of the most popular mayors in the city’s history, and was easily re-elected to a second term.
Brown's inaugural celebration included an open invitation party with 10,000 attendees and local restaurants providing 10,000 meals to the homeless. President Bill Clinton called Brown to congratulate him, and the congratulations were broadcast to the crowd. He delivered his inaugural address without notes and led the orchestra in "The Stars and Stripes Forever". In 1996, more than two-thirds of San Franciscans approved of Brown's job performance. As mayor, he made several appearances on national talk shows.
During Brown's tenure as mayor of San Francisco, the city's budget was expanded, and real estate development, public works, city beautification, and other city projects saw a significant increase. Brown presided over the "dot-com" era at a time when San Francisco's economy was rapidly expanding. His administration included more Asian-Americans, women, Latinos, gays and African Americans than the administrations of his predecessors.
Brown called for expansions to the San Francisco budget to provide for new employees and programs. In 1999, he proposed hiring 1,392 new city workers and proposed a second straight budget with a $100 million surplus. He helped oversee the settling of a two-day garbage strike in April 1997. During Brown's tenure, San Francisco's budget increased to $5.2 billion and the city added 4,000 new employees. Brown's opponents in his 1999 mayoral reelection campaign were former mayor Jordan and Clint Reilly. They criticized Brown for spending the city's $1 billion in budget growth without addressing its major problems and creating an environment of corruption and patronage at City Hall. Tom Ammiano was a late write-in candidate and faced Brown in the runoff election. Brown won reelection by a 20-point margin. Most major developers and business interests supported him. Ammiano campaigned on a promise that he would raise the hourly minimum wage to $11 and scrutinize corporate business taxes. Brown repeatedly claimed that Ammiano would raise taxes. President Clinton recorded a telephone message on Brown's behalf.
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Brown ended San Francisco's policy of punishing people for feeding the homeless. San Francisco continued to enforce its policy regarding the conduct of the homeless in public places. In 1998, Brown supported forcibly removing homeless people from Golden Gate Park and police crackdowns on the homeless for drunkenness, urinating, defecating, or sleeping on the sidewalk. Brown introduced job training programs and a $11 million drug treatment program.
One of Brown's central campaign promises was his "100-Day Plan for Muni", in which he said he would fix the city's municipal bus system in that many days. Brown supported the "Peer Pressure" Bus Patrol program, which paid former gang members and troubled youth to patrol Muni buses. He claimed the program helped reduce crime. He fired Muni chief Phil Adams and replaced him with his chief of staff Emilio Cruz. A voter-approved initiative the next year helped improve Muni services.
During his first term as mayor, Brown quietly favored the demolition and abolition of the Transbay Terminal to accommodate the redevelopment of the site for market-rate housing. By 2002, Brown and the city's relations with Critical Mass had changed. On the 10th anniversary of Critical Mass on September 27, 2002, the city officially closed down four blocks to automobile traffic for the annual Car-Free Day Street Fair. Brown said of the event, "I'm delighted.
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