Pat Brown
Encyclopedia
Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown, Sr. (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was the 32nd Governor of California
, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown
.
, one of four children of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. His father was an Irish Catholic
, his mother a German
Protestant. 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."
He was a debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society
at San Francisco's Lowell High School
, from which he graduated in 1923. Brown skipped college and worked in his father's cigar store while studying law at a local night school. He graduated from San Francisco College of Law
in spring 1927, passed the California bar exam the following fall, and started a law practice in San Francisco.
Brown ran as a Republican for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost; he joined the Democratic Party in 1932. He waited until 1939 to seek public office again, this time running for District Attorney
of San Francisco, a race he lost to Matthew Brady
.
He ran again for District Attorney in 1943, and this time won. He served in that position for seven years, and made his name attacking bookies and underground abortion
providers. In 1949, he raided Sally Stanford
's elegant San Francisco bordello.
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. While he was Attorney General, he was the only Democrat to win statewide election in California.
by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points and a plurality of over 1 million votes. He was reelected in 1962, defeating former Vice President
Richard Nixon
by 52% to 47%. He lost the 1966 election to another future Republican
President
, Ronald Reagan
. Reagan unseated Brown with 58%, winning a plurality of some 990,000 votes.
Brown's two terms were marked by an enormous water-resources development program. The California Aqueduct
built as part of the program now bears his name. He also presided over the enactment of the California Master Plan for Higher Education
, fair employment legislation, a state economic development commission, and a consumers' council. He sponsored some forty major proposals, only five of which failed to pass in the Legislature.
During his two terms in office, Brown commuted 23 death sentences, signing the first commutation on his second day in office. One of his more notable commutations was the death sentence of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker
, whose execution in the gas chamber for first-degree murder had been postponed some hours before it was to take place because of an attempted suicide. After recovering, Walker's execution was postponed again while he was being restored to mental competency. After Walker was declared sane in 1961, Brown commuted Walker's death sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Walker would later be paroled anyway after the California Supreme Court held that Governor Brown could not legally deny a prisoner the right to parole in a death sentence commutation. Another prisoner whose death sentence was commuted by Brown committed at least two rapes and one murder after being paroled.
In contrast, Governor Brown allowed 36 executions, including the highly controversial case of Caryl Chessman
in 1960 and Elizabeth Duncan - the last female put to death before a national moratorium was instituted. Though he had supported the death penalty while serving as district attorney, as Attorney General, and when first elected Governor, he later became an opponent of its use. While Governor, Brown's attitude towards the death penalty was often ambivalent, if not arbitrary. An ardent supporter of gun control, Brown was more inclined to let convicts go to the gas chamber if they had killed with guns than with a knife or (in one actual case) with a bowling pin. He later admitted that he had denied clemency in one death penalty case principally because the legislator who represented the district in which the murder occurred held a swing vote on farmworker legislation supported by Brown, and who told Brown that his district "would go up in smoke" if the governor commuted the man's sentence.
During the Chessman case Brown proposed that the death penalty be abolished, but the proposal failed. His Republican
successor, Ronald Reagan
, was a firm death penalty supporter and oversaw the last pre-Furman
execution in California in 1967.
In 1970, Pat's son Jerry Brown was elected Secretary of State of California; in 1974 he was elected as the 34th Governor of California
. Re-elected Governor in 1978, Jerry Brown was defeated in a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1982, served as mayor of Oakland from 1998–2006 and was elected California Attorney General in 2006; he was again elected Governor in 2010. Kathleen Brown was elected California State Treasurer
in 1990 and was defeated in a bid for Governor of California in 1994.
In 1958, as Governor-elect, Pat Brown appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show "What's My Line?"
Pat Brown died at age 90 in Beverly Hills and is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery
in Colma. His funeral was the most recent gubernatorial funeral to be held in the state of California to date. Ronald Reagan was the most recent former California governor to die but his final funeral service was held at Washington National Cathedral
in Washington, D.C.
, but he frequently was California's "favorite son
." At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate. The technique allows state leaders to negotiate with leading candidates in exchange for the delegation's support. The technique was widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Since nationwide campaigns by candidates and binding primary elections have replaced brokered conventions, the technique has fallen out of use.
During the 1952 Democratic primaries
Brown placed distant second to Estes Kefauver
in total votes (65.04% to 9.97%), losing California to Kefauver.
During Governor Brown's first term (1959–1963), the national census confirmed that California had become the nation's most populous state. Brown's political popularity, multiplied by the state's population, would contribute to the following two national Presidential victories, when he pledged his votes to the national candidates, (Kennedy in 1960, and Johnson in 1964), at the Democratic conventions.
While 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
. Brown joined favorite sons Ohio's Albert S. Porter
, Governor Michael DiSalle
and Florida
Senator George Smathers
.
More serious primary candidates were Lyndon B. Johnson
, Hubert Humphrey
, Adlai Stevenson II and Stuart Symington
in 1960, with the nomination going to John F. Kennedy
. Brown ran only in the California state primary. Yet his popularity with the largest state electorate in the nation gave him second place in the national Democratic primary vote, just behind Kennedy. Thus he repeated his 1952 state and national rankings. However, only one delegate cast his vote for Brown for President at the 1960 Democratic National Convention
.
During the 1964 primaries
, by running again only in California, the nation's largest state electorate vote led Brown to place first this time in both the California and the Democratic national primary total, besting the eventual nominee. Brown, as well as over a dozen other candidates except George Wallace
, was a stalking horse
for incumbent
Lyndon B. Johnson
, whose nomination was assured.
As for the Vice Presidency, he briefly sought nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention
, winning one vote.
, 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.
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
, serving from 1959 to 1967, and the father of current Governor of California Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
.
Background
Brown was born in San Francisco, CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, one of four children of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. His father was an Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
, his mother a German
German American
German Americans are citizens of the United States of German ancestry and comprise about 51 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group...
Protestant. He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years; the nickname was a reference to his Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
-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."
He was a debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society
Lowell Forensic Society
The Lowell Forensic Society, founded in 1892, is the oldest high school speech and debate team in the United States and also the largest organization at Lowell High School in San Francisco, California. The society occupies Room 135, also known as "Leland Room," named after former Deputy Under...
at San Francisco's Lowell High School
Lowell High School (San Francisco)
Lowell High School is a public magnet school in San Francisco, California. The school opened in 1856 as the Union Grammar School and attained its current name in 1896. Lowell moved to its current location in the Merced Manor neighborhood in 1962....
, from which he graduated in 1923. Brown skipped college and worked in his father's cigar store while studying law at a local night school. He graduated from San Francisco College of Law
San Francisco Law School
San Francisco Law School is a private, non-profit law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1909, the law school became non-profit in 1941 and moved to its present location in 1968...
in spring 1927, passed the California bar exam the following fall, and started a law practice in San Francisco.
Brown ran as a Republican for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost; he joined the Democratic Party in 1932. He waited until 1939 to seek public office again, this time running for District Attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
of San Francisco, a race he lost to Matthew Brady
Matthew Brady (district attorney)
Matthew Brady was a district attorney in San Francisco from 1919 through 1943.Brady defeated previous district attorney Charles Fickert, who was responsible for the conviction of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings in the Preparedness Day bombing....
.
He ran again for District Attorney in 1943, and this time won. He served in that position for seven years, and made his name attacking bookies and underground abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
providers. In 1949, he raided Sally Stanford
Sally Stanford
Sally Stanford was a madam, restaurateur, and the mayor of Sausalito, California.Born Mabel Janice Busby, in Baker, Oregon , in 1903, she came to San Francisco in 1924...
's elegant San Francisco bordello.
In 1946, as the Democratic nominee, Brown lost the race for Attorney General of California
California Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
to Los Angeles County District Attorney Frederick N. Howser
Frederick N. Howser
Frederick N. Howser was the 22nd Attorney General of California.-External links:*...
. Running again in 1950, he won election as Attorney General and was re-elected in 1954. While he was Attorney General, he was the only Democrat to win statewide election in California.
Governor of California
In 1958, he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of California. He defeated U.S. Senator William F. KnowlandWilliam F. Knowland
William Fife Knowland was a United States politician, newspaperman, and Republican Party leader. He was a U.S. Senator representing California from 1945 to 1959. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1953-1955, and as Minority Leader from 1955-1959. He was defeated in his 1958 run for...
by a margin of nearly 20 percentage points and a plurality of over 1 million votes. He was reelected in 1962, defeating former Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
by 52% to 47%. He lost the 1966 election to another future Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Reagan unseated Brown with 58%, winning a plurality of some 990,000 votes.
Brown's two terms were marked by an enormous water-resources development program. The California Aqueduct
California Aqueduct
The Governor Edmund G. Brown California Aqueduct is a system of canals, tunnels, and pipelines that conveys water collected from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and valleys of Northern- and Central California to Southern California. The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the...
built as part of the program now bears his name. He also presided over the enactment of the California Master Plan for Higher Education
California Master Plan for Higher Education
The California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 was developed by a survey team appointed by the UC Regents and the State Board of Education during the administration of Governor Pat Brown. Clark Kerr, then the President of UC, was a key figure in its development...
, fair employment legislation, a state economic development commission, and a consumers' council. He sponsored some forty major proposals, only five of which failed to pass in the Legislature.
During his two terms in office, Brown commuted 23 death sentences, signing the first commutation on his second day in office. One of his more notable commutations was the death sentence of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker
Erwin Walker
William Erwin Walker, aka Erwin M. Walker and Machine Gun Walker was a former police employee and World War II Army veteran best remembered for a violent series of thefts, burglaries, and shootouts with police in Los Angeles County, California during 1945 and 1946.-Early life:Not much is known...
, whose execution in the gas chamber for first-degree murder had been postponed some hours before it was to take place because of an attempted suicide. After recovering, Walker's execution was postponed again while he was being restored to mental competency. After Walker was declared sane in 1961, Brown commuted Walker's death sentence to life without the possibility of parole. Walker would later be paroled anyway after the California Supreme Court held that Governor Brown could not legally deny a prisoner the right to parole in a death sentence commutation. Another prisoner whose death sentence was commuted by Brown committed at least two rapes and one murder after being paroled.
In contrast, Governor Brown allowed 36 executions, including the highly controversial case of Caryl Chessman
Caryl Chessman
Caryl Whittier Chessman was a convicted robber and rapist who gained fame as a death row inmate in California. Chessman's case attracted worldwide attention, and as a result he became a cause célèbre for the movement to ban capital punishment.-Crime and conviction:Born in St...
in 1960 and Elizabeth Duncan - the last female put to death before a national moratorium was instituted. Though he had supported the death penalty while serving as district attorney, as Attorney General, and when first elected Governor, he later became an opponent of its use. While Governor, Brown's attitude towards the death penalty was often ambivalent, if not arbitrary. An ardent supporter of gun control, Brown was more inclined to let convicts go to the gas chamber if they had killed with guns than with a knife or (in one actual case) with a bowling pin. He later admitted that he had denied clemency in one death penalty case principally because the legislator who represented the district in which the murder occurred held a swing vote on farmworker legislation supported by Brown, and who told Brown that his district "would go up in smoke" if the governor commuted the man's sentence.
During the Chessman case Brown proposed that the death penalty be abolished, but the proposal failed. His Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
successor, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
, was a firm death penalty supporter and oversaw the last pre-Furman
Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
execution in California in 1967.
Personal life
Brown and his wife, Bernice (née Layne), the daughter of a San Francisco police captain, were childhood sweethearts. They married in 1930 and had four children (all born in San Francisco):- Barbara Layne Brown [Casey] (July 13, 1931—)
- Cynthia Arden Brown [Kelly] (October 19, 1933—)
- Edmund Gerald ("Jerry") Brown, Jr.Jerry BrownEdmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. is an American politician. Brown served as the 34th Governor of California , and is currently serving as the 39th California Governor...
(April 7, 1938—) - Kathleen Lynn BrownKathleen BrownKathleen Lynn Brown is a Democratic politician from California. She is the youngest of four children of former Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown and is the sister of current California Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr...
(September 25, 1945—)
In 1970, Pat's son Jerry Brown was elected Secretary of State of California; in 1974 he was elected as the 34th Governor of California
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
. Re-elected Governor in 1978, Jerry Brown was defeated in a bid for the U.S. Senate in 1982, served as mayor of Oakland from 1998–2006 and was elected California Attorney General in 2006; he was again elected Governor in 2010. Kathleen Brown was elected California State Treasurer
California State Treasurer
The California State Treasurer is responsible for the state's investment and finance. The post has more narrow responsibilities and authority than the California State Controller...
in 1990 and was defeated in a bid for Governor of California in 1994.
In 1958, as Governor-elect, Pat Brown appeared as a guest challenger on the TV panel show "What's My Line?"
Pat Brown died at age 90 in Beverly Hills and is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery
Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma
Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California is an American Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Established in 1887 on of a former potato farm, it is the oldest and largest cemetery established in Colma to serve the needs of San Francisco...
in Colma. His funeral was the most recent gubernatorial funeral to be held in the state of California to date. Ronald Reagan was the most recent former California governor to die but his final funeral service was held at Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate
Unlike his son, Jerry, Pat Brown never seriously ran for President of the United StatesPresident of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, but he frequently was California's "favorite son
Favorite son
A favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
." At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate. The technique allows state leaders to negotiate with leading candidates in exchange for the delegation's support. The technique was widely used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Since nationwide campaigns by candidates and binding primary elections have replaced brokered conventions, the technique has fallen out of use.
During the 1952 Democratic primaries
United States presidential election, 1952
The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly. In the United States Senate, Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had become a national figure after chairing congressional...
Brown placed distant second to Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
in total votes (65.04% to 9.97%), losing California to Kefauver.
During Governor Brown's first term (1959–1963), the national census confirmed that California had become the nation's most populous state. Brown's political popularity, multiplied by the state's population, would contribute to the following two national Presidential victories, when he pledged his votes to the national candidates, (Kennedy in 1960, and Johnson in 1964), at the Democratic conventions.
While Governor, Brown was again California's favorite son in 1960
United States presidential election, 1960
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
, winning his home state with a large margin to his only opponent George H. McLain
George H. McLain
George H. McLain was a United States Democratic politician from California.He is best known for running in California's democratic presidential primary in 1960...
. Brown joined favorite sons Ohio's Albert S. Porter
Albert S. Porter
Albert S. Porter was an American politician from Ohio.-Early life:Porter was born in Portsmouth, Virginia to Albert S. and Lena Edmonds Porter. He moved with his family to Lakewood in 1913, graduated from Lakewood High School in 1922 and from Ohio State University with his B.S...
, Governor Michael DiSalle
Michael DiSalle
Michael Vincent DiSalle was a Democratic politician from Ohio. He served as the Mayor of Toledo, Ohio and the 60th Governor of Ohio.-Early life and career:...
and Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
Senator George Smathers
George Smathers
George Armistead Smathers was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
.
More serious primary candidates were Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, Adlai Stevenson II and Stuart Symington
Stuart Symington
William Stuart Symington was a businessman and political figure from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.-Education and business career:...
in 1960, with the nomination going to John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. Brown ran only in the California state primary. Yet his popularity with the largest state electorate in the nation gave him second place in the national Democratic primary vote, just behind Kennedy. Thus he repeated his 1952 state and national rankings. However, only one delegate cast his vote for Brown for President at the 1960 Democratic National Convention
1960 Democratic National Convention
The 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles. In the end, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was assembled and went on to secure an electoral college victory and a narrow popular vote plurality in the fall over the Republican candidates Richard M...
.
During the 1964 primaries
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
, by running again only in California, the nation's largest state electorate vote led Brown to place first this time in both the California and the Democratic national primary total, besting the eventual nominee. Brown, as well as over a dozen other candidates except George Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
, was a stalking horse
Stalking horse
A stalking horse is a person who tests a concept with someone or mounts a challenge against them on behalf of an anonymous third party. If the idea proves viable and/or popular, the anonymous figure can then declare their interest and advance the concept with little risk of failure...
for incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
, whose nomination was assured.
As for the Vice Presidency, he briefly sought nomination at the 1956 Democratic National Convention
1956 Democratic National Convention
The 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
, winning one vote.
Political party identity in California
Prior to 1959, loyalty to a political party was not important in California. Through a practice known as cross-filingCross-filing
In American politics, cross-filing occurs when a candidate runs in the primary election of not only his own party, but also that of one or more other parties, generally in the hope of reducing or eliminating his competition at the general election...
, 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
California Democratic Party
The California Democratic Party is the state branch of the Democratic Party in the state of California, headquartered in Sacramento. It is chaired by veteran Democratic politician and former United States Representative John L. Burton, who succeeded Art Torres in April 2009. It is the majority...
, Governor Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
did so in 1946 and 1950. Cross-filing was abolished in 1959. Thus the fact that Brown first ran for office as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and later as a Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
was not, at that time, as significant in California as it would have been elsewhere.
See also
- Membership discrimination in California social clubs
External links
- Official Biography and portrait from State of California
- California State of Mind: The Legacy of Pat Brown
- Brown family of California at The Political Graveyard
- Shows off his custom license plate http://books.google.com/books?id=7FQEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA99#v=onepage&q&f=false