Willie Brown

Willie Lewis Brown Jr. (born March 20, 1934) is an American politician.

A member of the Democratic Party, he served as mayor of San Francisco from 1996 to 2004, the first African American to hold that office.

Born in Mineola, Texas, where he graduated from high school, Brown moved to San Francisco in 1951. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1955 and earned a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1958, after which he worked as an attorney and was involved in the civil rights movement. He was elected to the California Assembly in 1964, during which he became popular in San Francisco and became known as one of the country's most powerful state legislators. As a legislator, Brown earned a reputation as a supporter of civil rights of gays and lesbians and was able to manage colleagues and maintain party discipline. He served as the speaker of the California State Assembly from 1980 to 1995. His long tenure and powerful position were used as a focal point of the California ballot proposition limiting the terms of state legislators that passed in 1990. During the last of his three allowed post-initiative terms, Brown maintained control of the Assembly despite a slim Republican majority. Near the end of his final term, he decided to run for mayor of San Francisco.

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 was reelected in 1999, but term limits prevented him from running for a third term, and he was succeeded by his political protégé Gavin Newsom. San Francisco Chronicle called Brown "one of San Francisco's most notable mayors", adding that he had "celebrity beyond the city's boundaries." He retired from politics after leaving the office in 2004, published an autobiography, and continued to fundraise and advise politicians.

Early life, education, and early career

Brown was born on March 20, 1934, in Mineola, a small segregated town in East Texas marked by racial tensions, to Minnie Collins Boyd and Lewis Brown. He was the fourth of five children. During Brown's childhood, mob violence periodically erupted in Mineola, keeping African-Americans from voting. His first job was as a shoeshine boy in a whites-only barber shop. He later worked as a janitor, fry cook and field hand. He learned his strong work ethic at a young age from his grandmother. He graduated from Mineola Colored High School, which he later described as substandard, and left for San Francisco in August 1951 at the age of 17 to live with his uncle.

Although Brown did not meet the qualifications for San Francisco State College, a professor at the school facilitated his admission on probation. Brown adjusted to college studies by working especially hard to catch up in his first semester. He joined the Young Democrats and became friends with John L. Burton. Brown originally wanted to be a math instructor but campus politics changed his ambitions. He became active in his church and the San Francisco NAACP. Brown worked as a doorman, janitor and shoe salesman to pay for college. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He also joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) but later quit the ROTC and joined the California Army National Guard's 126th Medical Battalion, where he was trained as a dental hygienist. Brown earned a bachelor's degree in political science from San Francisco State in 1955.

Brown attended University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he also worked as a janitor. He later said that his decision to attend law school was primarily to avoid being drafted. He befriended future San Francisco mayor George Moscone, for whom Brown later managed a campaign.

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. He quickly became involved in the Civil Rights Movement, leading a well-orchestrated sit-in to protest housing discrimination after a local real estate office refused to work with him because of his race.

Brown began his first run for the California State Assembly in 1962 by having local African American ministers pass around a hat, collecting $700. He lost the election by 600 votes before winning a second election in 1964.

In September 1958, Brown married Blanche Vitero, with whom he had three children. He has four grandchildren and a step-granddaughter. According to a 1984 New York Times article, Brown and Vitero separated amicably in 1982. James Richardson, a reporter for The Sacramento Bee, said of Brown, "The measure of his flamboyance is he'll go to a party with his wife on one arm and his girlfriend on the other."

Brown also has a daughter, Sydney Brown, with philanthropic fundraiser Carolyn Carpeneti.[56]

From 1994 to 1995, Brown dated Kamala Harris, who worked as an Alameda County deputy district attorney at the time. In 1994, Brown appointed Harris to two different commissions - the California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission. Their relationship gained renewed attention in early 2019 after she had become a U.S. senator and ran for president.