Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Emiel Feinstein (née Goldman; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 38th mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

A San Francisco native, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University in 1955. She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and immediately became the board's first female president upon her appointment in 1970. In 1978, during a third stint as the board's president, the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention. Feinstein succeeded Moscone as mayor and became the first woman to serve in that position. During her tenure, she led the renovation of the city's cable car system and oversaw the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Despite a recall attempt in 1983, Feinstein was a popular mayor and was named the most effective mayor in the country by City & State in 1987.

After losing a race for governor in 1990, Feinstein was elected to the U.S. Senate in a 1992 special election. In November 1992, she became California's first female U.S. senator; shortly afterward, she became the state's senior senator when Alan Cranston retired in January 1993. Feinstein was reelected five times. In the 2012 election, she received 7.86 million votes, which was, until 2024, the most popular votes received by any U.S. Senate candidate in history.

As a senator, Feinstein authored the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, was the first woman to chair the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Intelligence Committee, and was the first woman to preside over a U.S. presidential inauguration. She chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2009 to 2015 and was the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2017 to 2021.

Feinstein's last years in office were marred by poor health and concerns about her mental acuity. In February 2023, Feinstein announced she would not seek reelection in 2024. Seven months later, she died in office at the age of 90. By the time of her death, Feinstein was the oldest sitting U.S. senator and member of Congress. She was also the longest-serving U.S. senator from California and the longest-tenured female senator in history.

Early life and education

Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman on June 22, 1933, in San Francisco to Leon Goldman, a prominent surgeon, and his wife, Betty (née Rosenburg), a former model. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland. Her maternal grandparents, the Rosenburgs, were from Saint Petersburg, Russia. Although they were of German-Jewish ancestry, they practiced the Russian Orthodox (Christian) faith, as was required of Jews in Saint Petersburg. Christianity was passed down to Feinstein's mother, who insisted on her transfer from a Jewish day school to a prestigious local Catholic school, but Feinstein listed her religion as Judaism.

She graduated from Convent of the Sacred Heart High School in 1951 and from Stanford University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. Feinstein's mother was abusive, prone to alcohol-fueled outbursts and, according to Feinstein's sister Yvonne Banks, emotionally unpredictable. Later, Feinstein's mother received a brain scan that found that the part of her brain responsible for judgment had atrophied, "possibly because of complications from a severe illness as a child".

Feinstein reportedly identified as half-Russian.

Early political career

From 1955 to 1956, Feinstein was a fellow at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco, an organization that provides young people with political experience. Governor Pat Brown appointed her to the California Women's Parole Board in 1960. She served on the board until 1966.

San Francisco Board of Supervisors and assassination attempt

Feinstein was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969. She remained on the board for nine years, serving as its first female president from 1970 to 1971, with additional tenures from 1974 to 1975 and January to December 1978.

During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco twice, in 1971 against Mayor Joseph Alioto, and in 1975, when she lost the contest for a runoff slot (against George Moscone) to Supervisor John Barbagelata.

Because of her position, Feinstein became a target of the New World Liberation Front, an anti-capitalist terrorist group that carried out bombings in California in the 1970s. In 1976, the NWLF placed a bomb on the windowsill of her home that failed to explode. The group later shot out the windows of a beach house she owned.

Mayor of San Francisco

After San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978, Feinstein became acting mayor, as she was president of the Board of Supervisors. Supervisors John Molinari, Ella Hill Hutch, Ron Pelosi, Robert Gonzales, and Gordon Lau endorsed her for an appointment as mayor by the Board of Supervisors. Gonzales initially ran to be appointed by the Board of Supervisors as mayor, but dropped out. The Board of Supervisors voted six to two to appoint Feinstein as mayor. She was inaugurated by Chief Justice Rose Bird of the Supreme Court of California on December 4, 1978, becoming San Francisco's first female mayor. Molinari was selected to replace Feinstein as president of the Board of Supervisors by a vote of eight to two.

One of Feinstein's first challenges as mayor was the state of the San Francisco cable car system, which was shut down for emergency repairs in 1979; an engineering study concluded that it needed comprehensive rebuilding at a cost of $60 million. Feinstein helped win federal funding for the bulk of the work. The system closed for rebuilding in 1982 and was completed in time for the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Feinstein also oversaw policies to increase the number of San Francisco's high-rise buildings.

Feinstein was seen as a relatively moderate Democrat in one of the country's most liberal cities. As a supervisor, she was considered part of the centrist bloc that included White and generally opposed Moscone. As mayor, Feinstein angered the city's large gay community in 1982 by vetoing legislation which would have extended city-employee benefits to domestic partners. In the 1980 presidential election, while a majority of Bay Area Democrats continued to support Senator Ted Kennedy's primary challenge to President Jimmy Carter even after it was clear Kennedy could not win, Feinstein strongly supported the Carter–Mondale ticket. She was given a high-profile speaking role on the opening night of the August Democratic National Convention, urging delegates to reject the Kennedy delegates' proposal to "open" the convention, thereby allowing delegates to ignore their states' popular vote, a proposal that was soundly defeated.

In the run-up to the 1984 Democratic National Convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. He chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. In 1982, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8, 1988.

Feinstein revealed sensitive details about the hunt for serial killer Richard Ramirez at a 1985 press conference, antagonizing detectives by publicizing details of his crimes known only to law enforcement, and thus jeopardizing their investigation.

City & State magazine named Feinstein the nation's "Most Effective Mayor" in 1987. She was a member of the Trilateral Commission in 1988.

Gubernatorial election

Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for governor of California in 1990. She won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to U.S. Senator Pete Wilson, who resigned from the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, Feinstein was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures in that campaign.

U.S. Senate

Elections

In 1991, Wilson resigned from the Senate to take office as governor of California. Feinstein ran for U.S. Senate in a 1992 special election to complete Wilson's term. In the Democratic primary, she defeated Joseph Alioto and California State Controller Gray Davis. In November, she faced Republican John Seymour, whom Wilson had appointed to the Senate the previous year. Feinstein won the November 3 special election, 54.3%–38%.

Like Feinstein, Barbara Boxer was first elected to the Senate on November 3, 1992. Because Feinstein was elected to complete an unexpired term, she was sworn in as a senator in November 1992, while Boxer did not take office until January 1993; therefore, Feinstein became California's senior senator. She also became the first female Jewish U.S. senator. Feinstein and Boxer were the first female pair of U.S. senators to represent any state at the same time.

Feinstein was reelected in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2018.