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Willie Lewis Brown, Jr. (born March 20, 1934) is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He served over 30 years in the California State Assembly, spending 15 years as its speaker, and later served as the 41st mayor of San Francisco, the first African American to do so. Under the current California term-limits law, no Speaker of the California State Assembly will be permitted to have a longer tenure than Brown's. ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' called Brown “one of San Francisco’s most notable mayors” who had “celebrity beyond the city’s boundaries.” Brown was born in Mineola, Texas and attended a segregated high school. He moved to San Francisco in 1951, attending San Francisco State University and graduating in 1955 with a degree in liberal studies.〔 Brown earned a J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1958. He spent several years in private practice before gaining election in his second attempt to the California Assembly in 1964. Brown became the Democrats' whip in 1969 and speaker in 1980. He was known for his ability to manage people and maintain party discipline. According to ''The New York Times'', Brown became one of the country's most powerful state legislators.〔 His long tenure and powerful position were used as a focal point of California's initiative campaign to limit the terms of state legislators, which passed in 1990. During the last of his three allowed post-initiative terms, Brown maintained control of the Assembly despite a slim Republican majority by gaining the vote of several Republicans. Near the end of his final term, Brown left the legislature to become mayor of San Francisco. Brown served as San Francisco mayor from January 8, 1996 until January 8, 2004. His tenure as mayor is marked by a significant increase in real estate development, public works, city beautification, and other large-scale city projects. He presided over the "dot-com" era at a time when San Francisco's economy was rapidly expanding. Brown presided over the city’s most diverse administration with more Asian Americans, women, Latinos, gays, and African Americans than his predecessors.〔 He increased San Francisco's funding of MUNI by tens of millions of dollars and ended the city's policy of punishing people for feeding the homeless. The SF Board of Supervisors opposed Brown's agenda and some of his initiatives, in particular office and housing development.〔 Brown was restricted by term limits from running for mayor and was succeeded by a political protege, Gavin Newsom. After being "termed out" of the mayor's office, Brown officially retired from politics, although he had often been associated with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served for seven years after the end of Brown's Mayoral tenure, and continues to participate in fundraising for and advising other politicians. ==Early life== Brown was born in Mineola, a small segregated town in east Texas marked by racial tensions,〔In 1930s, the "tensions" were undoubtedly less than they would have been than if anyone had attempted to enforce integration.〕 to Minnie Collins Boyd and Lewis Brown. Brown 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 work ethic at a young age from his grandmother.〔 He graduated from MacFarland High School, an all-black school he later described as substandard, and left for San Francisco in August 1951 at the age of 17 to live with his uncle. Brown originally wanted to attend Stanford University. His interviewer from Stanford also taught at San Francisco State and was surprised by Brown’s ambition. Brown did not meet the qualifications for San Francisco State, but the professor got him enrolled on probation.〔 Brown adjusted to college studies after 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. Brown is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.〔 He also joined the ROTC. Brown earned a bachelor's degree in political science from San Francisco State College in 1955.〔(SFSU Public Affairs Press Release, May 28, 2001, "San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown challenges SFSU Class of 2001" ), accessed July 4, 2007〕 Brown later stated that his decision to go to law school was "more upon the avoidance of military service than anything else." He quit the ROTC and joined the National Guard reserve where he was trained as a dental hygienist. Brown attended Hastings College of the Law where he also worked as a janitor to pay for law school. Brown befriended future San Francisco Mayor George Moscone for whom Brown would later manage a campaign.〔 Brown earned a J.D. in 1958 and was class president at Hastings. In September 1958, Brown married Blanche Vitero, with whom he had three children, Susan, Robin, and Michael. He has four grandchildren, Besia, Matea, Mateo, and Lordes, and a step-granddaughter, Tyler. The couple separated in approximately 1976 but remain married. He has a daughter, Sydney Brown, by political fund raiser Carolyn Carpeneti. 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 practice.〔 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 helped organize the public protest and helped attract media coverage. His role in the protests gave him the notoriety to run for the Assembly. Brown began his first run for the Assembly by having local African American ministers pass around a hat, collecting US$700.〔 He lost the election to the California State Assembly in 1962 by 600 votes before winning a second election in 1964. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Willie Brown (politician)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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