Dianne Emiel Goldman was born on June 22, 1933 in San Francisco. Both of her parents had Jewish ancestry, but her mother was raised a Russian Orthodox Catholic and Feinstein went to Sacred Heart High School while also attending Temple. She graduated from Stanford University[1] in 1955 with a degree in history. She studied at the Coro Foundation, dedicated in part to teaching leadership in public affairs to young adults. Feinstein married Jack Berman in 1956. They would have one daughter before divorcing three years later. Berman would go on to become a San Francisco Superior Court judge.
Feinstein went to work for California’s Industrial Welfare Commission until 1960 when she was appointed by Governor Pat Brown to the California Women’s Parole Board. In 1962 she married Bertram Feinstein. They would have three children together.
Feinstein was elected to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1969 as a moderate Democrat. While on the Board she twice ran for mayor, losing both times. She was elected the first female president of the Board of Supervisors in 1978, but later that year she suddenly lost both her father and her husband and on a trip to the Himalayas she decided to retire from politics. She was to make her announcement at a press conference scheduled by Mayor George Moscone on November 27th, but hours before the press conference was to take place, Mayor Moscone and Board Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by fellow Supervisor Dan White[2]. Feinstein would be the first to find Milk, putting her hand in the bullet wound to slow the bleeding. Both men died and, as president of the Board of Supervisors, she became acting mayor. In the days that followed, the Board voted 6-2 to appoint her as mayor.
On December 4th Feinstein became the City’s first female mayor. She veered away from Moscone’s extreme progressive agenda, bringing a conservative bent back into San Francisco policies. She married Richard Blum, an American investor, in 1980. In 1984, as mayor, she hosted the Democratic National Convention at the newly built Moscone Center.
While popular, her tenure as mayor was not without controversy. In the face of federal and state cutbacks and with the City desperate for revenue, Feinstein promoted the idea of more downtown commercial space, overseeing policies that increased the number of high-rise buildings. 30 million square feet of commercial space was built in the Financial District[3] during Feinstein’s tenure.
While she was popular within the LBGTQ community, in 1982 she vetoed domestic partner legislation. In 1983 she proposed banning all handguns in San Francisco, which resulted in a recall election that she won.
Two of Feinstein’s more popular legacies while mayor were the renovation of the cable cars[4] and Fleet Week. The cable car system had been shut down for emergency repairs in 1979 and Feinstein was able to win federal funding for the bulk of the restoration work which was completed in 1984.
In 1981 Feinstein brought Fleet Week to the City. Fleet Week was first introduced in San Diego, California in 1935. Held in San Francisco on the second week of October, Fleet Week honors the contributions of the men and women of the US Armed Forces; specifically, the Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard. Active military ships recently deployed in overseas operations dock in San Francisco. The crews are invited to visit the many tourist attractions while the public is offered guided tours of the ships. There are community events, the Parade of Ships and an air show. The air show consists of stunt planes, parachute teams, Coast Guard demonstrations and the Blue Angels. Formed in 1946, the Blue Angels are a squadron of six Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornets. They are flown by 5 Navy pilots and 1 Marine. A past pilot, Jack Robcke, was a Mission High School graduate. Today, San Francisco Fleet Week is the largest in the nation[5]. Many complain about the jet noise, but there is nothing more majestic than watching the Blue Angels fly over the Golden Gate Bridge. You can enjoy the airshow from anywhere in the City, but the Marina Green gives you the best view. It is an event not to be missed.
Dianne Feinstein’s tenure as mayor ended when she had served out her two-term limit. She ran for California governor in 1990 but lost. In 1992 she ran for a US Senate seat and won. She has been reelected five times and today is the oldest sitting US senator and the longest serving Senator from California.
Her house, purchased in 2006, is the iconic mansion at the corner of Vallejo and Lyon, a few doors down from the Getty mansion[6]. The front door leads out onto the City’s famous Lyon Street Stairs.
[1] Stanford University: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3921
[2] The Moscone/Milk assassinations: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4126
[3] Financial District: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4109
[4] Cable Cars: story coming September 6th
[5] Visit them at https://fleetweeksf.org
[6] Gordon Getty: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4300
