Dianne Feinstein (1933-2023)

It was a quiet Monday after Thanksgiving in 1978 when the news came over the radio: George Moscone, the popular Mayor of San Francisco, had been shot and killed. Supervisor Harvey Milk was also assassinated, and the killer was ex-Supervisor Dan White. Dianne Feinstein, the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became the acting mayor.

As junior staffers for a Fortune 500 company in Menlo Park, none of us lived in San Francisco or followed its politics. George Moscone was well-known, Dianne Feinstein's name was familiar, and I had never heard of Harvey Milk or Dan White. All that changed on that tragic Monday.

In the weeks ahead Mayor Dianne Feinstein spoke often to the media. She wasn't polished like her predecessor, but she spoke simply and honestly. A political star was born.

She won two consecutive terms as Mayor. After leaving office in 1988, she lost to Pete Wilson in the 1990 governor's race but was elected to the Senate in 1992.

Dianne Feinstein had a long and distinguished career in the Senate but for me her most memorable moments occurred during the tumultuous days in 1978. R.I.P.