Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Feinstein (born June 22, 1933, San Francisco, California, U.S.—died September 28, 2023, Washington, D.C.) was an American Democratic politician who represented California in the U.S. Senate from 1992 to 2023. She was the first woman to serve as senator from that state. Feinstein had previously served as the first female mayor of San Francisco (1978–88).

Education

Goldman grew up in San Francisco’s upscale Presidio Terrace district. She attended public school through the eighth grade and eventually became the only Jewish student at an elite Roman Catholic high school, the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School. In 1951 she entered Stanford University, first as a premed student and then as a political science and history major. After graduating in 1955 with a bachelor’s degree, she interned at the Coro Foundation in San Francisco, an organization whose goal was to provide young people with political experience.

Early career and mayorship of San Francisco

From 1960 to 1966 Feinstein worked on the California Women’s Board of Terms and Parole. She chaired San Francisco’s Advisory Committee for Adult Detention from 1966 to 1968, and in 1969 she won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served in this role for nine years and was the board’s first female president (1970–71, 1974–75, 1978).

In 1971 and again in 1975, she ran unsuccessfully for mayor of San Francisco. In 1978, when Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated, Feinstein, as president of the Board of Supervisors, succeeded to the mayoral position. Just a few days before the assassinations, the followers of Jim Jones—most of whom were former Bay Area residents—had committed mass suicide at their compound in Guyana. Feinstein’s leadership during this difficult time in the city’s history earned her much respect and public support. She was elected mayor in her own right in 1979 and served until 1988. While in office, she received high marks for improving city services such as garbage collection and transportation and for furthering gay rights. In 1982, however, she opposed a measure that would have granted registered domestic partners the right to some benefits, such as insurance; that position cost her the support of much of her constituency.

Senate

After serving the maximum of two terms, Feinstein ran as the Democratic candidate for governor of California in 1990, losing to Republican Sen. Pete Wilson. When Wilson won the election and vacated his Senate position, she was elected to his seat. She was sworn into office in November 1992 for a special two-year term and was reelected to a full six-year term in 1994.

In office Feinstein wrote legislation that included a ban on the manufacture, sale, and possession of semiautomatic military combat weapons and drafted the California Desert Protection Act, which called for the protection of more than 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of desert, national parks, and nature reserves. During her career she continued to focus on criminal justice and environmental concerns. She served on several committees during her tenure in the Senate, including the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which she was the first female member, the Appropriations Committee, the Rules and Administration Committee, and the Select Committee on Intelligence. In 2007, when the Democrats regained control of the U.S. Senate, Feinstein became the first woman to serve as chair of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

Though initially endorsing Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2008, Feinstein later threw her support behind the successful campaign of Barack Obama. In 2009 she became the first woman to chair the Select Committee on Intelligence. Feinstein was criticized by liberal Democrats for her skepticism regarding passage of a health care reform bill, though she ultimately voted in favour of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA; 2010). She also campaigned for the sweeping financial reforms passed in 2010.

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In the 2014 midterms, the Republicans regained control of the Senate, and Feinstein’s tenure as chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence ended the following year. In the 2016 presidential election, Feinstein again supported Clinton, who ultimately won the Democratic nomination but lost to Republican Donald Trump. In 2017 Feinstein drew the ire of progressives who disapproved of her centrist approach; she notably said that Trump “can be a good president.” However, the senator opposed many of his policies, including a massive tax-reform bill that was passed in 2017. That year she helped defeat a Republican effort to repeal the PPACA. In 2018 Brett Kavanaugh was nominated to the Supreme Court. Feinstein was subsequently sent a confidential letter from Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of having sexually assaulted her in the early 1980s. After the allegation was leaked to the media, the senator referred the letter to the FBI, and Ford eventually testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Feinstein joined other Democrats in voting against Kavanaugh’s nomination, but he was ultimately confirmed.

In December 2019 the House of Representatives impeached Trump over allegations that he had withheld aid to Ukraine in order to pressure the country into opening a corruption investigation into Joe Biden, a political rival. The proceedings then shifted to the Republican-controlled Senate in early 2020. Feinstein voted to convict Trump, but he was acquitted in a largely party-line vote. Shortly thereafter COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. As deaths began to mount, businesses and schools started to close, and the economy entered an economic downturn that soon rivaled the Great Depression. In March 2020 Feinstein helped pass a $2 trillion relief package, the largest stimulus bill in U.S. history.

In the 2020 presidential election, Feinstein endorsed Biden, who won the Democratic nomination and went on to defeat Trump. However, Trump and many other Republicans challenged the presidential election results, alleging widespread voter fraud despite a lack of evidence. It was against this background that Feinstein and other members of Congress convened on January 6, 2021, to certify Biden’s win. The proceedings were temporarily halted after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Feinstein and many others accused Trump of encouraging the attack, and on January 13 the House voted to impeach the president, charging him with “incitement of insurrection.” The Senate trial was held in February, after Trump left office, and Feinstein voted to convict. However, although Democrats controlled the Senate, they were unable to secure the necessary votes, and Trump was again acquitted.

Concerns about Feinstein’s ability to serve began to make news in 2022, as the 88-year-old senator appeared to suffer from short-term memory issues. While she rejected calls for her resignation, the following year several Democrats announced that they would challenge Feinstein for her Senate seat in 2024. In February 2023 Feinstein declared that she would not seek reelection. She died in September at the age of 90.

Personal life

In 1956 she married Jack Berman, and the couple had a daughter—who later became a judge—before divorcing in 1959. Three years later she wed Bertram Feinstein, who died in 1978. In 1980 she married Richard C. Blum; they were together until his death in 2022.