Jerry Brown Biography Quotes 19 Report mistakes

Early Life and Education
Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown Jr. was born on April 7, 1938, in San Francisco, California, into a family immersed in public service. His father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Sr., a prominent Democrat, served as California Attorney General and later as governor, while his mother, Bernice Layne Brown, was a steady presence who shaped the household's strong Catholic identity. Growing up, Brown absorbed politics at the dinner table and later in Sacramento, where his father's career brought the family. He attended St. Ignatius College Preparatory, began college at Santa Clara University, entered a Jesuit seminary for a time, and then finished his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a degree in classics. He went on to Yale Law School, receiving his law degree in 1964, a legal grounding that informed his later work in election law, consumer protection, and environmental regulation. His sister, Kathleen Brown, would herself enter public life, becoming California State Treasurer decades later.

Entry into Public Service
After clerking and practicing law, Brown won election to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees in 1969, an early platform from which he developed a reputation for independence and frugality. In 1970 he was elected California Secretary of State. There, he focused on enforcing campaign finance and disclosure laws, pursuing cases against corporations and political committees that violated election rules. Those efforts, and his advocacy for governmental transparency, raised his statewide profile and set the stage for a gubernatorial bid as the postwar political order was being redefined.

First Governorship (1975-1983)
Elected in 1974 to succeed Ronald Reagan, Brown took office as California's 34th governor in 1975. Guided by a philosophy that mixed fiscal restraint with social reform, he emphasized balanced budgets while expanding consumer and environmental protections. He worked with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta to enact the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, creating a framework for farmworkers to organize. He also helped launch the California Conservation Corps, giving young people paid work in resource conservation. With rising energy costs, his administration promoted efficiency and renewable energy, helping establish standards that influenced national policy.

Brown's judicial appointments were consequential, most notably elevating Rose Bird to Chief Justice, a decision that sparked enduring debate over the role of courts in capital punishment and consumer protection. His chief of staff, Gray Davis, managed a crowded agenda that ranged from water policy to higher education. Brown became a national figure, and a cultural one, in part because he eschewed the trappings of office, declined to live in the new governor's mansion, and cultivated a reformist image. His relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt drew media attention but also humanized a leader otherwise known for his austerity and philosophical bent.

National Ambitions and Interlude
Brown sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976 and 1980, challenging the party's frontrunners with calls for limits on special-interest money and a rethinking of federal bureaucracy. After leaving the governor's office in 1983, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1982 and lost to Pete Wilson, a setback that ushered in a period of personal exploration and public reflection. He spent time abroad, including in Japan, and volunteered in India with Mother Teresa's organization, experiences that sharpened his interest in ethics and global interdependence. Returning to national politics in 1992, he ran again for president on a platform of campaign finance reform, a simpler tax system, and term limits, clashing with Bill Clinton in a race that previewed debates over political money and populism that would later dominate American politics.

Mayor of Oakland
In 1998, Brown reentered executive office as mayor of Oakland. Taking office in 1999, he promoted a "10K" plan to attract new residents and investment to the city's downtown, sought to improve public safety through community policing and accountability, and focused intently on education and the arts. He founded two public charter schools, the Oakland School for the Arts and the Oakland Military Institute, signaling his belief that cities could be laboratories for educational innovation. Working with local business leaders and neighborhood activists, he used the mayoralty to translate his reforming instincts from state-level policy to street-level governance.

Attorney General of California
Elected state attorney general in 2006, Brown took office in 2007 and used the post to pursue environmental enforcement, consumer protection, and corporate accountability. He defended the state's climate law, collaborating at times with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration on greenhouse gas policy and energy standards. In the legal battles surrounding Proposition 8, the measure banning same-sex marriage, he argued in court that the initiative was unconstitutional, a stance that reflected his broader view of constitutional protections for individual rights. The office also pursued mortgage and foreclosure abuses that came to light during the financial crisis.

Return to the Governor's Office (2011-2019)
Brown's third and fourth terms as governor came during a period of budget crisis and political polarization. Taking office in 2011, he inherited a large deficit. Working with legislative leaders such as Darrell Steinberg and John A. Perez, and later Kevin de Leon and Toni Atkins, he combined spending restraint with a voter-approved tax measure, Proposition 30, to stabilize state finances; voters later extended high-income tax provisions with Proposition 55. His administration implemented criminal justice realignment to reduce state prison overcrowding by shifting responsibility to counties, while he pursued parole and sentencing changes and exercised clemency more frequently than many predecessors.

He made California a global actor on climate policy. Building on foundations laid under predecessors including Schwarzenegger, he expanded the cap-and-trade program and signed laws to increase renewable energy and energy efficiency, culminating in a requirement for 100 percent clean electricity by mid-century. He convened international partners and subnational leaders to advance climate commitments, insisting that states and regions could push progress even when national politics stalled. During a historic drought, he declared emergencies, tightened water-use rules, and pressed for long-term infrastructure and ecosystem restoration in the Sacramento, San Joaquin Delta. In the realms of immigration and civil rights, he signed measures that expanded protections for undocumented Californians and affirmed the state's role as a refuge for diverse communities. He also made lasting judicial appointments, including Goodwin Liu, Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, and Leondra Kruger to the California Supreme Court, and named Xavier Becerra attorney general after Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Legacy and Personal Life
Brown's public life braided together the pragmatism he absorbed from Pat Brown, the moral seriousness of his Jesuit education, and a long-standing skepticism of political excess. He married Anne Gust in 2005; as a trusted adviser throughout his later career, she helped shape the operational discipline of his campaigns and administrations. His relationships, with political allies and rivals such as Ronald Reagan, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Gavin Newsom; with labor leaders like Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta; with legislative partners like Gray Davis, later governor in his own right, trace the arc of modern California politics. After leaving office in 2019, Brown returned to his family ranch in Northern California and continued public engagement through climate and governance initiatives in collaboration with universities and international partners. His legacy endures in California's fiscal turnaround after the Great Recession, its pioneering climate laws, enduring institutions like the Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the California Conservation Corps, and a political style that combined austerity with ambition, an insistence that governments can do less but do it better, while still tackling the largest problems of their time.

Our collection contains 19 quotes who is written by Jerry, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Wisdom - Justice - Freedom - Equality.

Other people realated to Jerry: Paul Tsongas (Politician), Cesar Chavez (Activist), Roger Mahony (Clergyman), Meg Whitman (Businessman), Xavier Becerra (Politician), Peter Coyote (Actor), Dennis Banks (Educator), Rose E. Bird (Judge), Linda Ronstadt (Musician), Mike Curb (Musician)