I'm Maureen Cavanagh. Just yesterday Governor Jerry Brown continued his resistance to President Trump's policies by calling the administration's rollback of methane restrictions insane. Brown has made California a leader in the national opposition to the Trump administration and having a Brown in California leading the nation in one thing or another is something we've gotten used to in the Golden State. Jerry Brown's decades as governor following his father Pat Brown in the office have changed state and national politics and that legacy is the subject of a new book midday Edition producer Pat Fin's spoke with Miriam Powell author of the Browns of California. Marion Powell thanks very much for coming in. Thank you so much for having me. So let's start with Jerry Brown's father Pat Brown. He was also a two term governor. Why was he first elected and in what ways did he transform California. Pat was born in 1995 the year before the earthquake in San Francisco. And he kind of began running for things as soon as he could. He was just one of those kids who as he said ran for president of every club even the ones he wasn't a member of his first campaign was as a Republican. He was a Republican as were so many people in San Francisco at that point in time and became also as many did a Roosevelt Democrat switching in 1934 to the Democratic Party. He first was elected to office in 1943 as district attorney in San Francisco. He basically went from district attorney to attorney general to governor being elected governor in 1958 the first Democrat in more than 20 years. And when he was elected one of his biggest priorities I think you could say was education. We have the California State Master Plan for Higher Education. Tell us a little about that. That was pretty groundbreaking at the time. It was and it actually is still the document that governs the relationship and the mandates of the three systems of public higher education in California and really was the first state to sort of say there should be universal access to higher education for people and it should be free. He in collaboration with Clark Kerr who is the head of the university system at the time pushed through the legislature and adopted the master plan that sets a new sort of sets out what the universities can do. The Cal States and the community colleges and then there's this tremendous period of growth. And there were many other University of California outlets established to also state universities too. It's kind of remarkable when you think about three entire campuses including UCSD and the other two are Irvine and Santa Cruz were just built from scratch during that period you know and one of their concerns was the fact that the majority of the population lived in the south but all the water was in the north. He was convinced that people were going to continue to move to Southern California with or without water and that there had to be a way to get more water to the south. And so you know probably when really one of his greatest political achievements because it was more controversial and harder to negotiate than even the master plan was the State Water Project which consisted of you know various dams and then the California State aqueduct. So it brought water to both Southern California and to the Central Valley. He lost his run and a third term to Ronald Reagan who actually changed the state's higher education master plan a bit by not including free tuition. That's correct. I mean the charges which are called different things in fees and so on. But that starts under Reagan then it increased under his successor Jerry Brown as well. But it didn't mean that to some people it took away that right to a free education that has really started back in the California Constitution. But he didn't really fundamentally alter the master plan per se. He lost in 66 to this actor whom he completely underestimated as a politician and was very badly to Reagan. Now early on Pat Brown and his wife were a little bit concerned about their son Jerry where he would land in life. He was pretty interested in religion. Why did Jerry enter the Jesuit seminary and how did his parents feel about especially Pat Brown. How did he feel. So I think there was a part of him that was proud of him because being a Jesuit priest is a high calling. But of course he wanted Jerry to follow in his footsteps and was happy with him coming out. Eventually he gravitated toward politics. What caused him to do that. You know I mean he grew up as he has said since then it's sort of you know it's like a little duck learning to swim behind the mother duck that you just absorb that world. And it was very much a part of him and the other thing about the seminary experience that I think is sort of amused people is you know the people who know him say he took his vows after two years of poverty chastity and obedience and everyone including his parents said that you know the vow that he came out on that he could not keep was the obedience vow because that was not in his DNA. Jerry Brown eventually after running for a couple of offices wound up as governor of California himself. First of all he was the youngest governor in California history. It was an enormous amount of excitement about that period. And I think intensity is the right word where he really came in to shake up government. So let's fast forward to today and Jerry Brown is of course about to have and right off to his ranch in northern California which was settled by his great great grandfather. So what do you think his legacy will be. I mean well it seems to me it's pretty settled in the area of climate concern and protecting the environment. I mean he said at an event today. Right there isn't there I mean there are people from around the world convening in San Francisco today at the Global Climate Summit which is sort of supposed to be an interim measure between the Paris climate summit and the future one to really try to come up with ways to implement some of the Paris Accords. And certainly he's been a world leader in environmental issues and climate. I think he will continue to play a role in that once he leaves office as well. And also in the area of nuclear proliferation and trying to sort of come up with ways to counter that existential threat. Well Miriam thank you very very much for coming in. And good luck on your book. The Browns of California. Thanks thank you. Miriam Powell will be speaking about her book The Browns of California at Warwick's bookstore in La Jolla tonight at 7:30.
Miriam Pawel appears at Warwicks Books in La Jolla
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Just as Gov. Jerry Brown is winding down his fourth and final term as governor of California, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Miriam Pawel is out with "The Browns of California," an exploration of his legacy and that of his father, former Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.
From 1959 to 1967, Pat Brown launched several major initiatives in his two terms. The California Master Plan for Higher Education (tuition-free for California residents) endures today, albeit with significant changes.
Pat Brown was also responsible for a radical change in the state's water distribution system. In the 1960s, most of the population was in the south, which had the least water. The central valley, too, was parched, which threatened agriculture. The infrastructure attached to his California State Water Project leveled the water table a bit.
Pat's son Jerry is coming to the end of his second two-term shift. During the first, 1975 to 1983, he became known for fiscal conservatism, an interest in the environment, opposition to the death penalty and Proposition 13 and an early decision to run for president.
He never really left politics and was elected governor again in 2011. He has moved the state forward on mitigating climate change at every chance. His fiscal restraint has been noticeable, with the exception of two ambitious projects which have not yet been realized: the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build tunnels to carry water from the Sacramento River to distribution centers, and the high-speed rail project.
Miriam Pawel talks about "The Browns Of California" with KPBS Midday Edition.
