Alan Cranston

Alan Cranston

Alan MacGregor Cranston (born June 19, 1914 in Palo Alto , Santa Clara County , California , † December 31, 2000 in Los Altos , Santa Clara County, California) was an American politician . Between 1969 and 1993 he represented the state of California in the US Senate .

Career

Alan Cranston attended Los Altos public schools, Pomona College, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico . He then studied until 1936 at Stanford University . In 1937 and 1938 he worked for the International News Service . He was deployed in England , Germany , Italy and Ethiopia . Between 1940 and 1944 he worked for the United States Office of War Information . He headed the Foreign Language Division (Chief, foreign language division). He joined the United States Army in 1944 and remained there until the end of World War II . Between 1949 and 1952 he headed the American division of the United World Federalists . He had been an opponent of nuclear weapons since the late 1940s, and he repeatedly advocated their abolition.

Politically, Alan Cranston joined the Democratic Party . Between 1959 and 1967 he held the post of State Comptroller of California , which is even higher than the Treasury Secretary. He was also active in the real estate business. In the elections of 1968 Cranston was elected as his party's candidate to the US Senate, where he succeeded Thomas Kuchel on January 3, 1969 . After three re-elections, he was able to exercise his mandate for a total of four terms. In 1992 he renounced another candidacy. During his 24 years in the Senate, he held several leading positions within the Democratic Group. Between 1987 and 1993 he chaired the Veterans Affairs Committee. In 1984, he ran unsuccessfully for his party's nomination as a candidate for the presidential election. In November 1991 he was reprimanded by the Ethics Committee for a money donation scandal. Around the same time, he developed prostate cancer . His time after the end of his congress career he devoted, among other things, to the fight for the abolition of nuclear weapons. Alan Cranston died on December 31, 2000.

Web links

• Alan Cranston in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)