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Major Events that Changed California During Gov. Browns Term

Angel Noriega
LBS 375: California Experience
4 May 2016

Edmund "Pat" Gerald Brown was born in San Francisco, California, on April 21, 1905.

Also known as the godfather of modern California. He was nicknamed "Pat" when he was a boy

selling Liberty Bonds, he would always end his speeches by shouting Patrick Henry's line, "Give

me liberty or give me death!" He graduated form Lowell High School in 1923. He then studied

law, graduating first in his class from the San Francisco College of Law in 1927. After working

full time in a law office, Brown ran as a Republican Party candidate for the State Assembly in

1928, but lost so he moved to the Democratic Party in 1934. In 1958, he was the Democratic

nominee for Governor and won the election. He was Californias governor from 1959-1967.

During his term years, he offered and passed many laws that changed California. He helped

people of color buy homes, he implemented free higher education for all, and he helped store and

supply water to residents of California and farmlands.

One important event that changed California during Gov. Browns term was the Fair

Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1963. It helped end racial discrimination by
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the property owners and landlords who refused to rent or sell their property to people of color.

This Act prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental and financing of housing based on

race, religion, and sex. Discrimination and segregation in housing existed throughout California

in the 1950s through the 1960s. Most real estate brokers kept African Americans and other racial

minorities away from white neighborhoods and restricted them to districts where minorities

already lived. They were not allowed to leave or move to any other place besides the area that

was restricted only for them. Many landlords also refused to rent to people of color. Because

Brown pushed action against housing discrimination, African Americans and other racial

minorities were provided a safety net against housing discrimination and segregation once the act

was passed. According to Browns son, My father was a very optimistic person when it comes

to the ability of people through public institutions to create good. He was a fair person, he didn't

have any sense of bias or prejudice, and he had championed civil rights. 1 He wanted justice and

equality. People of color were now able to purchase homes without being refused or questioned.

It allowed them to find homes in any neighborhood without having the fear of being kicked out.
Another important event that changed California during Gov. Browns term was the Master Plan

of Higher Education. One of the governors most successful events was in promoting higher

education. Brown stressed the need to commit resources to the states system of higher

education. He developed the California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 with the help

of University of California President Clark Kerr. The goal of the master plan was to provide an

opportunity for competing demands of fostering excellence and guarantee educational access for

everyone who lived in California. The Master Plan achieved a system that combined quality with

broad access for students, transformed a collection of uncoordinated and competing colleges and

universities into a coherent system, and established a broad framework for higher education that

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encouraged each UC, CSU and Community Colleges on creating its own set of responsibilities.

For example, all the UCs are designated to provide undergraduate, graduate and a public higher

education for doctoral degrees. All the CSU's are designated to provide undergraduate education

and graduate education through the master's degree including professional and teacher education.

The California Community Colleges are designated to provide the first two years of the lower

division courses of undergraduate education. This framework allowed students to understand the

functions of each college system. Not only did it help them understand the functions but also

allowed everyone who wanted to pursue a higher education an opportunity to apply and attend

for free.
Lastly, the event that changed California during Gov. Browns term was the State Water

Project. The California State Water Project is a water storage and delivery system of dams,

reservoirs, pumping plants, power plants, aqueducts and pipelines that are owned and operated

by the Department of Water Resources. The project was developed in order to deliver water

throughout the state for domestic and agricultural purposes to 23 million Californians and

irrigated farmlands. Brown wanted to address that one half of the state's people who lived in a

region contains one percent of the state's natural supply of water. Brown stated, Development of

our water resources is crucial to every segment of our state, the ranchers in our mountain areas,

the farmers who make California the nations leading agricultural producer and the homeowners

in our population, which will grow to 20 million by 1970. 2 The main purpose of this project

was to store and deliver water to urban and agricultural suppliers located throughout California.
In conclusion, Edmund Pat Brown was a governor who cared for the state of California and the

people living in it. He offered and passed many laws that helped people of color. He passed the

Fair Housing Act in 1963 to end racial discrimination by the property owners and landlords who

refused to rent or sell their property to people of color. Brown knew how important higher

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education was and therefore implemented the Master Plan of Higher Education. He wanted there

to be no school expenses so that those who planned on attending a university had an opportunity

to do so at no cost. The State Water Project is a long-term project with expected long-term

outcomes and results. It was constructed to store and supply water to residents of California and

farmlands. Later on, the construction of the project was able to achieve more goals. As said by

his granddaughter, Without any question Pat Brown was the last great American political

builder.
Bibliography
1. The Legacy of Pat Brown: California State of Mind. 2011

2. Water Education Foundation. 2016.

http://www.watereducation.org/aquapedia/edmund-g-pat-brown