Basic Information : Synopsis : Expectations : Thoughts : Evaluation : Book Group : New Words : Book References : Good Quotes : Table of Contents : References
Basic Information:
Author: Miriam Pawel
Edition: ePub on Overdrive from the Fresno County Library
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1632867338 (ISBN13: 9781632867339)
Start Date: January 3, 2019
Read Date: April 19, 2019
496 pages
Genre: History, Biography, California, OSHER
Language Warning: Low
Rated Overall: 4½ out of 5
History: 4 out of 5
Religion: Christianity, Buddhist
Religious Quality: N/A
Christianity-Teaching Quality: N/A
Synopsis:
Pawel takes us back to Germany where part of the Brown’s heritage starts. Ida Schuckman started the lineage. The author traces how Pat Brown became District Attorney for San Francisco, then California’s Attorney General and finally Governor. The book traces a similar trajectory for his son, Jerry Brown. Jerry Brown’s siblings are talked about. The book ends after Jerry Brown’s second go around as Governor, with him going to his place in Coulsa called Mountain House.
- Recommendation: Valley edition on KVPR as well as an interview on KQED
- When:July 2018
- Date Became Aware of Book: July 2018
- How come do I want to read this book: I am a native California and the Browns have been a big part of where I live. Also it became an OSHER book group selection.
- What do I think I will get out of it? Understanding of how the Brown family affected the direction of California.
Thoughts:
Not sure what to do with this thought. Pawel brings in a lot of tangential information. I found this information interesting for the most part, but in some ways distracting. Such as in discussing Pat Brown’s background, he talks about Bernice, Pat’s wife, and how she attended the First Unitarian Church in San Francisco. She then goes for a good paragraph on Thomas Starr King which really has only a connection with her of about three or four degrees of separation. Still it was interesting.
And then there seems to be places which Pawel glosses over. Like how Jerry Brown started to be interested in Zen Buddhism. How did this come about? Particularly since he was a strong Catholic at one point? The explanation is that a friend invited him to go to a Zen retreat. And that is it.
It also appears that Pawel will sometimes got titles and things like that mixed up. Just a minor nuisance, but with big time consequences. The consequence is that you do not always trust what she is saying or the context of what she is saying. Such as in chapter 10, she has Martin Luther King, Jr saying :
Human progress never merely rolls in on the wheels of inevitability. There is always a right time to do right … and that time is now.
In her notes, she has it coming from the Stanford Magazine article, Paving the Way for Freedom Summer, July/August 1996 issue. But there is nowhere in the article which King says this-he has one quote and is noted as a persuasive recruiter for the Freedom Summer. Where the quote does comes from is Letters from the Birmingham Jail.
Preface
History offers anchors in time of disruption and helps us understand how to respond to change. That is one thought. The other thought is that history tells us what has happened, but is not a reliable guide to the future.
Pawel points out that this is a limited history of California, through the lives of one particular family. But that family pretty much shaped California for about half of a century.
The Pioneer
Pawel notes that the California’s isolation in the 1840’s and 50’s led it to being innovative and independent. Those strands still run through today.
The Paris of America
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco was always known to me as The City. Pawel quotes from Henry George in 1868 that San Francisco will be not merely the metropolis of the Western front of the United States, … but the city, the sole great city. George may have gone overboard in this, but it is a grand city.
Mentions Frank Norris as working for Southern Pacific Railroad. But later on, he wrote an anti-railroad book called The Octopus.
How
Pat Brown got his name “Pat” was from quoting Patrick Henry
The Yell Leader
Sometimes you have to come to the realization that there are worse things than losing. Such as being in a position which you are ill-suited for.
Pat’s decency, drive and moral convictions won him lifelong friends. This is how it should be.
Another one of my names from the past: Thomas Starr King. A peak is named after him. But he got his reputation as being the pastor of the First Unitarian Church of San Francisco which built his reputation for social justice. It was his writings which moved John Muir to look into Yosemite Valley.
Pat Brown was always in a hurry to get where he was going: he had no use for men who smoked pipes because he felt it slowed them down. You get a feeling for the type of person who he was. But you also wonder was he mostly exterior with little interior? You get the impression his son Jerry is the opposite.
The Roosevelt Democrat
El Retiro Jesuit Center-a place where Pat Brown re-found his Catholicism. I remember bicycling around the area as a youth, wondering what it was.
It was noted that World War II denoted a big breaking point in California history. The military and aerospace industries drove California economy for 20 years, followed by the electronics industry.
Pat’s brother, in a letter during the war, notes that you cannot imagine how much more important an aspect your home and family take on when you are separated this way.
Forest Hill
Jerry Brown internalized the Catholic ethos of right and wrong. Important to realize that what we teach and show our children stays with them for life.
Interesting that Jerry would grow up loving the outdoors. That is where his vacations were taken. What caught my attention was that he hiked the Ledge Trail in Yosemite-this is the trail which goes up the face of Glacier Point.
Pat Brown was District General in San Francisco. He concentrated on crime and taking police out of the line of corruption.
Jerry Brown was on the debate team-something which helped him later understand what was between the lines of articles and papers. He was able to determine causes and solutions.
Jerry Brown found that Jesuit education imparted a sense of destiny, maybe calling. This will bring a person out of the doldrums.
You can tell that Pat Brown lived in another day. He considered two Republican governors his close friends and mentors-Earl Warren and Goodwin Knight. On the other hand, anyone who had dealt with Nixon despised him. There was treachery when you dealt with Nixon.
The Governor and the Seminarian
Jerry Brown notes that material stuff did not interest him as much as contemplation. He was more interested in saving the world for Christ than gaining power or money. He felt the Jesuit training was to furnish a man with an extended opportunity of looking into the meaning of life and then trying to come up with some basic answers. Sounds like something we all should do.
The ideal Jesuit: someone informed that his mother had died and continues to teach. This is the result of a long process which weeds out weakness and leaves a dependence on God. Then they get grounded in the intellect.
Maybe out in Northern California the reason why so many people are against the stringent immigration policies now being tried out is that we live in close proximity with other cultures. Pat Brown when introducing Adlai Stevenson pointed out that they were in a large Italian immigrant section of San Francisco. A few blocks over was the largest Chinese community outside of China. Other European communities were close by.
Pat Brown identifies a part of Jerry Brown’s Jesuit training which would become useful to Jerry Brown-skepticism and the demand for proof.
Time magazine did a story on Pat Brown. The story tended to concentrate on his weaknesses, ending with saying that he hired good people to cover where he was weak. But that was probably more of his strength-he was like an everyman.
Several people whom Pat Brown brought in went on to do big things. Warren Christopher was big in the State Dept.
Responsible liberalism. Too bad we do not bring back that term today. I think that Jerry Brown understood this and it fed into his type of governance. Too often we have people with good motives, but do not go about things to get it done in a meaningful way. Spend money which we do not have, running roughshod over people. This term should be used.
Jerry Brown made the decision that he was not cut out to live by the constraints of being a Jesuit priest. It gave him a good background and he felt stronger about his Catholicism than when he went in. But he could not reconcile the need for freedom of conscience with the obedience required.
Fiat Lux
Colleges grow-they leave issues such as parking till later. This is because the Master Plan declared if you meet the criteria for admittance, you are guaranteed a spot.
Down but Not Out
Pat Brown’s looseness and wanting to be good to everybody was his downfall. A convicted rapist, Caryl Chessman, was sentenced to death. Brown commuted his sentence to life in prison. But the wishy-washy way he did it earned more enemies than friends.
“Water for People. For Living”
Pawel lays out the water problem simply: Water in the north, population in the dry south, farming in the middle. How to even out the distribution of water?
Golden Trout program near Mt Whitney-wonder if the fish hatchery at Mt Whitney was part of the backpacking tour Pat Brown went on.
When Friant Dam was built, Warne who was the department head of the Calif Fish and Game was concerned about how this would affect the salmon in the San Joaquin River. He was prophetic about this. We are still dealing with it and if anything, the battle is more bitter.
The Turbulent Team
Pat Brown was an outdoors person. He had been to places, not only as a politician, but also as someone who loved the places. He describes the most beautiful place in the entire world is a little High Sierra camp near Glen Aulin. Been there.
Stewart Udall came to talk with the Sierra Club and read Wallace Stegner’s letter, The Wilderness Letter. Udall said that it expressed what he felt better than what he could say. The last of letter summarizes the need for wilderness, it is the geography of hope.
During Pat Brown’s second term, California overtook New York as the most populous state. This was a cause for celebration, but also later on people realized this was a cause for concern. See Wallace Stegner’s quote.
Jerry Brown got interested in politics after hearing his father and Jesse Unruh, the Assembly speaker, arguing one night about who would run for governor. Jerry Brown found the conversation riveting.
In the 1966 governor’s race, Pat Brown thought that Ronald Reagan would be an easier race than against fellow San Franciscan George Christopher. So he covertly helped Reagan. Sound familiar with Hillary Clinton at least hoping she would run against Trump vs some of the other Republican candidates.
The Browns of Los Angeles
The first iteration of Jerry Brown running for governor was a reaction to his father. Jerry Brown did not want to wear funny hats, kiss babies, or be Mr Smiley. Also he wanted a squeaky clean campaign-he wanted to be governor without beholden to anybody.
There is a phrase which Pawel uses which reinforces that Jerry Brown was a political opportunist. She says she that [Brown] looking for issues to run on,... He does discover that the Secretary of State had a lot more power than was recognized.
Interesting how Brown progressed from a skepticism of how you could remain moral in politics and how much use in improving the human condition politics played.
Jerry Brown during his first term had a distrust of political power. First, he avoided issues where he could be turned. Next he felt that politics could only solve the surface problems humans have, not the basic problems of human nature. Politics was not designed to bring human happiness.
As a politician, you do not get too much opportunity to meditate.
The Candidate
Secrecy is dangerous, but something far worse often follows it--government deception. That is why something like the Mueller report is so powerful. It rolls back the secrecy and shows issues to be corrected. Mueller restores confidence that the system works, even with all the pressure to stop it.
Brown felt that lobbyists had gathered too much power through influential lunch meetings. He recommended limiting expenses to $10/month per official. Or two hamburgers and a coke-the cost at that time.
Brown’s staff had two rules: present all relevant facts and support the decision made. They could argue on any side.
Brown associated with a catalog of folk and rock stars. Look at Garrett Eckbo’s ALCOA Forest Garden
Latin Age Quod Agis. Jesuit motto: do what you are doing : concentrate on the task at hand
The New Spirit
Jerry Brown welcomed crisis’ since it spurred action. It gives people choices-that is the function of a leader is to guide and direct our choices.
The reason why Jerry Brown did not marry earlier is that he felt it took a lot of time and effort to be in politics. Consequently you would be shorting your spouse.
There was an attraction/repulsion of how Pat Brown was a political figure. Jerry Brown saw the limitations and the conflicts.
Jerry Brown was very severe in his limitation on gifts-no gifts, even a flag from the VFW-that may have been going too far. On the other hand, he did not want to be someone who would be seen as trying to induce votes except by the virtue of his policies. When a Boy Scout as a project was trying to get autographs of all the governors of each state, Jerry Brown refused, even the request from his father.
Talks about Diane and Dan Dooley-Hanford ranchers.
There is a brief mention about Jerry Brown's interest in Buddhist thought. But it only says that it derives from a book called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. I think this is a failing of the book to help us understand what was Jerry Brown’s change of thought concerning Eastern religion away from his Catholic background.
In describing one of his advisors, Jerry Brown said that he had that quality of openness and playfulness, or excitement. Interesting that you would have that in an advisor. I would also hope that wisdom and foresight would have been high on the list as well. Later on it is said that Ideas and persuasive arguments were the currency that mattered.
Pawel says that Jerry Brown was committed to the idea that government must look more like the governed. Not sure this is a really good thing. Government should not be aloof or be perceived that it is not “us”, at least in the United States. But it should be more reflective of the highest qualities which we want people to emulate. You would hope that the wisdom and knowledge would be above the populace.
His first budget reflected what he thought:
Government should not outspend their revenues
Large expenditures do not make for better government
No sacred cows
In presenting his budget, he invited the newspeople to come back and ask him questions once they understood the document.
Before you dump something over, you better figure out what it is you are doing … precipitous action is rarely needed, and then only with adequate justification. News conference transcript, March 11, 1975, JB Box A-29-4
UC system. Jerry Brown was frustrated with the system.he felt that the UC’s law school being a top ten school was a sign of failure. But no explanation. Did Brown misspeaks? Did he mean that Hastings was no longer trying for excellence? He felt that the UC schools were not relevant to its students. In his efforts to challenge the leaders, he offended and made them defensive. Reminds me that honey catches flies better than a fly swatter. His father increased the budget. Reagan and Jerry Brown constrained the spending.
Jerry Brown pushed that small and less was better. Lower expectations
Jerry Brown felt that programs were masks to hide ineffectiveness and hypocrisy.
Jerry Brown wrote only a few letters.
Jerry and Ceasar
A person in a significant position of power can lead by questions he raised and the examples he sets. Jerry Brown said this about Cesar Chavez. Brown does not say this is the only way to lead. But in several ways, this is the way Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu lead.
Brown's power was to convey to people the sense that they could accomplish things. This is powerful. A leader motivates people. Trump actually does this, but in a lot of ways he plays to people’s baser instincts rather than leading them higher.
When Jerry Brown ran for president, he benefited from Nancy Pelosi’s eastern connections.
To the Moon and Back
Pawel connects that the things which attracted Jerry Brown to seminary life also drew him to ideas, philosophy and the environment. His problem was that most of the time he was up ahead of the curve and would not be drawing people up, but expecting him to be where he was at. Also he had a tendency to concentrate on future needs without understanding current wants.
Pete McClosky is mentioned here as one of the movers behind Earth Day. Rep McClosky was my Congressman-someone whom I voted for. Reagan played a part in the conservation movement by blocking the Trans-Sierra highway which would have gone past Huntington Lake and crossed the Sierra’s. This would have affected the JMT. Then Reagan with Paul Laxalt, the governor of Nevada formed the commision which would govern Lake Tahoe. Brown when he became governor increased the powers of the conservation movement, enlarging what Reagan had done by appointing people who had conservation at heart.
Conspicuous consumption-interesting term
CARB is allowed to operate above the federal clean air act because it preceded it.
It was noted that when TV camera’s got small and portable, anybody who the camera caught had the same audience as a person of importance. Of course, the question is who would listen to the person off the street. But this has led to all voices being heard, even those who do not have anything useful to be listened to.
The tag “Governor Moonbeam” came from Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko in reaction to Jerry Brown wanting to build California’s own satellite system.
The Fall
Pat Brown was concerned about two things on Jerry Brown’s governing:
Lack of support for the UC system
The rising concern of property taxes. This eventually led to the passing of Prop 13.
This would eventually lead to the State having more control over local finances as the local governments had to meet high hurdles to raise taxes.
The 40ish Jerry Brown wanted change and was restless. All the signs were there that he wanted to run for President. I suspect the restlessness was his downfall-he would not complete a task which he started.
Diane Dooley noted that Jerry Brown doesn’t have what people typically think of as personal relationships with people. In otherwards, I doubt that any ordinary person could call him their friend. More as a person who might use them.
Subordinates can undermine your reputation-when some of this staff used state computers as a campaign tool. Even though Jerry Brown did not sanction it. This tarnished his reputation. But they can also help to reveal problems. Such as, some of Pat Brown’s advisors noted that Jerry Brown did not have any broad political principles. He seems more surface level in his actions.
High poll numbers at the start can mean only one way to go. It also indicates that a person has to live up to the ideas they have built.
Bohemian Grove was a male getaway which the powerful could retreat to. Pat Brown was part of it. Jerry Brown’s administration sues to allow females.
Winter Soldiers
Jerry Brown’s wilderness years. More of an observer than a mover and shaker. Pawel says it was a combination of soul-searching, plotting and penance. Interesting the penance. I do not think Pawel goes into the penance part, but I would imagine it was humbling himself before party leaders whom he had offended. The plotting is interesting because of his choice of tutors-Armand Hammer, who had connections with Russia; Pierre Trudeau and Richard Nixon for his insights into China and Russia.
Pawel notes that he went to Japan to study Buddhism. I wish Pawel had talked more about his turn here than the hints she gives occasionally. She does note that there are certain similarities in the Jesuit and Buddhist training. A Jesuit priest who understood Buddhist thinking directed Jerry Brown to a zen master to study. Also what impact, if any his Buddhist leanings had on his second term.
On the other hand, he also meets and is impressed by Mother Teresa. She lives as if it were God himself laying there in the street, crying for help. He compares what she has accomplished with what he has in politics.
Agere contra - To act against. A term in ascetical literature to describe the deliberate effort one must make to strive to overcome his evil tendencies by doing the opposite of that to which he is sinfully inclined. But Pawel Brown writing I know in my bones what politics is-both its evil and its splendor and I see what it can become…. Does not seem to be quite the same thing.
Brown ran for the head of California’s Democratic Party, promising to meld the old-line with high-tech. Apparently he was successful as look at the political landscape California has become. He was able to form a coalition of people who would be more in line with the citizens of California.
Pat Brown wrote to Ronald Reagan at one point that a jet is too fast to see California. A charter jet flies too high and to fast for you to get a good look at this great, golden state…
Whatever the odds, whoever the adversaries, however long it takes, we will create the power for the powerless, for there is no other reason for a Democratic Party to exist, ... Part of Jerry Brown’s nomination for President in 1992.
A Different Shade of Brown
California exceptionalism: the perception or belief that a species, country, society, institution, movement, individual, or time period is "exceptional" (i.e., unusual or extraordinary). The term carries the implication that the referent is superior in some way, whether specified or not. Although the idea appears to have developed with respect to an era, today the term is particularly applied in national or regional contexts. Other uses include medical and genetic exceptionalism. From Wikipedia on Exceptionalism. Recently, the AP had a piece based upon Gov Newsom’s inaugural speech about California exceptionalism. Carey McWilliams’ “California: The Great Exception,” published in 1949. Also a good article in the Orange County Register on California Exceptionalism
Kathleen Brown was on a local board of education which was trying to figure out how to do integration/desegregation. Her view was that busing should not be a punishment visited on the children, but a means of broadening their education. But how to do that is the question? I do not know of many school districts which have been successful with this. It usually leads to white flight.
Kathleen Brown also wrestled with the death penalty. She had watched her father wrestle with who to commute the death penalty for vs who should be executed. Pat Brown went into office believing the death penalty was a deterrent and came out with the thought it was morally wrong.
The immigration problem is not new. Reagan thought he gave a valid pathway in 1986, only to find there were problems with his approach.
Kathleen Brown brought in a new generation of strong, independent Brown women. She said that The tradition of politics I believe in is one where you stand for things. … I was never tempted to soften my stand even when I slipped in the polls. I wanted to give people a sense of standing up, of being counted. Let that be my legacy. The difference between principles and being practical.
Oakland Ecoplis
Jerry Brown moved to Oakland and established himself in a building designed to maximize communalism and minimize materialism. Does not sound like he quite succeeded on either as there seems to be a lot of statement making in the building. He says that has moved to a warehouse in Oakland, I have thirteen bedrooms and nine bathrooms, I am ready for community. I believe anything that enables people to work together in a direct honest way is the seed of change--cooperatives, base communities, liberation theology, engaged Buddhism.
Jerry Brown noted that it is the small physical stuff which makes a better community-fixing potholes and more police on the street.
Something called Techno Cosmic Mass. Jerry Brown was involved with setting them up. A guy by the name of Matthew Fox seems to hold it up and it is still going according to its web page.
He [Jerry Brown] solicited… as much information as possible. Not knowing is not good. Can you have information overload? How did Brown weed out the extraneous bits of information?
Jerry Brown envisioned Oakland as a city which would encompass a wide variety of benefits to its citizens. He took his motto from The Charter of Calcutta--The city can save the world. He wanted a well rounded citizenry.
Oakland Table-It does not look like it is active anymore. But it looks like it was an open educational forum for the citizens of Oakland where they could hear and discuss ideas.
Oakland Military Institution-Jerry Brown wanted an academy where confused young people could find structure in their lives. Where right was right and wrong was wrong. Authority would be respected. This harkened back to Brown’s Jesuit days.
Son of Sacramento
Brown took a more pragmatic view of things during his second go around. As attorney general, he realized that he could affect how laws were interpreted without negotiation with the legislature. Such as figuring out how to implement global warming legislation.
Arnold Schwarzenegger while elected as a republican governor, was greatly affected by Kevin Starr’s essay on the Party of California. Basically to understand that all residences are part of the Party of California and the governor needs to understand that party’s needs. You wonder how our Washington politicians understand the Party of the United States.
Jerry Brown spent some time mediating at a Trappist Monastery about direction and about who he was. This determined his approach to public office on the second go around. He also understood that at his age, he had no further ambitions than to be governor again and to serve the people of California. A this stage of my life became his mantra.
His finance minister looked at budgets with these four components;
Math
Policy
Politics
People
Brown added three things to this from his campaign promises:
No gimmicks
No new taxes without voter approval
Restore decision making to local level when possible
Almost sounds Republican
Second Chances
Who was Cincinnatus?
Philosophy of Loyalty by Josiah Royce. Jerry Brown confesses he did not understand this when his father first approached him on this subject. He now had a better grasp in 2011.
Jerry Brown was attracted to communal thought to work out problems-getting information from several sources and beating out solutions with his advisors. Anne Gust Brown, his wife, liked to walk in solitude to think through issues. This included hiking in Yosemite with Jerry Brown.
Interesting phrase-Never one to waste a crisis-speaking of Jerry Brown. Pawel goes on and talks about how when dealing with the effects of the Great Recession, he moved towards giving local government bigger control. This is an about face from when Prop 13 was passed and Jerry Brown gave money to local government so that they could continue to function, but put restraints on what they could do.
But the phrase about crisis is interesting. A crisis can affect a person’s leadership. They can try to find a way around it, or work their way through it, showing leadership. Similar to George Bush after 9/11.
Diat Lux Redux
Inequality of pay can only be solved by education. The difference in the poverty rate between those with a college education and those without a high school diploma is about 27%. But is this just because of a piece of paper? Isn’t it also about both the brain power and the perseverance to gain that paper is similar to those who succeed in a job? What this says to me is that the opportunity needs to be there, but not all will be capable.
The second time around as governor, Jerry Brown was not opposed to the UC system but still wanted to have the UC system prove that it really did need more money and that it would be spent prudently. Such as decreasing the disparity in graduation rates between campuses’.
If you know where you’re going, you’re already dead. I do not know if that is true. Such as if I leave my home, most of the time I know where I am going. Am I already dead? But I should also be open to new adventures which might take me to different places.
Past as Prologue
Jerry Brown noted that much of the same issues his father faced at the outset are ones he was still facing: discrimination, quality education, environmental concerns, water resource allocations, and overcrowded prisons. Pawel notes that Brown had a strong sense of right and wrong. This came from his training as a Jesuit.
Jerry Brown cites Arnold Toynbee that what separates civilizations is how they rise to a challenge. Brown thinks that Trump is just a distraction from meeting the challenges we have. Also that Trump was on the wrong side of morality. This was particularly true in the areas of immigration and climate change.
Politics is based on the principle, let’s make a deal. You can’t make a deal with nature. Nature is sovereign.
Recently California passed a terminally ill law which allows a patient who has been diagnosed as terminally ill to take their own life. Brown was in a quandary about this and consulted several moral authorities. In the end he thought about how he would want to consider his own death. My thought is your own self the highest moral authority you can summon?
In politics, timing is everything. Wait for the right moment.
The Mountain House
Brown was making Mountain House, near WIlliams and Colusa, his home after retirement. This was the home of his great grandfather. He reminded his crowd upon reelection that his fellow Jesuit brothers had given them the name age quod agis-do what you are doing. Mountain House was not part of his youth, but as he aged, Brown wanted to become part of the spirit of the area.
He felt that the land, It’s a hostel environment, and people come to terms with it.
Nearing the end of his second second term as governor, Brown was asked what was his next act? He says that like Cincinnatus, it was to go back home and plow. The plowing was metaphorically.
Afterwards
On January 7, 2019 at 12:01am, Brown would no longer be governor. This would mark the first time in two decades where he would be a private citizen. His wife was the organizer of the transition back to private life.
Evaluation:
Confession: I read this book five years ago but never completed my notes. I have completed them in January of 2024.
The Browns of California gives an in-depth look at the family which produced two governors who were in office 24 years of my 70 years in California. As a family they have had a large impact on this state all the way from highway building and the building up of the University of California system to its current focus on environmental and climate policy.
Pawel’s review of the family is almost always positive-which there is a lot to justify that positiveness. She takes you through how the family immigrated from Germany to California. As the family moved to San Francisco, Pat Brown became involved with its politics, running for DIstrict Attorney, then the State’s Attorney General and finally governor. Jerry Brown took a different route having studied to be a Jesuit, ended up in politics and eventually running unsuccessfully for President while governor. Pawel takes us through the end of Jerry Brown’s second time as governor.
Most of the book Pawel does well in explaining how the Brown’s operated. But there are places where Pawel makes a statement which leaves you wondering. Such as Jerry Brown’s affinity for Zen is given only a cursory explanation. Or saying that Brown felt that the UC’s law school being a top ten school was a sign of failure. Why?
If you are interested in California politics, this is a good book to read, even at close to 500 pages. You still need to be committed to the effort.
Notes from my book group:
If you are a Californian, how has the Brown family shaped California during your lifetime? Where has it improved California? Where have their policies not done California good?
There was a Time magazine story on Pat Brown which concentrated on his weaknesses. It said that Brown had advisors which would be strong in those areas, hiding his weaknesses. Is this a bad arrangement? Do we want or require a person who is strong in all areas? What do you look for in a leader?
Describe Jerry Brown’s approach to politics and morality. What opportunities did Brown see to improve the life of the governed through politics? What limits?
Secrecy is dangerous, but something far worse often follows it--government deception. Why is there secrecy in government? When is it needed? How should the bones of government be exposed?
Jerry Brown had two rules for his staff: present all relevant facts and support the decision made. Do you think these were effective?
Jerry Brown wanted to be seen in light of his policies, not because of his good political nature-doing things to incur favor. How far did Brown go with this thinking? When you think of a politician, how do you view them and their effectiveness?
Jerry Brown was committed to the idea that government must look more like the governed. Is this a reasonable axiom? When does this view come into conflict with getting competent or even excellent people into government?
Brown's power was to convey to people the sense that they could accomplish things. Give some examples where this philosophy was used.
When Jerry Brown was in his forties, he was not content with being California’s governor. He wanted to go to a bigger stage. Was this part of his temperament? Or his age? How should we evaluate how a candidate will fit into being President? Should age matter?
Bohemian Grove was a male getaway which the powerful could retreat to. Pat Brown was part of it. Jerry Brown’s administration sued to allow females. Is having activities which are gender based something which our society should allow? How about sports competitions? Or programs such as The View?
Kevin Starr had an essay on the Party of California which essentially said that no matter what political party a person belonged to, all Californians are part of the Party of California. What does this mean? How would a person govern if they adopted this thinking?
Jerry Brown seemed to thrive on crisis (Never one to waste a crisis). Why? How did Brown see a crisis as an aid to governing? When you hear of a crisis, what do you think should be done?
Discuss the statement If you know where you’re going, you’re already dead..
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why the title of Browns of California?
Does this story work as a biography?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was there anybody you would consider religious?
How did they show it?
Was the book overtly religious?
How did it affect the book's story?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “take aways” did you have from this book?
What central ideas does the author present?
Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific
What evidence does the author use to support the book's ideas?
Is the evidence convincing...definitive or...speculative?
Does the author depend on personal opinion, observation, and assessment? Or is the evidence factual—based on science, statistics, historical documents, or quotations from (credible) experts?
What implications for you, our nation or the world do these ideas have?
Are these idea’s controversial?
To whom and why?
Are there solutions which the author presents?
Do they seem workable? Practicable?
How would you implement them?
Describe the culture talked about in the book.
How is the culture described in this book different than where we live?
What economic or political situations are described?
Does the author examine economics and politics, family traditions, the arts, religious beliefs, language or food?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
Of how God is viewed?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
Beadle (6): a ceremonial officer of a church, college, or similar institution.
Proscribed (6): forbid, especially by law.
Peripatetic (10): traveling from place to place, in particular working or based in various places for relatively short periods
Parsimonious (15): unwilling to spend money or use resources; stingy or frugal.
California As It Is, and As It May Be by Felix Wierzbicki
The Emigrants’ Guide to California by Lansford Hastings’s
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Mixed Marriages by Margaret Haerens (?)
The Preface to Morals by Walter Lippman
The Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Road to War 1914-17 by Walter Millis
The Practice of Perfection and Christian Virtues by Alphonsus Rodriguez
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis
Aeneid by Virgil
Apology by Socrates
Man’s Search for Himself by ROllo May
Spirit and Reality by Nikolai Berdyaev
Politics and Vision by Sheldon Wolin
Cell 2455, Death Row by Caryl Chessman
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Factories in the Field by Carey McWilliams
The Uncertain Trumpet by Maxwell Taylor
Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones by Paul Reps and Nyogen Senzaki
Whole Earth Catalog edited by Stewart Brand
Thoughts by Jerry Brown
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II by Fernand Braudel (three volumes)
Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich
The Constitution of the Jesuits by Ignatius of Loyola
Philosophy of Loyalty by Josiah Royce
Good Quotes:
First Line: The genesis of this book was a conversation several years ago on an isolated ranch in Northern California, with Jerry Brown.
Last Line: Luckily, it was a solid piece of ice, so it hasn’t completely melted.
History offers anchors in time of disruption and helps us understand how to respond to change. Chp Preface
I feel that we should live each day to the fullest and try to give it all that we have. Quoted from Pat Brown in a letter to George Keefe, June 23, 1943
Many conquer others but only the great conquer themselves. Quote from Jerry Brown in a letter to Pat Brown, May 20, 1957
A Governor Can Not Abdicate Leadership. It is better to lose. Quote from Pat Brown in his diary, July 12-13, 1960
California is a place where you can find whatever you came looking for, and right next to it that which you hoped to avoid. Quote from Wallace Stegner in the California: The Dynamic State, page 224
Secrecy is dangerous, but something far worse often follows it--government deception. Jerry Bown, Town Hall speech, May 15, 1973, JB, Box B-22-4
The main crisis is the human energy crisis. Chp The Candidate
The Jesuit ideal is that you should prefer neither a long life nor a short life, neither riches nor poverty, neither health nor illness; it’s all a matter of indifference. All you care about is the greater glory of God. Esquire, November 1974
I think the crisis is not just that of energy or the environment. I think its a crisis of the spirit. We don’t lack for anything in this country. What we really lack is leadership. Jerry Brown, January 6, 1975 prayer breakfast on initial inauguration.
Before you dump something over, you better figure out what it is you are doing … precipitous action is rarely needed, and then only with adequate justification. Jerry Brown-News conference transcript, March 11, 1975, JB Box A-29-4
A person in a significant position of power can lead by questions he raised and the examples he sets. Jerry Brown in the April 1976 issue of Playboy
A law of itself can’t solve human problems, but it can provide the framework. Jerry Brown, News conference transcript, June 5, 1975, JB Box A-29-4
The law is not just about change, it’s about tradition. Jerry Brown, LA Weekly, Jan 24, 2007
Without the trust of the people, politics degenerates into mere spectacle, and democracy declines, leaving demagoguery and cynicism to fill the void. Jerry Brown, January 3, 2011 Inaugural Address.
Economics is about dollars and cents. It’s very mechanical. It’s rather heartless. Justice is about giving people their due. Those aren’t the same thing. Jerry Brown, quoted from Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2016
Politics is based on the principle, let’s make a deal. You can’t make a deal with nature. Nature is sovereign. Chp Past as Prologue
age quod agis-do what you are doing. Jesuit motto
Preface
The Mansion
The Pioneer
The Paris of America
The Yell Leader
The Roosevelt Democrat
Forest Hill
The Governor and the Seminarian
Fiat Lux
Down but Not Out
“Water for People. For Living”
The Turbulent Team
The Browns of Los Angeles
The Candidate
The New Spirit
Jerry and Ceasar
To the Moon and Back
The Fall
Winter Soldiers
A Different Shade of Brown
Oakland Ecoplis
Son of Sacramento
Second Chances
Diat Lux Redux
Past as Prologue
The Mountain House
Afterwards
References:
