IP: CONGRESSMAN GEORGE E. BROWN, JR. DIES; [and will be missed by all djf]

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

CONGRESSMAN GEORGE E. BROWN, JR. DIES;
ADVANCED CAUSES FROM CIVIL RIGHTS TO SPACE EXPLORATION

Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. died on July 15, 1999 at the age of 79 following open heart surgery at Bethesda Naval 
Hospital outside of Washington, DC.  Brown, in his 18th term in the House, was the Ranking Democratic Member on the 
House Science Committee and a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee.  He was the oldest current House member 
and the longest serving member of the House or Senate in the history of his home state of California.

Brown's death was attributed to a post-surgical infection following a heart valve replacement in May.  

Brown was Chairman of the House Science Committee during the 102nd and 103rd Congresses and was probably best known in 
the Congress for his work on science and technology issues.  He was a recognized leader in forming the institutional 
framework for science and technology in the Federal government.  In the mid-1960s and again in the 1980s, he led an 
effort to restructure and strengthen the National Science Foundation, moving the agency into a much more active roles 
in engineering, science education, and development of  advanced technologies.  He developed legislation shaping the 
permanent science advisory mechanism in the Executive Office of the President, which was established in 1976 as the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy.  As an energetic proponent of environmental preservation and of science and 
technology in the service of society, Brown championed the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
Office of Technology Assessment in the early 1970s.

Brown was known as an advocate of strategic planning and Congressional foresight.  Ahead of the mainstream agenda, he 
recognized early on the environmental hazards of burning fossil fuels, the destructive effect of freons on the ozone 
layer, the importance of keeping space development under civilian control, and the necessity of monitoring global 
climate change.  In due course, Congress adopted provisions in the Clean Air Act to protect the ozone layer from 
freons; passed a national climate monitoring program; funded research and development programs in hydrogen, 
hydrothermal, geothermal, photovoltaics, and wind energy; and developed a global change research program.  Brown also 
helped direct the Congress toward initiatives for energy and resource conservation, sustainable agriculture, national 
information systems, advanced technology development, and the integration of technology in education.  Throughout his 
career, Brown enthusiastically supported both manned and unmanned space exploration.  He also devel
oped plans to improve U.S. manufacturing capability, maintain the Landsat remote-sensing system, and restructure the 
national weapons laboratories in a peacetime economy.   Late in his career, he was active in promoting international 
scientific cooperation, authoring legislation establishing joint research programs between U.S. researchers and their 
counterparts in Mexico and Russia.     

Brown also had a long and rich history on non-science issues spanning many important events and eras of modern American 
political life.  Raised during the Depression in Holtville, in the Imperial Valley agricultural area of California near 
the Mexican border, Brown was a graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, where he helped break the 
racial color barrier by organizing the first integrated campus housing in the late 1930’s.  A pacifist Quaker, Brown 
had initially registered as a conscientious objector during World War II and worked in a Civilian Conservation Corps 
camp in Oregon.  In 1942, however, Brown decided to join the military, and served as a Second Lieutenant in the Army 
for four years.  After the war, and armed with his degree in Industrial Physics, Brown began his career in the civil 
service department of the City of Los Angeles, where he helped in organizing both city workers and veterans housing 
projects. During this period, he also mobilized public opposition to the incarcerati
on of Japanese-Americans, a cause which led senior city workers to try to block his career path  

In 1954, Brown won his first election  as city councilman in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park  and became its 
mayor in 1955.  He also became a full-time union business manager for the Engineers and Architects Association at the 
City of Los Angeles.  In 1958 Brown was elected to the California State Assembly and served there until 1962.  As an 
assemblyman, Brown authored legislation providing public employees with the right to bargain collectively and, 
foreshadowing his many environmental efforts, introduced the first bill in the nation to ban lead in gasoline.  He 
successfully ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 1962 in a district that included much of Latino East Los 
Angeles and its nearby suburbs.  

In Congress, Brown was one of the first outspoken critics of the Vietnam War.  He voted against every defense spending 
bill during the Vietnam era.  In 1970, Brown entered the Democratic Senatorial primary against the more moderate 
Congressman John V. Tunney.  Brown's "tell it like it is" style and anti-war stance attracted liberal activists up and 
down the state, including future U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, who became a volunteer coordinator for Brown's campaign in 
the San Francisco Bay Area.  The current California political party is replete with individuals who worked on Brown's 
1970 Senate campaign. 

Brown returned to the House in 1972 after the post-1970 census reapportionment created a new seat in San Bernardino and 
Riverside Counties, close to his childhood home in Imperial Valley.  Brown won 14 elections in the seat, which changed 
slightly after each census and became progressively more difficult for a Democrat to hold.  Brown's elections in the 
1980’s and 1990's were among the most competitive in the nation.  He squeaked by with a margin of 51-49% in 1994 and 
50.5-49.5% in 1996, but prevailed by a 55-44% margin in 1998.

Throughout his life, Brown believed in the power of persuasion to settle differences, but his personal style evolved 
over time.  Always a straight shooter, he once described John V. Tunney in the 1970 race as the “lightweight son of the 
heavyweight champ.”  After his return to Congress in 1972, Brown developed a polite and courtly style of argument, 
tinged with humorous self-deprecation.  His reliance on reason and persuasion coupled with the respect he showed to his 
opponents, made him a very effective advocate and enabled him to form alliances with people of all political parties.  
He effectively bound his liberal values with a moderate’s ability to find common ground and achieve consensus.  This 
mature style kept Brown relevant and influential even after the Democrats’ lost their majority in the House in the 1994 
election.

Brown prided himself on working hard for his District.  One of his priorities was to bring new educational technology 
and inspiration for scientific learning to his local schools.  Brown's reputation in science helped him bring NASA 
participation and support for local schools and business.  Brown was also deeply involved in the defense conversion of 
the former Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and in helping to expand non-violent conflict resolution programs in 
schools, such as the PeaceLeaders program.  To help the entire Inland Empire region of California, including his home 
area of Imperial Valley, Brown used his scientific background and associations with national leaders to draw attention 
to the environmental demise of the Salton Sea, the largest lake in California, which is becoming too salty to support 
normal fish and bird life.  Brown worked with the late Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs), his widow, Rep. Mary Bono 
(R-Palm Springs), and others to fund a federal research project that will recomme
nd solutions for the Salton Sea at the end of 1999.

Brown is survived by his wife Marta Macias Brown of San Bernardino, California.  Both were previously married.  Between 
them they have a total of six children (David and Dale Brown; Samuel, Armando and Miguel McQueen and Howard Cincotta) 
and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.