Synopses & Reviews
To The Washington Post, he's "The Last Political Showman of the 20th Century." Bill Clinton has called him "the real Slick Willie."
Ronald Reagan's secretary of state George Shultz called this famously liberal politician "a man of his word" and endorsed his successful candidacy for mayor of San Francisco.
Indeed Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton both called upon him for advice and help. He is Willie L. Brown, Jr., and he knows how to get things done in politics, how to work both sides of the aisle to get results. Compared to him, Machiavelli looks meek. And drab.
In Basic Brown, this product of rural, segregated Texas and the urban black neighborhoods of San Francisco tells how he rose through the civil rights movement to become the most potent black politician in America through his shrewd understanding and use of political power and political money. He adapts the lessons he has learned so they can be used by anyone -- black, female, male -- intent on acquiring political power.
And this master of the political deal demonstrates why deals are not enough, and that political power grows only when public good is being done. Willie Brown shows how some of the most far-reaching and socially advanced legislation in American history -- like gun control, legalized abortion, gay rights, and school funding -- was carried out under his guidance and on his watch, and tells of the ingenuity, the political machinations, and the personal perseverance that were required to enact what now seems to many to be obvious legislation. These are stories of breathtaking, sometimes hilarious ruses and gambits that show that even the most high-minded legislation needs the assistance of the skills of a shark, which is what Willie Brown often sees himself as.
Basic Brown is a compendium of insights and stories on the real forces governing power in American political life that will leave you looking at politics anew. It is also the inspiring and funny story of the rise of a gawky teenager in mail-order shoes and trousers who rose to entertain royalty and schoolchildren, superstars and supersize egos, the saintly and the scholarly, while working to transform and open American politics. If you ever wanted to learn how to be slick, a shark, a do-gooder, and a man of your word, Willie L. Brown, Jr., is the storyteller for you.
About the Author
Willie L. Brown, Jr., has been at the center of California politics, government, and civic life for four decades. His career spans the American presidency from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush: he served in the California assembly for thirty years, fourteen-and-a-half of them as its speaker, and for two four-year terms (all that the law allows) as mayor of San Francisco. Today, he heads the Willie L. Brown Jr. Institute on Politics and Public Service, where this acknowledged master of the art of politics shares his knowledge and skills with a new generation of California leaders.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction: Willie Talk: The Hipster of the Breakfast Table
PART ONE - WILLIE BROWN TALKS THE TALK
1. "Willie Brown, Who Are You Kidding?" 2. Willie Brown Is NOT Kidding 3. Consensus and Power 4. Sex Scandals and the Socializing Politician 5. The Power of Clothes: Don't Pull a Dukakis 6. Black Politics and Racism Today 7. Women in American Politics Today 8. Asking for Money Is Part of the Business 9. My Solution to the Campaign Finance Mess 10. Should One Politician Call the Cops on Another?
PART TWO - WILLIE BROWN RISES IN THE WORLD OF POLITICS
11. A Black Teenager Arrives in San Francisco 12. Phil Burton, Herb Caen, Jesse Unruh, and Me 13. My Own Family Life 14. Gay Rights: How Some Historic Legislation Was Really Made 15. Starting On My Rise to Power 16. Stabbed in the Back on the Way Up 17. The Assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk 18. Loyalty and Betrayal on the Way to the Top 19. Elected Speaker
PART THREE - "AN OFFER LIKE THAT COULD LAND US BOTH IN JAIL"
20. Old-Time Money Scams 21. "An Offer Like That Could Land Us Both in Jail" 22. My Money-Raising Principles 23. Tricks the FBI Played to Try to Get Me 24. Gun Control; Nelson Mandela's California Allies; and Saving Kindergartens 25. Sustaining Speakership: Most Magnificent Moment 26. The Godfather and the Father of the House
PART FOUR - DA MAYOR
27. Why Would You Want to Be Mayor? 28. Running for Mayor 29. Slick Willie: Da Mayor 30. A Mayor Is Actually Supposed to Solve Problems 31. The Selfish: The Killer Dynamic of City Politics 32. Traction and No Traction: Muni and Homelessness 33. Restoring the City's Crown Jewel 34. A Football Stadium and a Sadomasochistic Birthday Party 35. Schemers Scorned 36. Sacred Cartel 37. A Mayor Makes Friends with Warlords as Well as with Nice People 38. The Scared Days and an Urban Legend 39. The Political Life 40. What Is a Politician?
Acknowledgments
Index