Alan Cranston was an American journalist and a California Democratic Senator. He studied journalism at Stanford University after coming from a wealthy family of real estate developers. He began his professional career as an International News Service correspondent. He was a private in the military before entering politics (a soldier of the lowest military rank). He served on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committees, as well as the Foreign Relations Committee. He was honored for his 24 years of service in the Senate. He was an outspoken supporter of global governance. In his 1945 book The Killing of the Peace, he recounts the League of Nations’ loss in the United States Senate. His name was linked to the savings and loan scandal in the late 1980s, which tarnished his reputation. After leaving the Senate in 1993, he founded the Global Security Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons. He was the head of the Veterans Committee and a member of the Banking Committee. He also spent 14 years as the Democratic whip. He was the one who took the initiative to rally support for ending the Vietnam War. The Global Security Institute was founded by him and he served as its President.
Childhood and Adolescence
Alan Cranston was born in Palo Alto, California, to an affluent family of real estate developers. His father Carol and mother William MacGregor Cranston are both real estate investors. He attended the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico after graduating from Stanford University in Palo Alto in 1936.
Career of Alan Cranston
He became a foreign journalist for the International News Service after finishing his studies. He traveled to Europe and North Africa as part of his job. Though he was initially ecstatic about the position, he later found it frustrating.
He studied Hitler’s Mein Kampf after returning to the United States, which he claimed omitted details concerning Hitler’s anti-Semitism and extremism. As a result, he produced an unofficial and expanded translation of the book.
He was also the editor and writer for the publication Common Ground. He went on to work for the Office of War Information later. He wrote The Killing of the Peace during this time.
He enlisted in the military as a private in 1944. He attended the 1945 meeting the following year, where he was a key participant in the Dublin Declaration. In 1947, he assumed control of his father’s Palo Alto real estate enterprise. He was elected president of the World Federalist Association in 1948.
In 1949, he was instrumental in the passage of the World Federalist California Resolution. He urged Congress to change the Constitution to allow the United States to participate in a global federal government.
During the late 1940s, he was an outspoken opponent of nuclear weapons. He co-founded the California Democratic Council (CDC) in 1952 and served as its chairman.
In 1958, the California Democratic Council gave him the support he needed to become State Controller. It also provided him with much-needed assistance throughout his various Senate campaigns. In 1962, he was re-elected to the position of State Controller.
He was elected to the United States Senate for the first of his four terms in 1968. In 1974, he was defeated by Republican state senator H.L. ‘Bill’ Richardson.
He was the Democratic Whip from 1977 to 1991. In the 1984 presidential election, he was unsuccessful in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. He had suffered because of a $2 million campaign debt incurred during the 1984 race.
The United States Senate Select Committee on Ethics strongly chastised him in 1991 for his ‘improper conduct’ relating a cash contribution from Lincoln Savings to voter registration groups close to the senator.
On January 20, 1993, he presided over Bill Clinton’s inauguration as President of the United States. Cranston’s last job as a Senator was on this film. He was the head of the Gorbachev Foundation USA in 1996.
Personal History and Legacy
Cranston married twice: the first time, in 1940, to Geneva McMath, with whom he had two sons, Robin and Kim. He divorced Geneva, though, and later married Norma Weintraub.
He was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in the early 1990s. Cranston, according to his son Kim, overcame his sickness and died of natural causes. At the age of 86, he passed away.
Estimated Net Worth
The estimated net worth of Alan Cranston is unknown.
Trivia
He was a member of the nation’s fastest quarter-mile sprint relay squad during his collegiate days. He is also known for holding the world record for the 55-year-old 100-yard sprint.
When he translated Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf into English and was sued by Hitler for it, he was in the middle of a controversy. He gladly included this knowledge in his résumé.
He used to brag about his ability to count votes before they were cast during his time as Democratic whip. His retirement was devoted to the eradication of nuclear weapons.