Jesse M. Unruh
| Jesse M. Unruh | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 26th California State Treasurer | |
|
In office January 6, 1975 – August 4, 1987 |
|
| Governor |
Jerry Brown George Deukmejian |
| Preceded by | Ivy Baker Priest |
| Succeeded by | Elizabeth Whitney |
| 54th Speaker of the California State Assembly | |
|
In office September 1961 – January 1969 |
|
| Preceded by | Ralph M. Brown |
| Succeeded by | Robert T. Monagan |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jesse Marvin Unruh September 30, 1922 Newton, Kansas |
| Died | August 4, 1987 (aged 64) Marina Del Rey, California |
| Cause of death | Prostate cancer |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Virginia June Lemon (1943–1975) Chris Edwards (1986–1987) |
| Children | Linda Lu, Bruce, Bradley, Robert, Randall |
| Alma mater | University of Southern California |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Jesse Marvin Unruh (September 30, 1922 – August 4, 1987), also known as Big Daddy Unruh, was a well-known American Democratic politician and the California State Treasurer.
Born 1922 in Newton, Kansas, Unruh served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at the University of Southern California, receiving a B.A. in political science and journalism during 1948.
Unruh's political career began as an unsuccessful candidate for the California State Assembly during 1950 and 1952. He was elected as a member of the Assembly on his third attempt during 1954. During 1956, he was an unsuccessful candidate for Presidential elector for California as a Democrat. During 1959, he authored California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination by businesses that offer services to the public and was a model for later reforms enacted nationally during the 1960s and 1970s. Unruh was Speaker of the California State Assembly from 1961 to 1969 and a delegate to Democratic National Convention from California during 1960 and 1968.
As a national official of the Democratic Party, he often feuded with Governor of California Pat Brown (1959–67), a fellow Democrat, and was a case-study of James Q. Wilson's treatise on machine politics, The Amateur Democrat.
An early endorser of the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, Unruh helped Kennedy win the California primary election during June, but an assassin's bullet that same night ended Kennedy's life. In the confusion that followed, Unruh helped keep suspect Sirhan Sirhan from the reach of angry Kennedy devotees. After an unsuccessful effort, managed by Unruh and Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago, to draft Senator Edward M. Kennedy, he finally endorsed Eugene McCarthy at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
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