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Published on 05/26/1999 All articles from this issue

Sen. Cranston proud of work for wilderness preservation

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Voice of the Past

Alan Cranston, a longtime resident of Los Altos, got his start in politics at Mountain View High School as president of the Boys League. He eventually spent 24 years serving in the U.S. Senate (1969 to 1993). He was interviewed at his home in Los Altos by Erin Finnegan in 1995 and by Paul Nyberg in January 1998.

The War came along, and I served in the Office of War Information, which was in the executive offices of the President. Then I declined a deferment and enlisted in the Army and served until the war ended. I did some work in Washington for a couple more years, and then I came back to Los Altos, hoping to get into politics. I had to make some money first, so I joined my father in real estate in Palo Alto for a short time.

I got very active in the Democratic Party, beginning when Harry Truman ran for President in 1948. I wrote "The Killing of the Peace" in 1948, which was subsequently selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of the year. That same year, I was elected president of the National United World Federalists. I had met Adlai Stevenson during the War, and when he ran for president, I was very active in his campaign in 1952. That was the beginning of my real activities in politics.

I lived in Los Altos until 1958, when I got elected state controller. Then I moved to Sacramento in 1959. While I was in state government, in the controller's office, I was limited primarily to state matters, but I've always been interested in national and world events. That was what attracted me to the Senate. I suppose, when you ask me to consider my major accomplishments in the Senate, I would certainly have to say helping get us out of Vietnam was significant.

Probably the longest-lasting accomplishments relate to creating parks and wilderness areas - where part of the Earth, as it was created, will be preserved forever. For example, we saved the beautiful estate in Woodside, to the left of Highway 280, up into the mountains ... We managed to get that put into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It has beautiful trails and a wonderful place to hike.

You know, when you pass a bill dealing with a war/peace problem, or a social issue, or a tax or economic issue, new problems immediately come along. Sometimes those new problems are created by the solution or some other problem, and it just goes on and on. When you protect a wilderness area, that's forever.

A lot of people have suggested I write a book, but I don't need to because my sister, Eleanor Fowler, wrote a beautiful book about my life. It's "Cranston: The Senator from California."

-Adapted by Donna Shoemaker

courtesy of History House of Los Altos