Senator Dianne Feinstein, trailblazer for women in US politics, dies aged 90
Allo Trends World
2023-09-29
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News Article :-
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving member of the US Senate who blazed a trail for women in American politics, has died. She was 90.
Feinstein’s death at home in Washington on Thursday night brought down the curtain on a storied career that included gun control advocacy – she spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban – and documenting the CIA’s torture of foreign terrorism suspects.
Joe Biden led tributes, calling Feinstein a “pioneering American” and “true trailblazer”. The president said in a statement: “Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what Jill and I will miss the most.”
For Democrats, news of the death of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also the longest-serving female senator in US history, has significant political implications.
Faced with growing questions about her age and fitness, Feinstein was due to retire at the end of her term.
The race to succeed her in a safe Democratic seat has attracted high-profile candidates, Adam Schiff, a former House intelligence chair, squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has promised to install a Black woman in any vacant seat.
Before entering national politics, Feinstein was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco. She ran for the position twice before in 1978 the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, like Feinstein a member of the board of supervisors, saw her step into the top job.
Leaving office in 1988, Feinstein ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 before winning her Senate seat in 1992. She did so alongside Barbara Boxer, making California the first state to send two women to the Senate. Feinstein became the first woman to be a California senator because she was sworn in first, to complete an unfinished term. Feinstein was also the first Jewish female senator.
Feinstein had compiled a formidable record, notably piloting a federal assault weapons ban in 1994 and, as the first woman to head the influential Senate intelligence committee, investigating CIA torture after 9/11.
“The CIA’s actions are a stain on our values and our history,” Feinstein said, defending the release of a report that revealed CIA use of “coercive interrogation techniques in some cases amounting to torture” on at least 119 detainees.
But she sometimes drew opprobrium from the left. During Republican George W Bush’s presidency she backed the 2002 Iraq war resolution, only to later express regret. Feinstein defended surveillance programmes exposed in 2013 by the National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a leak she called “an act of treason”.
In 2020 she attracted considerable criticism for her work leading Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee, particularly in the confirmati
News Article :-
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving member of the US Senate who blazed a trail for women in American politics, has died. She was 90.
Feinstein’s death at home in Washington on Thursday night brought down the curtain on a storied career that included gun control advocacy – she spearheaded the first federal assault weapons ban – and documenting the CIA’s torture of foreign terrorism suspects.
Joe Biden led tributes, calling Feinstein a “pioneering American” and “true trailblazer”. The president said in a statement: “Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that’s what Jill and I will miss the most.”
For Democrats, news of the death of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also the longest-serving female senator in US history, has significant political implications.
Faced with growing questions about her age and fitness, Feinstein was due to retire at the end of her term.
The race to succeed her in a safe Democratic seat has attracted high-profile candidates, Adam Schiff, a former House intelligence chair, squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has promised to install a Black woman in any vacant seat.
Before entering national politics, Feinstein was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco. She ran for the position twice before in 1978 the assassination of Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, like Feinstein a member of the board of supervisors, saw her step into the top job.
Leaving office in 1988, Feinstein ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1990 before winning her Senate seat in 1992. She did so alongside Barbara Boxer, making California the first state to send two women to the Senate. Feinstein became the first woman to be a California senator because she was sworn in first, to complete an unfinished term. Feinstein was also the first Jewish female senator.
Feinstein had compiled a formidable record, notably piloting a federal assault weapons ban in 1994 and, as the first woman to head the influential Senate intelligence committee, investigating CIA torture after 9/11.
“The CIA’s actions are a stain on our values and our history,” Feinstein said, defending the release of a report that revealed CIA use of “coercive interrogation techniques in some cases amounting to torture” on at least 119 detainees.
But she sometimes drew opprobrium from the left. During Republican George W Bush’s presidency she backed the 2002 Iraq war resolution, only to later express regret. Feinstein defended surveillance programmes exposed in 2013 by the National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a leak she called “an act of treason”.
In 2020 she attracted considerable criticism for her work leading Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee, particularly in the confirmati
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