On November 27, 1978, angered that he wasn’t to be reappointed to the Board of Supervisors slot he resigned from on November 10, Dan White enters San Francisco City Hall at 10:30 a.m. through a basement window.
Mayor George Moscone agrees to meet with White who shoots the mayor four times at point blank range with a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver.
March 7, 1978
Photo by Daniel Nicoletta
Leaving the 49-year-old father of four dead, White reloads and then walks to where the supervisors’ offices are located and asks Supervisor Harvey Milk, the state’s first openly gay elected official, if he can speak with him in private.
White ushers Milk into White’s former office and kills him with five gunshots, two to the back of his head.
A stunned and tearful Dianne Feinstein, president of the board, announces the murders:
“Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed…. The suspect is Supervisor Dan White,” she tells reporters.
Tens of thousands of mourners form an impromptu candlelight march, beginning in the Castro District and ending at City Hall. Joan Baez leads the assembled in “Amazing Grace.” Moscone and Milk lay in state at City Hall. Moscone’s funeral is attended by 4,500 people.
Feinstein becomes mayor – the first woman to hold the office. She is mayor until 1988 and wins election as a U.S. Senator for California in 1992.
Long-time Bay Area television journalist Belva Davis reports:
White, a former policeman and fireman, is first elected to the board along with Milk in San Francisco’s first district-based – rather than city-wide – election, a change sought by Moscone that creates a much more diverse board of supervisors. There are clashes between White, one of the more conservative board members who hold a narrow majority, and the liberal bloc, which includes Milk.
Forced to quit his higher paying job with the fire department when he becomes supervisor, White suffers financially. He chafes at the charged political atmosphere at City Hall and the inclusive policies championed by Moscone. White resigns but his supporters urge him to rescind the action and seek reappointment so the board’s majority doesn’t swing to Moscone and the liberals.
Rather than reappoint White, Moscone decides to name someone to the seat more supportive of his political agenda. A formal announcement is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., Monday, November 27.
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White surrenders to police officers one hour after the shootings. He is tried for first-degree murder but his lawyers convince the jury that White’s depression creates “diminished mental capacity,” which prevents the premeditation necessary for first-degree murder.
Convicted of voluntary manslaughter, White is paroled in 1984 — spending just over five years behind bars for the murders. On October 21, 1985, the 39-year-old White runs a hose from the exhaust pipe of his 1979 yellow Buick LeSabre into the passenger compartment, poisoning himself with carbon monoxide, the New York Times reports.
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“Get involved. Give a damn about the quality of your life and about your neighbor’s life. Do something to make things better.”
— George Moscone
TOP IMAGE: Cover of San Francisco Chronicle November 28 1978. Courtesy San Francisco Chronicle.