Dianne Feinstein : Ask Biography

Personal data

Date of birth

June 22, 1933(age 82)

Place of birth

San Francisco, California

Political party

Democratic

Spouse

Judge Jack Berman (div.)
Bertram Feinstein (deceased)
Richard C. Blum (1980 - )

Children

Katherine Feinstein Mariano

Residence

San Francisco, California

Alma mater

Stanford University (B.A.)

Occupation

United States Senator

Religion

Judaism

Assumed office

November 10, 1992

Serving with Barbara Boxer

Preceded by

John F. Seymour

Chairwoman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Assumed office

January 6, 2009

Preceded by

John D. Rockefeller IV

Chairwoman of the International Narcotics Control Caucus

Assumed office

January 3, 2009

Preceded by

Joe Biden

Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration

In office

January 4, 2007 - January 3, 2009

Succeeded by

Chuck Schumer

Preceded by

Trent Lott

38th Mayor of San Francisco

In office

December 4, 1978 - January 8, 1988

Succeeded by

Art Agnos

Preceded by

George Moscone

Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors

In office

1970 - 1978

Home | Office Holder | Dianne Feinstein

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (c-eniconˈfaɪnstaɪn; born June 22, 1933) is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Born in San Francisco, Feinstein graduated from Stanford University. In the 1960s she worked in city government, and in 1970 she was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served as the board's first female president in 1978, during which time the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk drew national attention to the city. Feinstein, who was the first to discover the shootings, succeeded Moscone as mayor. During her tenure as San Francisco's first female mayor she took a politically moderate stance, leading a revamp of the city's cable car system and overseeing the 1984 Democratic National Convention.

After a failed gubernatorial campaign in 1990, she won a 1992 special election to the U.S. Senate. Feinstein was first elected on the same ballot as her peer Barbara Boxer, and the two became California's first female U.S. Senators. Feinstein formerly chaired the Senate Rules Committee (2007 � 2009) and has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. She is also the first woman to have presided over a U.S. presidential inauguration.

She is currently twenty-second in seniority in the United States Senate.