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Moscone-Milk Killings 25th Anniversary: Milk and Moscone - Assassination at City Hall. (KRON-TV) — Transcript

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0:01[Music]
0:14[Music]
0:16May 21st
0:191979 it is known as the White Knight
0:21Riot when grief and anger turned into a
0:25furious battle on the Streets of San
0:27Francisco after assassin Dan white
0:30received a sentence of voluntary
0:32manslaughter for the double murders of
0:34Mayor George Moscone and Harvey mil the
0:37city's first openly gay
0:41supervisor Dan White came from San
0:44Francisco's visitation Valley one of
0:46nine children from a workingclass Irish
0:49Catholic Family he had been an army
0:52paratrooper during the war in Vietnam
0:55then served his city as a cop fireman
0:58and supervisor
1:01in November of
1:021978 white assassinated mosconi and milk
1:06at City Hall the madness was both tragic
1:09and
1:12incomprehensible just nine days before
1:15the city's heart and soul had been
1:17ripped apart by the shocking murder
1:20suicides of some 900 members from San
1:23Francisco's people's temple in Jonestown
1:27Guyana when the blood lust continued
1:29with the killings at City Hall it was a
1:32brutal climax to one of the darkest
1:35chapters in the history of San
1:41[Music]
1:50Francisco in the decade of the
1:531970s San Francisco was the Wall Street
1:56of the West a labor town becoming
1:58manhattanization visited by millions of
2:01tourists and embraced by a wave of new
2:04immigrants creating a gay Mecca in a
2:06neighborhood called the Castro I want to
2:09give fair warning to the pessimists who
2:12may be among my constituency that we can
2:16accomplish what we set out to do to
2:19George Moscone San Francisco was the
2:22greatest city in the
2:24world George Moscone was bigger than
2:27life uh he was a very a
2:30character he loved politics he loved the
2:34Rough and Tumble of
2:37it Moscone was an only child raised by
2:41his mother in the city's C Hollow
2:43District he was a high school basketball
2:45star at St Ignatius graduated from
2:48Hastings law school registered black
2:51voters in Mississippi and served in the
2:53California legislature as a liberal
2:56Progressive Democrat my father was
2:59always for the the little guy the
3:07underdog in
3:091975 George Moscone was elected mayor of
3:12San Francisco Moscone was 46 years old
3:16married and the father of four
3:20children he he really felt close to this
3:22city this was his City and for the
3:26people to vote him into office uh the
3:29city that he was born and raised in it
3:31meant it meant everything to
3:33him Moscone wanted to transform the face
3:37and soul of San Francisco and made
3:40enemies he believed the city's Police
3:42Department needed change and supported
3:45advances in the hiring and promotion of
3:48blacks muscone also made a controversial
3:51move in appointing a liberal Outsider
3:54Charles gain as the new
3:58Chief George was is unusual in that he
4:01didn't naturally come from a background
4:04where people of color were but for
4:07whatever reasons George was without
4:11any evidence
4:13anywhere of any racism or whatsoever Dan
4:18White has worked and lived virtually all
4:20his 31 years in this Southeastern
4:22section of San Francisco the
4:24neighborhood problems are the city's
4:25problems you see the transportation the
4:28crime the education TA in the summer of
4:321977 Dan White ran for City supervisor
4:35from District
4:378 one of the campaign statements he
4:40makes is that the city is being blighted
4:43um by people unlike ourselves
4:45malignancies he calls them and it was
4:48generally interpreted to mean that he
4:51was talking primarily about gay
4:55people white was a married Straight
4:57Arrow conservative who believed in
5:00family values and campaigned to the
5:02music of Rocky and a slogan of unite and
5:05fight with Dan white white was easily
5:09elected Dan White comes across as the
5:12kind of son almost any mother would be
5:13proud
5:15of Dan was one of my big big supporters
5:18here a lot of the L as a teenager Dan
5:22White was an all City football player
5:24thrown out of high school for fighting
5:27as a cop he went against the police code
5:30of solidarity charging another officer
5:33with
5:33brutality as a fireman he saved a woman
5:36and her child from a burning
5:39building yes I like Dan White very
5:42much uh I thought that uh he was a
5:47hardworking young man San Francisco
5:50homicide inspector Frank fan was a
5:52friend of Dan Whit cops from the same
5:55neighborhood they were the double play
5:57combination on the Department's softball
6:00team compromise
6:03and what happens at City Hall on a daily
6:06basis was just not Dan White's mentality
6:10and I felt personally as a friend he was
6:12making a
6:15mistake joining Dan White on the city's
6:18Board of Supervisors was Harvey mil milk
6:21was the first openly gay man elected to
6:24public office in the history of San
6:26Francisco what really counts is a person
6:29care does a person care about his City
6:31or her
6:33City Harvey milk's early life was
6:35eclectic High School athlete college
6:38graduate Navy officer Wall Street
6:41businessman Goldwater Republican
6:44ponytailed anti-war demonstrator who
6:46settled in San Francisco in 1972 and
6:50opened a camera store on Castro Street
6:53Harvey was a lot of fun Harvey was a
6:56fast talking glib energetic theatrical
7:01New York Jew he wasn't a saint he had a
7:05temper he could be a real pain in the
7:07neck you know he was just
7:10this this guy
7:14that moved
7:18us in the days after his election Harvey
7:21mil recorded a political
7:24will this is to be played only in the
7:27event of my death by assassin
7:31ation as a very public gay man milk knew
7:35he could be
7:36assassinated in my election gave
7:39somebody else one more person
7:43hope and after all that's what it's
7:45about you got to give him
7:49[Music]
7:51hope as the months passed many of Harvey
7:54milk's colleagues grew concerned about
7:56Dan White and his workingclass politics
7:58and bias
8:00milk felt white could be
8:02educated Harvey tried to reach Dan with
8:05humor he tried to reach Dan
8:08with uh
8:11advice Harvey could be a bit
8:15mellian I think he looked at this more
8:18as a game than most people
8:21do and he kind of walked to the sound of
8:24his own drummer I know that he and Dan
8:28were very close they had coffee once a
8:31week and they talked a lot which was
8:33kind of
8:35interesting Dan White felt a certain
8:37kinship for Harvey
8:39Milk when Dan's son Charlie was
8:43born at the christening Harvey Milk was
8:46the only member of the Board of
8:48Supervisors that Dan White invited to
8:50this very personal
8:53event eventually Harvey Milk and Dan
8:56White became political adversaries
9:00it began with a controversial proposal
9:02to place the center for troubled teens
9:04in White's visitation Valley
9:06neighborhood white fiercely campaigned
9:09against
9:10it when milk voted in favor of the
9:13center white was humiliated and enraged
9:17he retaliated by opposing milk's gay
9:20rights bill for San Francisco you can
9:22have someone that's a transvesti a man
9:24that for his sexual um kicks or
9:27orientation whatever you want to call it
9:29loves to dress up as a woman if he is a
9:32qualified teacher he can go into any
9:34school or he can go into any business
9:36and they can't refuse
9:38him Dan White was the only supervisor to
9:42vote against the gay rights ordinance of
9:44Harvey
9:45Milk the relationship between the two
9:47men never
9:50recovered and Dan with every month that
9:53passed got more and more frustrated more
9:56and
9:57more I think self conscious and
10:01aware uh that he wasn't succeeding and I
10:05I think these
10:07frustrations were clearly growing and
10:10growing and in that Arena if you aren't
10:14smart you
10:21[Music]
10:23lose in 1977 Anita Bryant a Miss America
10:27runnerup and television an orange juice
10:30Queen led a successful campaign in
10:32Florida to overturn a gay rights
10:34ordinance that Victory launched a new
10:37battle against homosexuals Across the
10:41Nation you are opening up The
10:44Floodgate to a situation that is like
10:48the Holocaust A year later John Briggs a
10:51conservative legislator from Orange
10:53County placed an initiative on the state
10:55ballot which would ban gays and lesbians
10:58from teaching in California schools let
11:01me get you straightened out here Harvey
11:03I've been very patient Harvey Milk
11:05worked tirelessly to defeat proposition
11:08six the Briggs
11:10initiative and hopefully the vote we see
11:12now continues and uh the people of
11:14California will have stood up to a
11:17demagogue and said
11:19goodbye on November 7th
11:221978 the Briggs initiative lost by over
11:26a million votes it was the Apex of
11:29Harvey milk's political
11:31[Music]
11:34power but Dan White's promising
11:36political career was fading his contempt
11:39for City Hall
11:42growing he was a lousy politician he had
11:46a high school Civics notion of what
11:48politics was about he thought you all
11:51got together in a big fancy room and
11:53everybody said what they believed
11:55sincerely and the best argument one
11:59white was also having financial problems
12:02his wife Maryanne left her teaching job
12:04to take care of their first
12:07child to supplement his supervisor
12:10salary of $9,600 a year the couple
12:14borrowed money and invested in a fried
12:16potato stand at Pier
12:1939 he's real unhappy in his job and he's
12:22real unhappy with how hard his wife has
12:24to work and he's real unhappy that his
12:27opponents are beating him up de day in
12:29day out politically I happened to see an
12:32interview by one of my colleagues was
12:33interviewed the other night and he kind
12:35of chuckled and his statement was uh
12:37supervisor white didn't realize that he
12:39has to compromise and I won't compromise
12:42my values or my
12:44standards on November 10th 3 days after
12:47the defeat of the Briggs initiative Dan
12:50White surprised everyone and resigned
12:53his position as a San Francisco
12:56supervisor Harvey
12:59I think more than mosone Harvey saw now
13:04that with Dan's
13:06resignation the mayor had an opportunity
13:08to appoint a liberal and change the
13:13balance on the board on Monday November
13:1613th Dan White's resignation was
13:19officially accepted by the Board of
13:21Supervisors White's name plate was
13:24removed from the door of his
13:26office but special interest group groups
13:29did not want to lose White's
13:31conservative
13:33vote the Chamber of Commerce had said
13:36you can't resign you have um you know
13:39you're the sixth vote that we need
13:41because the mayor had just a bare
13:43majority of votes you can't you can't
13:46resign police officers you can't resign
13:49firefighters you can't
13:51resign white was persuaded to change his
13:54mind after a contentious meeting with
13:57his Aids on the afternoon of November
14:0014th the ex supervisor then informed Mir
14:03Moscone that he wanted his old job back
14:06Moscone agreed that a man has the right
14:09to change his mind he will resend
14:11White's letter of resignation and
14:13reappoint him to the board Harvey Milk
14:17was shocked and then Harvey went to
14:20Moscone and said what the heck are you
14:23doing this is our vote this is the
14:27majority that I had late this morning
14:30Dan White appeared for his official
14:32unres announcement saying his brothers
14:34and sisters have given him help with his
14:36financial problems and a lot of his
14:38constituents have asked him to
14:40reconsider the majority of my district
14:43uh doesn't want to have someone
14:45appointed that they did not elect that
14:46they wish me to uh uh stay in my seat
14:50remain in my seat and this is what I'm
14:51going to do but in fact opposition to
14:55Dan White was growing and and when he
14:58got ready to go back in he didn't call
15:00any his ranking file out on November
15:0216th an angry group of anti-white
15:05demonstrators voiced their disapproval
15:08but the way he did it we he treated us
15:11like we peons you see he treated us like
15:13we was peons white was there and got
15:16into a brief flare up of of uh service
15:20to the community San Francisco and I'll
15:22end it right there what Happ Happ
15:24producing Monday supervisor 2:00 prod I
15:30he's a yo-yo at this point and everybody
15:34but
15:35him understands he's not going to get
15:37his job
15:38back but the timeline of Dan White City
15:42Hall soap opera would be interrupted by
15:44a lunatic preacher and cult leader from
15:47San
15:48[Music]
15:49Francisco in a South American jungle
15:51thousands of miles from the city an
15:54unthinkable tragedy was about to shock
15:56the world Bay Area congressman and Leo
15:59Ryan came to Jonestown Guyana to
16:01investigate the Reverend Jim Jones and
16:04his people's
16:06temple on Saturday November the 18th at
16:10the landing strip of the Port kaituma
16:12Airport Ryan and four others including
16:15an NBC News crew were ambushed and shot
16:18to
16:24death but the airport killings were only
16:26the beginning Within hours a mass
16:30suicide murder had also taken place over
16:34900 men women and children including
16:38Jones were
16:41dead the Sunday morning calm of San
16:44Francisco on November 19th was shattered
16:47when the headlines detailed the evil of
16:55Jonestown by Thanksgiving weekend the
16:58Dan white situation had become an
17:00emotional roller coaster for
17:03everyone Diane Feinstein president of
17:06the Board of Supervisors urged Mayor
17:08Moscone to reappoint
17:11White Moscone informed the Press he has
17:14not committed to
17:17White he's struggling financially he's
17:19struggling personally and apparently
17:22he's struggling
17:23emotionally I do know that Dan White
17:27overheard a conversation between Harvey
17:31and the mayor in which Harvey urged the
17:34mayor not to reappoint Dan
17:39and Dan apparently felt very
17:45betrayed on Friday the 24th meam mcone
17:49celebrated his birthday his
17:5249th that evening Harvey Milk attended a
17:55performance of Tusa at the city's Opera
17:58House
17:59[Music]
18:01two days later on Sunday night a radio
18:04reporter called Dan White wanting his
18:06reaction to the news that he will not be
18:09reappointed white responded with no
18:14comment he is beginning to withdraw in
18:19some fairly serious ways he's staying
18:22home he's depressed he's feeling sorry
18:25for
18:27himself and eventually
18:29he just quit being decent alog together
18:31and he murdered uh two men in Cold
18:37[Music]
18:39Blood November the 27th it is the day
18:44when San Francisco will be touched by
18:46evil once
18:48again mayor George Moscone will announce
18:51Dan White's successor to the
18:55board white decides he wants to see the
18:58mayor at City Hall he showers he shaves
19:01he puts on his best
19:04suit at around 10:15 a.m. white arrives
19:08at the Poke Street side of City Hall he
19:11is carrying a loaded 38 caliber Smith
19:14and Wesson revolver in his
19:18holster he goes in the front
19:21entrance um and there is a metal
19:23detector and of course he's got a weapon
19:25on him so he turns around he leaves he
19:29climbs into a window instead and and
19:31comes up through a back staircase and he
19:34goes into mone's outer office he does
19:37not know but in mone's inner office at
19:41that moment are sitting George mcone and
19:44his good friend Willie Brown oh we shot
19:46the breeze we shot the breeze about a
19:49whole number of things we shot the
19:50breeze about the 49ers football fortunes
19:53and they were not great in those days we
19:56shot the breeze about our own family
19:59relationships what we were thinking
20:01about for Christmas we used to Christmas
20:03shop together um uh for our
20:06wives the mayor is informed by his
20:09secretary that Dan White wants to see
20:12him at around 10:40 white enters mone's
20:16office Dan White walked in as I walked
20:21out white asks the mayor if he will be
20:25reappointed Moscone tells him no
20:29the ex supervisor becomes
20:32agitated the mayor lights a cigarette
20:35offers white a drink and tries to reason
20:38with
20:39him it is too late and he pulls out the
20:43gun and he shoots George Moscone once
20:49twice George mascone
20:53Falls the bullets tear into the mayor's
20:56chest and arm
20:59Dan White straddles and puts the gun to
21:01his the back of his head and shoots him
21:04twice
21:06more Moscone is
21:11dead after killing the mayor white is
21:14seen running to the other side of City
21:17Hall he is looking for Harvey Milk Dan
21:21went by and I said Dan and he said in a
21:25minute and I heard a door slam
21:30after white finds milk they meet in
21:32White's former
21:34office I heard
21:37shots Dan White fires his weapon five
21:41times into Harvey Milk twice Point Blank
21:44into milk's
21:46brain I walked into the room Harvey was
21:50on his stomach and I tried to get a
21:53pulse and I put my finger in a bullet
21:55hole and he clearly gone like this and a
21:58bullet had gone through his through his
22:01wrist and it was absolutely clear that
22:04he was
22:07dead after killing Harvey Milk white
22:10fleas City Hall he calls his wife
22:13Maryanne and tells her to meet him at St
22:15Mary's
22:17[Music]
22:22Cathedral City Hall is in turmoil
22:26officials fear a Jonestown death spot 2
22:29where are the victims going I don't know
22:31if they're going anywhere they're
22:33supposed Harvey Milk and the mayor are
22:35supposed to be
22:36do I'm as president of the Board of
22:40Supervisors it's my duty to make this
22:43announcement both Mayor
22:45Moscone and supervisor Harvey
22:48Milk have been shot and killed
23:05the
23:06suspect his supervisor
23:13van just
23:18rage I wanted to say to Harvey I told
23:25you just rage
23:29it was like I was getting hit with uh
23:32Thunderbolt punches uh I'm being told
23:35that uh the mayor has been shot and
23:38killed I'm then told that Dan White uh
23:41is a suspect Dan White was a close
23:45friend and then I walk in and I see the
23:47mayor of San Francisco lying in a pool
23:50of blood uh not only disbelief but I
23:54have to be honest at this point in time
23:56I was one
23:58shaken
24:01detective as soon as word of the
24:03shootings reached the house at 45 St
24:06Francis Boulevard police neighbors and
24:08reporters began to Mill around a few of
24:11the family's close friends became
24:13unofficial spokesmen greeting other
24:15friends and answering what questions
24:17they could three of the mayor's children
24:19Christopher Jonathan and Rebecca were
24:21already inside by the time the older
24:23daughter Jennifer arrived a cop tells
24:2716-year-old christas con about the death
24:29of his
24:32father and I asked him what's going on
24:35and he looked to me it's just me and him
24:36and he said Son you don't know I said no
24:38he goes your father has
24:39expired those are the
24:42words that's the first I
24:45heard ironically enough the mayor's wife
24:48Gina at the time of the shooting was
24:50with his mother attending a cousin's
24:52funeral in
24:54Petaluma on the way home Gina mascone
24:57hears the news of her husband's murder
24:59on the car radio close friend Willie
25:02Brown is among those who visit the
25:05[Music]
25:08family Gina didn't take it well at
25:12all did not take it well at
25:15all so it was a difficult task
25:20uh but it was one that I know the George
25:22would have wanted me to do
25:29[Music]
25:33[Applause]
25:33[Music]
25:36all unit former supervisor Dan White is
25:39now in custody repeating former
25:41supervisor Dan White is now in custody K
25:44438
25:46clear you
25:49do why
25:51[Music]
25:56why after Dan White surrenders at
25:58Northern station he is transported to
26:02homicide at the Hall of
26:03Justice he will be interrogated by two
26:06inspectors one of them is Frank
26:10Fon if he was going to tell anybody as
26:13to why he committed those two murders I
26:15was the man just all the time knowing
26:18he's going to go out and and lie to the
26:20press and and tell him you know that I
26:22wasn't a good supervisor and and that
26:24people didn't want me
26:26and and then that was it
26:28and I I Just
26:31sh within 25 minutes a tearful and
26:35emotional Dan White confesses first to
26:38killing mayor George Moscone then
26:40supervisor Harvey Milk kind of at me as
26:44it to say too bad
26:50then and then it just got all flushed
26:52and and
26:54hot I shot him how long joh will be
26:58criticized by those who believe he
27:00allowed White's confession to be
27:04self-serving they couldn't take
27:07any that's
27:09it I felt I was doing my
27:13job sending a friend Dan White to the
27:16gas
27:23chamber outside San franciscans came by
27:25the thousands to City Hall
27:28they were just staring staring in
27:31space it was if the people could not
27:33believe what happened really happened
27:36they had to come to see for
27:38themselves doesn't make any
27:44sense flowers were placed on the steps
27:46of City
27:48Hall someone wrote a poem it was
27:51unsigned all afternoon people milled
27:54around staring in space and
27:58[Music]
28:03shock when Darkness Falls City Hall
28:07remains a shrine of public grief
28:10thousands gathered by
28:12[Music]
28:19candlelight Days Later MERS pay their
28:22last respects and say their goodbyes to
28:25both George Moscone and Harvey Milk
28:30in the wake of the tragedies in Guana
28:33this additional senseless monstrosity
28:36seems simply
28:38unreal yet our anguish and grief
28:41permeate everything we do we silently
28:45rail at the Manifest Injustice of these
28:48untimely deaths we cry out to reverse
28:52the
28:53irrevocable in our sorrow this lovely
28:57Jewel of a City seems a dark and
29:00saddened
29:02[Music]
29:09place after services at St Mary's
29:12Cathedral the family of George mascone
29:14escorts his body to the Holy Cross
29:17Cemetery in kma where he is buried
29:23[Music]
29:29friends of Harvey Milk scattered the
29:31ashes of his cremated remains in the
29:34waters beyond the Golden Gate
29:39Bridge there was an atmosphere of deep
29:42and abiding Gloom paranoia and fear in
29:46the
29:47city um and I think what happened at
29:50City Hall has to be remembered in that
29:54context it didn't just happen one day it
29:57happened happened when the city was
29:59already in a State of Shock and
30:01emotional recoil at at one tragedy and
30:05then the second event happened and it
30:07was if the world had
30:12[Music]
30:19ended frankly I don't uh have enough
30:22information to really gauge his state of
30:24mind I'm of the opinion that he's in a
30:26prolonged State of Shock
30:29Doug Schmidt a 32-year-old Hastings law
30:32school graduate from the Midwest was the
30:34attorney for Dan
30:36White he's a man that uh had what I
30:39would term Hollow eyes he had kind of a
30:43wasn't a blank look on his face but he
30:45just he just had a
30:48vacancy the trial of Dan White began on
30:51May 1st
30:531979 white was charged with two counts
30:55of first-degree murder and fi
30:58the death
31:00penalty attorney Schmidt presented a
31:03defense of diminished capacity that
31:05white suffered from mental depression at
31:08the time of the
31:09killings that a decent hardworking
31:14workingclass middle class man who has
31:17held responsible jobs all of his life
31:21and been in public service all of his
31:23adult life does
31:26not suddenly
31:28uh for no apparent reason uh viciously
31:32murder two individuals something had to
31:36have happened to this man the jury was
31:39composed of five men and seven women
31:42mostly white middle-aged and working
31:46class and someone noticed that there
31:49were five five out of the 12 jurors of
31:52an age to be Dan White's mother and
31:54every one of them were Irish Catholic
31:58schritt brought in four psychiatric
32:00experts to testify for the defense Dr
32:03Martin blender examined Dan White before
32:06the trial blender did not admire white
32:09or his
32:10politics so I walked into that
32:14room expecting just some sort of
32:17right-wing homophobic man that I would
32:20find
32:21distasteful and the man that I found was
32:25very different than the man I expected
32:27to find and I when I I finished my
32:30interviews I felt um sorry for him and
32:34my biases and prejudices as to why he
32:37did what he did went out the window as I
32:40myself like the jury two months later
32:44became aware of all the
32:47complex enemal forces impinging on this
32:50man that caused him to snap and do what
32:52he
32:53did when Dr Blinder took the witness
32:56stand his lengthy testimony strongly
32:59supported the defense theory of
33:00diminished
33:02capacity blender also briefly explained
33:05that during White's frequent depressive
33:07episodes white would start gorging
33:10himself on junk Foods Twinkies
33:13coca-colas it was a minuscule part of
33:18the picture we were trying to to
33:21portray it was also very
33:24controversial the Press sensationalized
33:26blenders junk food testimony by calling
33:29it The Twinkie
33:31defense uh that certainly wasn't the
33:34main thrust of the defense that one eats
33:36junk food goes crazy and is allowed to
33:38kill people there was another courtroom
33:41surprise when Dan White's confession was
33:44played the prosecution played that
33:48confession I think believing that it was
33:51sort of the nail in the coffin of
33:54first-degree murder probably with
33:56special circumstances a death penalty
33:59case dead bang on its
34:02face no I never killed anybody before I
34:06sh anybody but the tape was a disaster
34:09for the
34:10prosecution what struck me very vividly
34:13at the time was that every time Dan
34:16White cried and he cried repeatedly in
34:18this confession or was overcome by
34:21emotion well just I never really
34:25intended to hurt anybody it's just
34:29past several
34:31months got the f I couldn't take
34:35it and I was sitting there thinking in
34:37my naive how self-serving and I looked
34:41over at the jury box and there were no
34:43less than four jurors
34:46crying and I realized at that moment as
34:49I think a lot of people did Dan White
34:51was going to beat this rap to a
34:53considerable degree on the afternoon of
34:56May 21st three weeks after the trial
34:58began the jury had reached its
35:02verdict trial Janine yman right here
35:04what is it yes the jury has found Dan
35:06White guilty of voluntary manslaughter
35:09in the killings of both George Moscone
35:12and Harvey
35:14mil Dan White had faced the death
35:17penalty he was convicted of voluntary
35:20manslaughter White's sentence was 7
35:23years and 8 months attorney Doug Schmidt
35:27was pleased with the verdict many others
35:30were
35:36not it was like wow this is not right
35:42this verdict that just been turned in
35:44isn't right I think Dan White knew
35:48himself that this was two first-degree
35:50murder
35:52cases Dan White did get away with murder
35:55[Music]
35:58jurors deliberated for 6 days as for
36:01their decision the jury Foreman stated
36:04no one could come up with any evidence
36:07that indicated
36:09premeditation I think it was a Living
36:13testament to the polarization of San
36:15Francisco at the
36:18time and I think this jury felt sorry
36:21for
36:23Dan and had mercy and pity
36:32in the Castro there was neither sympathy
36:35nor pity only disbelief and anger
36:39thousands marched to City Hall in
36:41protest gays had reached the breaking
36:46[Applause]
36:53point oh absolutely it was it was
36:56payback time
37:07and the crowd grew and grew and grew and
37:12it became more and more and more
37:15unruly and I saw a crowd become a
37:19mob the cops were outnumbered police
37:23chief Charles gain decided to hold his
37:26men back fearful City Hall would be
37:28overrun if the cops took on the Angry
37:31Crowd but the rage and fury could not be
37:38[Music]
37:49[Applause]
37:51controlled almost uncr
37:56situation out any more Squad should me
37:59more
38:07help it
38:09was
38:11just crazy it it was
38:14chaos after the rioted city hall had
38:17dissipated cops descended on the
38:20relative calm of the Castro and the
38:22Bloody battle ignited once again one of
38:25the worst assaults to place at the
38:28Elephant Walk bar to some observers it
38:31was an invasion cops wanting
38:36Revenge when peace was finally restored
38:40a dozen police cars had gone up in
38:42Flames over 150 cops and civilians were
38:46injured dozens
38:49arrested I thank God no one was killed
38:52but it was what had to
38:55happen we have nothing to apologize
39:03for in January of
39:061984 Dan White was released from
39:08California's solidad prison and paroled
39:11to Los Angeles a model prisoner white
39:14served less than 5 years of his original
39:18sentence I asked Khan Murphy who was my
39:22chief of police to go down and see him
39:25and tell him not to come back to S San
39:28Francisco that the feelings ran so deep
39:32that there was no way he would ever ever
39:36be able to come back to San Francisco
39:38and lead a normal
39:43life when the Olympic Games were being
39:45held in Los Angeles in the summer of 84
39:48Dan White called his old friend Frank
39:51Fon White had tickets for the track and
39:53field events and invited Fon to be his
39:56guest
39:58the ex-convict made a shocking last
40:03confession Dan White explained to me
40:07that he intended on that faithful day to
40:10kill four
40:11people those four being George
40:15Moscone Harvey
40:17Milk Carol Ruth
40:20silver and Willie
40:23Brown according to Fon white believed
40:26wiie Brown was the ring leader of the
40:29Liberals that supervisor Carol Ruth
40:31silver was the biggest snake of
40:35all he had a mission to kill four people
40:39and then take his own life he felt that
40:42the
40:44liberal ilk of San Francisco had
40:47destroyed him as a
40:49person had ruined his reputation with
40:52his family and his
40:54friends and his life was over
40:58and even laughed and said how crazy
41:00could I have been he knew what he did
41:03was
41:05insane it was that point in time the
41:08entire
41:09picture of all the events that had
41:12occurred became very very
41:14clear Dan White did in fact commit
41:19premeditated murder in the first
41:24degree despite warnings to stay away
41:28Dan White returned to San Francisco in
41:331985 and of course he couldn't
41:36readjust the pain is so deep the scar
41:40tissue you know so
41:43horrendous um that I think he had to
41:45lead lead a shadow
41:47life on the morning of October 21st Dan
41:51White committed suicide in the garage of
41:54his visitation Valley Home White created
41:57his own gas chamber as he sat inside of
42:00his car a hose pumping in the deadly
42:03fumes of corbon
42:06monoxide he was 39 years
42:08old inspector Frank Fon was on duty that
42:12day and was called to the
42:15scene when we arrived there was a priest
42:19giving him the last
42:21rights uh two Catholic nuns kneeling
42:24down over his body praying
42:27and I remember thinking this is just so
42:31surreal it was
42:34unbelievable I felt No Satisfaction I
42:36wanted him to live a long time and be
42:39confronted daily with the
42:42scorn of the people of San
42:45Francisco Dan White is buried in the
42:48Golden Gate National Cemetery in San
42:51Bruno white left behind a wife three
42:54children and a legacy marked by un
42:57common tragedy an extraordinary
43:01change according to Dr Martin blender
43:04his participation in the white case made
43:06him person nrata among his gay and
43:09liberal friends his connection to the
43:12so-called twinky defense was
43:16irrevocable it's Troublesome to me that
43:19the Press which essentially ConEd up
43:21this myth of the twinkie defense would
43:23continue to perpetuate it over 25 years
43:27a member of the jury stated that Dan
43:29White's junk food diet was not a major
43:32factor in their deliberations the juror
43:35added I don't think we spent five
43:37minutes on it to reduce those subtleties
43:41and those complexities to a sound bite
43:44like well it was the twinkie defense
43:46suggesting that 12 middle class ordinary
43:50home owning jurors would find Dan White
43:54less coupable because of what he ate
43:57is not only laughable but Preposterous
44:00too much is made about of the twinkie
44:02defense it it it was catchy and so it
44:05caught on because every reporter ran
44:08back to their TV station or their
44:09newspaper and said Twinkies the twinkie
44:11killings and Martin Blinder took a bad
44:13rap for
44:16that praise for Diane Feinstein however
44:19was Universal during and after the sad
44:22days of the
44:24assassinations San Francisco is not
44:26going to be rudder in this uh time of
44:29transition uh government will
44:33continue Feinstein's calm reassuring
44:36demeanor became a symbol of strength for
44:38a troubled
44:40City and repeat after me I her political
44:43career ascended like the proverbial
44:46Phoenix after serving two full terms as
44:49mayor of San Francisco Feinstein was
44:51elected to the United States Senate in
44:531992
44:55[Music]
44:58the legacy of Harvey Milk is
45:00unmistakable if milk was not the first
45:03gay martyr he was certainly the most
45:05public and the most
45:08important milk's epith resonates with
45:12the rise of the gay movement not only in
45:14San Francisco but in America as
45:18well he was only in office for 11 months
45:22but his
45:25murder galvanized a movement and
45:29probably did more than any other single
45:32event to make
45:35real the
45:37notion that there is a gay
45:39community and that we are a
45:43people that's his
45:45[Music]
45:48legacy the years following the death of
45:50Mayor George Moscone were difficult ones
45:52for his entire family as a basketball
45:56player at St Ignatius High School Chris
45:58Moscone suffered the insensitive chance
46:01of Dan White's
46:03name today Chris mascone is happily
46:06married the father of five children a
46:09lawyer in San
46:11Francisco Gina Mone has never
46:15remarried though the city has gradually
46:18moved beyond the murderous acts of Dan
46:20White San Francisco's historic image as
46:24a place of Tolerance and celebration was
46:27forever
46:29tarnished he took the heart out of the
46:31city it was never the same place again
46:33it never has been the same place I think
46:35to a certain degree the specialness went
46:37out of it in the same precise way that a
46:41certain sense of
46:43idealism um went out of America with the
46:46assassinations of the two Kennedy
46:48brothers and Martin Luther King suddenly
46:51we could no longer look at ourselves in
46:52the mirror and say we're special we're
46:54unique we're different
46:57we weren't
46:59[Music]
47:05[Music]

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