Jerry Brown: The Disrupter
Preview: 9/15/2023 | 2m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Experience the political and personal journey of California governor Jerry Brown.
Experience the political and personal journey of Jerry Brown, the longest serving governor in California history. First elected at 36 years old and again at 72, explore Brown’s 50-year career tackling climate change and inequality.
Support for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...
Jerry Brown: The Disrupter
Preview: 9/15/2023 | 2m 8sVideo has Closed Captions
Experience the political and personal journey of Jerry Brown, the longest serving governor in California history. First elected at 36 years old and again at 72, explore Brown’s 50-year career tackling climate change and inequality.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Interviewer] I'm trying to get you to.
- What?
- [Interviewer] Explain who you are.
- Well, that, I find that kind of a non-question.
- [Interviewer] I know.
- So I don't know what it means.
- [Interviewer] Well, how would you describe yourself?
- I wouldn't, I wouldn't.
- I started talking to Jerry about thinking of running for governor.
Now, Pat Brown, his father, he said, "Tom, you're destroying my son's career, "and you're destroying your career."
He said, "You'll never recover."
- He was so new.
He was so attractive as a candidate following what we all experienced with the Kennedys.
- The cabinet was half women, people of color, first gay judge.
It was for the people, by the people, and that was real.
- We have Bernie Sanders, we have Elizabeth Warren focusing on climate change, and that's something Jerry Brown was talking about in 1975.
- Ray called me and said, "Jerry wants you to run his campaign."
I said, "His campaign for what?"
He says, "Campaign for president."
I said, "You're kidding."
- Long shot?
Well, I wouldn't say that I've got it locked up yet.
(crowd laughs) - You would just show up, and there was 20,000 people in Maryland at a rally.
And celebrities who were flying on planes and being his spokespeople everywhere.
He was like, for real, a rockstar.
- I'm sitting in a holding room, but I could see it.
Oh God, Clinton is really getting angry.
I hope he doesn't hit him.
- I've come to the idea that you can have an idea, and you can be clear about it and certain about it and completely wrong.
- He went back into the practical arena for the second time and worked his way up, that made him this master craftsman.
- When Jerry was elected the second time, I said, "That is fantastic."
- Governors, you're governing for your time and maybe five years down the road, but he is decades down the road, decades down the road.
- [Interviewer] There was never a light touch with Jerry.
He was a disruptor from the beginning.
(solemn music)
How Watergate changed the political landscape
Video has Closed Captions
Journalist Todd Purdum floated the idea of Jerry Brown running for governor. (1m 4s)
Jerry Brown's second shot at governor
Video has Closed Captions
Jerry Brown runs for governor a second time and becomes the oldest sitting governor in CA. (2m 12s)
The moment Jerry Brown found politics
Video has Closed Captions
While at the Governor's Mansion, Jerry Brown overheard his father talking politics. (1m 15s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSupport for American Masters is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, Koo...