Mayor Dianne Feinstein helicoptered aboard USS Constellation as the aircraft carrier led a parade of warships under the Golden Gate Bridge to personally welcome its 5,200 crewmen to her city by the bay.
It was October 1981, and ‘Fleet Week’ was her baby, her initiative to re-engage San Francisco with the sea service in the shadows of the Vietnam War, an era when the military was not viewed kindly—especially not in her city by the bay.
Mayor Feinstein was effusive but nervous about what the sailors would do to San Francisco, and what San Francisco would do the sailors, so if any got into trouble, she broadcast her personal home phone number—repeating it slowly twice—prompting head-slaps on the bridge.
Rumor is she got a few calls. But she never told anyone about them and would continue doing so through six more ‘Fleet Weeks’ during her decade as San Francisco’s first woman mayor.
It’s again ‘Fleet Week’ in San Francisco. The warships on The Embarcadero are thronged with sightseers, and the Blue Angels will roar over the bay this weekend.
They will do so in honor of Dianne Feinstein, ‘Fleet Week’s’ honorary chair, the five-term United States Senator from California who passed away Sept. 29, three days before the 42nd iteration of her baby, her initiative, brought the sailors back to her city by the bay.
The late Ms. Feinstein, 90, was memorized Oct. 5 on the front steps of San Francisco City Hall after laying in state there since Oct. 2—not in California’s Capitol Rotunda in Sacramento—in a service closed to the public for “increased security” reasons.
While all but Ms. Mariano constitute a rogue’s gallery of liberals to conservatives, and Ms. Feinstein’s 31-plus years in the Senate earned her plenty of Republican enmity, on this day there was none of that.
She was memorialized as a native San Franciscan who loved her city, her California, her country.
‘Not Ideology, Substance.’
President Biden recalled the 15 years he and Ms. Feinstein served “up close and personal” in the Senate.“She was always tough, prepared, and compassionate,” he said, calling into the service via phone. “She always served the people of California and our nation for the right reasons: to make life better for everyday people.”
President Biden cited Ms. Feinstein’s leadership as Senate Judiciary Committee chair.
”In that role,” he said, “she turned passion into purpose to lead the fight to ban ‘assault weapons,’ to protect our civil liberties, strengthen our national security. She led the way for generations of women and men to imagine a bigger future for themselves, for the country, and for the world [and was] a pioneer who made history and built a legacy that will benefit Americans for generations to come. That’s not an exaggeration.”
Vice President Harris recalled the late senator as “an icon of California. She was an American patriot, a giant of the Senate, and a dear friend. She was a student of history, a gifted—and, I will add, very generous artist; many of us are collectors of Dianne’s work—and a passionate leader. Simply put, she was a force.”
Ms. Feinstein didn’t shy “from fierce opposition and political peril” but respected those who thought differently, she said.
“She was a serious and gracious person who welcomed debate and discussion, but always required it be well-informed and studied. I believe this city, where she started, had a lot to do with that,” Vice President Harris said. “Dianne diligently focused on the impacts to real people. Not ideology, substance. Results, not rhetoric.”
Mr. Schumer recalled working with Ms. Feinstein on the ‘assault weapons’ ban adopted in 1994. It expired a decade later without renewal by the Republican-led Congress under the Bush administration.
“She worked harder than anyone, attacking every angle, thinking of every pitfall, resisting every broadside from the NRA because she knew her cause to be just from her own experience,” he said. “Working with Dianne on the ‘assault weapons’ ban was one of the proudest moments of my time in office. From that time on, I not only called Dianne a colleague, but a close friend.”
Mr. Schumer, calling the late senator “an amazing, amazingly-multifaceted woman,” said Ms. Feinstein was tougher than the public knew, but all senators knew.
Before an annual ‘Tahoe Summit’—an event she established with the late Sen. Henry Reid (R-Nevada)—she fractured an ankle while hiking.
She did not leave to seek medical attention. “As to how she got through the day, she only offered three words. ‘I. Just. Did,’” Mr. Schumer said.
‘An American Amen’
Ms. Pelosi said Ms. Feinstein was on duty the day she died. “Dianne left us as she lived. She left on her own terms,” she said. “She walked onto that floor last Thursday, which would be her last day, and voted to advance legislation to keep government open for the people.”Ms. Feinstein shaped the lives of girls and women for generations, including hers, Ms. Pelosi said.
“Dianne was such a commanding mayor for 10 powerful years that when her term was out, and some other people started to run for mayor, including some men, school children were saying, ‘Can a man be mayor of San Francisco?’” she said, adding not-so-under her breath, “I guess,” evoking laughter.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed was one of those girls, recalling she met Ms. Feinstein as a 13-year-old French Horn player in a middle school band.
“She chose us to perform at City Hall and at Super Bowl celebrations where we proudly wore our band sweaters she bought for us. And Mayor Feinstein always took the time to talk to us, tell us how amazing we were, remind us we were her band.”
Ms. Breed said as mayor, she often asked Ms. Feinstein for advice, but “none of the things she told me as an adult were ever as important as what she showed us as children. She showed us a world where women lead, where we lift each other up, so girls like me could follow in her footsteps. She showed us strength and grace, courage and collaboration. And like the old saying goes, you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. Dianne Feinstein did it right. She was our mayor. Our champion.”
The city is in mourning, she said, noting thousands lined streets to pay respects to San Francisco’s “forever mayor” in City Hall.
“Senator Feinstein. That was her official title. That is how Californians and people all over the world knew her. But to us, to San Franciscans, she was Mayor Dianne Feinstein,” Ms. Breed said.
The ceremony paused at least nine times for Blue Angel fly-byes—a day earlier than expected—with the F/A-18 Super Hornets in their “missing woman formation” drowning out Rabbi Jonathon Singer’s invocation.
Ms. Feinstein would have loved it, the rabbi said.
“That’s an American amen,” he said.
