Alan (MacGregor) Cranston - Public office, Retirement and death

US senator, born in Palo Alto, California, USA. Elected to the US Senate (Democrat, California, 1968–92), he ran unsuccessfully for the presidential nomination in 1984. He supported disarmament and liberal domestic policies.

Alan Cranston

Former Senator, California
Term of office: January, 1969–January, 1993
Political party:	Democratic
Preceded by:	Thomas Kuchel
Succeeded by:	Barbara Boxer
Born:	1914-06-19 Palo Alto, California
Died:	2000-12-31

Alan MacGregor Cranston (born June 19, 1914, in Palo Alto, California;

The following year he wrote a second book, The Killing of the Peace, a synopsis of the failed bid to get the United States to join the League of Nations immediately following World War I.

Cranston, a supporter of world government, became president of the World Federalist Society in 1948.

Public office

State Controller

A Democrat, Cranston was elected California State Controller in 1958 and reelected in 1962.

Senator

In 1968, he was elected to the first of what would prove to be four six-year terms United States Senate, defeating Republican Max Rafferty in the general election after Rafferty had defeated the liberal Republican incumbent, Thomas Kuchel, in that party's primary, which was so acrimonious that many of Kuchel's supporters spitefully backed Cranston in the November election.

The general election itself was also marred by mudslinging, as a conservative writer, Frank Capell, authored a pamphlet suggesting that Cranston may have had Communist leanings in his youth, and that during his stint at the Office of War Information he helped falsely convince President Franklin D. The article's title was a reference to Lamont Cranston, the name of the main character in the popular mid-century radio program The Shadow.)

Presidential Candidate

Cranston was Democratic Whip from 1977 to 1991 and an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination for the 1984 election.

Retirement and death

He dedicated his retirement to the global abolition of nuclear weapons, first through the Nuclear Weapon Elimination Initiative of the State of the World Forum, and then as President of the Global Security Institute, which he founded in 1999.