Governor of California from 1959 to 1967 who was the father of the state's future governor Jerry Brown. His tenure as Governor was marked by a dramatic increase in water-resources development including the construction of the California Aqueduct.
He practiced law in San Francisco before running an unsuccessful campaign for the State Assembly in 1928.
He put out a proposal to abolish the death penalty in California but it failed.
His son Jerry Brown was Governor from 1975 to 1983, and after a long break was elected again in 2011.
He was on the shortlist for the democratic nominee for president, along with Lyndon B. Johnson.
