Education
- B.A. Classics, University of California, Berkeley, 1961
- J.D., Yale University School of Law, 1964
Jerry Brown, the only son of former San Francisco lawyer, district attorney and later Democratic governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Sr., attended first St. Clara University and then joined a Jesuit seminary, intending to become a Catholic priest. He soon abandoned this goal, however, in favor of a Classics degree from UC Berkeley.
After graduating from Yale Law School and passing the California bar exam, Brown practiced as a lawyer in Los Angeles and became involved in politics, organizing migrant workers and anti-Vietnam protests. Elected California Secretary of State in 1970, Brown sued several major corporations for violating campaign-finance laws. From 1974-1982, Jerry Brown served as governor of California. In 1994, he created his own radio program, "We the people", which he hosted until 1998. After two terms as governor of Oakland, CA (1999-2007), Brown served as California's Attorney General from 2006-2010, when he was re-elected governor of California for an unprecedented third term.