Diane Watson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |
| In office June 7, 2001 – January 3, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Julian Dixon |
| Succeeded by | Karen Bass |
| Constituency | 32nd district (2001–2003) 33rd district (2003–2011) |
| United States Ambassador to Micronesia | |
| In office October 19, 1999 – January 20, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Cheryl Martin (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Larry Miles Dinger |
| Member of theCalifornia Senate | |
| In office December 4, 1978 – November 30, 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Nate Holden |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Murray |
| Constituency | 30th district (1978–1982) 28th district (1982–1994) 26th district (1994–1998) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Diane Edith Watson (1933-11-12)November 12, 1933 (age 92) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) California State University, Los Angeles (MS) Harvard University Claremont Graduate University (PhD) |
Diane Edith Watson (born November 12, 1933) is a former American politician who served asUS Representative forCalifornia's 33rd congressional district, serving from 2003 until 2011, after first being elected in the 32nd District in a 2001 special election. She is a member of theDemocratic Party. The district is located entirely inLos Angeles County and includes much ofCentral Los Angeles, as well as such wealthy neighborhoods asLos Feliz.
A native of Los Angeles, Watson is a graduate of theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, and also holds degrees fromCalifornia State University, Los Angeles andClaremont Graduate University. She worked as a psychologist, professor, and health occupation specialist before serving as a member of theLos Angeles Unified School Board (1975–78). She was a member of theCalifornia Senate from 1978 to 1998, and theUS Ambassador to Micronesia from 1999 to 2000.
Watson was elected to Congress in a 2001 special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of RepresentativeJulian C. Dixon. She was re-elected four times, and retired after the end of the111th Congress.
Born inLos Angeles, California, Watson was raisedCatholic as the daughter of William Allen Louis Watson and Dorothy Elizabeth O’Neal Watson.[1][2] According to a DNA analysis, some of her ancestors were from theCentral African Republic.[3] She was educated atDorsey High School,Los Angeles City College and theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, where she earned herBA inEducation (1956) and became a member ofAlpha Kappa Alpha.
She earned anMS fromCalifornia State University, Los Angeles inSchool Psychology (1967) and aPhD inEducational Administration fromClaremont Graduate University in 1987.[1] She also attendedHarvard Kennedy School atHarvard University between her two postgraduate degrees.[4]
Watson taughtelementary school and was aschool psychologist in theLos Angeles public schools. She has lectured atCalifornia State University, Long Beach andCalifornia State University, Los Angeles. She was a health occupation specialist with theCalifornia Department of Education's Bureau of Industrial Education, and served on theLos Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.[1]
Watson was elected to theCalifornia State Senate from 1978 to 1998. The longtime chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, she gained a reputation as an advocate forhealth care for thepoor andchildren. She was the first African American woman in the California State Senate.[1] Term limited, she was replaced byKevin Murray.
When, in 1988, the US government proposed the addition of the category of "bi-racial" or "multiracial" to official documents and statistics, some African American organizations and African American leaders such as Watson and RepresentativeAugustus Hawkins were particularly vocal in their rejection of and opposition to the category. They feared massive defection from theAfrican American self-designation.[citation needed]
In 1992, Watson ran for theLos Angeles County Board of Supervisors. After a hard-fought campaign that often turned negative, Watson narrowly lost to former SupervisorYvonne Burke, who was supported by U.S. RepresentativeMaxine Waters.[citation needed]
In 1999, PresidentBill Clinton appointed herUnited States Ambassador toMicronesia and she served in the post for two years. She stepped down to run in the April 2001 Democratic primary election, which was called to nominate a candidate to replace CongressmanJulian Dixon, who had died in office five months earlier. She won with 33 percent of the vote in a multi-candidate field, then carried the district with 75 percent of the vote in the June 2001 special election.[1]
In Congress, she became a vocal leader on issues related to racism and xenophobia, supporting reparations for descendants of American slaves, reform of the educational system, subsidies for families lacking health care, and a comprehensive overhaul of the nation’s criminal justice system. She also decried incidents of violence and racism against Arab Americans that she believed were a result of retribution for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.[1]
She was one of 31 House Democrats who voted not to count the 20electoral votes fromOhio in the2004 United States presidential election.[5] President George Bush won the state by 118,457 votes.[6] Without Ohio's electoral votes, the election would have been decided by the U.S. House of Representatives, with each state having one vote in accordance with theTwelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Congresswoman Watson supportedwithdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq,[7] opposedmedia consolidation,[8] supported expandingwelfare coverage,[9] and opposed President Bush's proposal toprivatizeSocial Security.[10] Watson opposed theBush tax cuts, saying they were unaffordable.
On the issue ofCherokee Freedmen citizenship in the Cherokee Nation, Watson noted that 20,000 Cherokee lived in California. She opposed theCherokee Nation's March 2007 vote to amend itsconstitution to limit citizenship to only those descendants with at least oneIndian ancestor on theDawes Roll. She noted that whenfreedmen were grantedcitizenship in the tribe in 1866 by a treaty which the Cherokee Nation made with the US government, it was without restriction to those freedmen with Indian ancestry. Appeals to the Cherokee Nation's position were pending, in part because the tribe excluded descendants of Cherokee freedmen and intermarried whites from voting on the amendment. In June 2007 Watson introduced a bill to sever US relations with the tribe and revoke itsgaming privileges unless the Cherokee Nation restored citizenship in the tribe to descendants of Cherokee freedmen.[11] This drew the ire of several tribal leaders and individuals in Indian Country, accusing her of undermining Native American tribal sovereignty.[12]
In 2006, theNational Journal ranked Watson as the mostliberal member of Congress.[13]
Throughout her career in Congress, she advocated for increased funding and research directed at theHIV/AIDS pandemic. She argued in favor of humanitarian assistance forAfrican nations that had been decimated by the disease.[1]
In the2008 Democratic primary, Watson's district went overwhelmingly forIllinois SenatorBarack Obama by a margin of 61-29. As asuperdelegate, Watson continued to supportNew YorkSenatorHillary Clinton.
Watson defeated her challengers in the California June 3 primary, and defeated Republican David Crowley in theNovember 4, 2008, election.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 32nd congressional district 2001–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 33rd congressional district 2003–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by Cheryl Martin Acting | United States Ambassador to Micronesia 1999-2002 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
