Pete Wilson

Pete Wilson, who at the time was in the midst of a tough reelection campaign. A grassroots movement aimed at defeating Proposition 187 quickly sprang up, drawing strength in the state’s Latino communities. Many critics denounced the measure as a blatant effort to turn undocumented…

Pete Wilson. When Wilson won the election and vacated his Senate position, she was elected to his seat. She was sworn into office in November 1992 for a special two-year term and was reelected to a full six-year term in 1994.

Pete Wilson mobilized a first contingent of National Guardsmen (eventually, some 6,000 guardsmen were deployed). On May 1 Rodney King, speaking on television, made a plea for calm, famously asking, “Can we get along?” That day, U.S. Pres. George Bush dispatched 3,000–4,000 army troops and…