Best Governor of California, Post WWII

[Mr. Smith]

Well?

Personally I'm going with Jerry Brown: Round I, since he was far more disciplined when it came to keeping education in tact. Schools were practically the best in the nation then.

Although I do have a fondness for Goodwin Knight, and Earl Warren and Pat Brown aren't too shabby themselves.

Reagan and Deukmijian's disastrous tenures belong in the pits of hell.

[CountyTy90]

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Earl Warren or Pat Brown.

[Kraxner]

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Pat Brown, with Jerry Brown Mk. II coming in a close second.

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

It's just adorable that you right-wingers are STILL pushing this delusion of California being some economically-dead liberal hellhole years after Brown Mk. II killed it.

[Phony Moderate]

Know little about Deukmeijan and Knight. Warren did more good as CJ than as Governor. Pat Brown was a bit of a disaster from what I've heard. Reagan was Reagan. Moonbeam's first tenure was filled with incompetence and pointless presidential runs. Wilson was a race baiter, Davis lacked color (in a variety of ways) and Arnie was quite possibly the most inept Governor in the U.S. during his entire time in office. Moonbeam the Second is a firm believer in austerity and would see eye-to-eye with George Osborne on most matters of importance...but he's probably the least worst. Ugh.

[CountyTy90]

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

I get how the early 90's was bad for the state, but I'm reading Kevin Starr's history of California 1990-2002 Coast Of Dreams: California on the Edge and it just points out numerous problems with the state. For example, its growing debt, exploding prison populations, and gang activity in LA.

[Vega]

Probably Brown (2010-present).

[H. Ross Peron]

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

White flight from CA started in the early '90s after Rodney King if not before that-if any were the "Golden Days" it was '50s and '60s.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Jerry Brown round 2, but there's no Dead Kennedys song this time around :/

[Kraxner]

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

White flight from CA started in the early '90s after Rodney King if not before that-if any were the "Golden Days" it was '50s and '60s.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=V2S

Until the 2000's, California had mild recessions and then large booms then mild recessions then large booms.

By 2000, it was a mild recession, slow growth then a large recession, then a huge recovery being overshadowed by the scope of the late 2008's recession.

Voted Deukmejian. I have a weird obsession with him. California seemed (by my understanding) to prosper in the mid and late 80's. From what I gather, however, he was somewhat conservative, which I am definitely not, but I just like him. His '86 win is still just mind-boggling to me, but shows just how popular he was.

Brown Round 1 gets an honorable mention, though I think by the end of his term in the early 80's things were starting to go wrong. He would be my second choice.

As for worst... maybe Wilson? Davis? California in the mid and late 90's seems like a wreck.

California in mid to late 90s was actually great and was booming due to it being the 90's/dotcom boom.  Gray Davis only became unpopular when the dotcom crash and rising oil pices by early 2000s, caused people to turn to arnold.


With the exception of the early 1990s due to a recession, many californians described most of the 80s and 90s as their state's golden days where everybody brought their first car, first home, most had a job and etc,  and anything after 2000s as being a train wreck of high unemployment, high gas prices and their friends having to move to texas for a job.

I get how the early 90's was bad for the state, but I'm reading Kevin Starr's history of California 1990-2002 Coast Of Dreams: California on the Edge and it just points out numerous problems with the state. For example, its growing debt, exploding prison populations, and gang activity in LA.

meh, excluding gang problems, for most of the 90's was a better time compared to now.

in 90's cali had gang problems but a good economy

now its no gang problems but a bad economy.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Close call between Warren, Reagan, and Wilson.  California has had some great governors over the years (especially in the GOP).