1. This account of the Northlake meeting is based on interviews with Willie Brown, San Francisco, Calif., Jan. 17, 1994; and Julian Bond, Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 1993; also Associated Press, "Secret Black Caucus," Sep. 26, 1971, and Shirley Chisholm, The Good Fight , pp. 28-42.

2. "Secret Black Caucus."

3. Julian Bond, interview.

4. Ibid.

5. Chisholm, The Good Fight , p. 110.

6. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993.

7. Statistics from Joint Center for Political Studies, Black Politics '72 , part I, "The Democratic National Convention," tables on pp. 56, 59, 65.

8. Earl C. Behrens, "Muskie Remark Attacked Again," San Francisco Chronicle, Sep. 25, 1971.

9. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times , pp. 235-236.

10. Ibid., pp. 243, 400.

11. Garry Wills, Nixon Agonistes , p. 530.

12. Gordon L. Weil, The Long Shot: George McGovern Runs for President , pp. 128-129.

13. Frank Mankiewicz, interview, Washington, D.C., Nov. 30, 1993.

14. "McGovern—Liberals Announce Support," San Francisco Chronicle , Dec. 14, 1971.

15. Frank Mankiewicz, interview.

16. Letter from Yancey Freeland Martin, special assistant to Sen. George McGovern, to Yvonne W. Braithwaite, Dec. 28, 1971, Yvonne W. Braithwaite Assembly 1966-72 Papers, LP 69:15-41 B 201, box 3, file "Correspondence," California State Archives, Sacramento.

17. Michael Harris, "The Black Convention—Willie Brown's Judgment," San Francisco Chronicle , Mar. 20, 1972.

18. Congressional Quarterly Books, Presidential Elections since 1789 , 4th ed. (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books, 1987), tables p. 49.

19. Barbara Cannon, "SF's Brown Wants to Be First Negro US Attorney General," The Sacramento Bee , Jan. 13, 1972; "Attorney General Job Not for Willie Brown," San Francisco Chronicle , Jan. 15, 1972; Sam W. Averiett II, "Willie Brown—New Image," San Francisco Chronicle , Aug. 1, 1972.

20. Some histories of the period erroneously state that Brown and Shirley MacLaine cochaired the delegation. While she was visible giving TV interviews, and was personally close to McGovern, she was not in the leadership of the delegation.

21. John Sandbrook, "What Happened in Miami—a Reflection," UCLA Summer Bruin , July 18, 1972. The delegate quoted was the author of this book, who less-than-diplomatically observed: "I think we all just got sick and tired of Gary Hart calling us and telling us, 'This would embarrass George.'"

22. Joint Center for Political Studies, Black Politics '72 , p. 21; also "California Challenge," memo, NAACP West Coast Regional Office Papers (1971-1981), file "1972 Democratic Convention," box 8, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

23. Leo Rennert, "Tunney Deserts Muskie for McGovern Camp," The Sacramento Bee , June 10, 1972.

24. The six UCLA delegates were Terry Friedman, Paul Brindze, Mark Gunn, Barbara Learner, Paula Essex, and James Richardson. Friedman later served four terms in the Assembly before his election as a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge in 1994.

25. "McGovern Group Argues, Then Seats Sen. Tunney," The Sacramento Bee , June 11, 1972; John Jacobs, A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of Phillip Burton , p. 285; also notes in the author's personal collection from the McGovern campaign and national convention, including a term paper by the author, "The 1972 Democratic National Convention as a Social Tool for Solving Race Problems," Nov. 25, 1972.

26. Interviews, Willie Brown, Sacramento, Calif., Apr. 15, 1993; Frank Mankiewicz.

27. Willie Brown, interview, Sacramento, Calif., Apr. 15, 1993.

28. Jacques Levy, "A View from inside the California Democratic Convention Delegation," California Journal , Aug. 1972, p. 235; and Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Dec. 15, 1993.

29. Jacobs, A Rage for Justice , p. 285; also "McGovern Group Argues, Then Seats Sen. Tunney."

30. Eliza Whitehead, Gary Brustin, Jeffrey Levine, Betty Tom Chu, A Challenge to the Proposed California Delegation to the Democratic National Convention , cause of action document, June 9, 1972; author's personal collection.

31. Gary Hart, Right from the Start: A Chronicle of the McGovern Campaign , p. 210.

32. Frank Mankiewicz, interview.

33. Hart, Right from the Start , p. 216.

34. Ibid., pp. 217-218.

35. Ibid., p. 218.

36. Weil, The Long Shot , p. 145.

37. Memo from Dolores Huerta, John Burton, Willie Brown to all California McGovern delegates, July 10, 1972, Miami; in the author's private collection. The author of this book won a seat in the lottery and was seated on the first night.

38. Hart, Right from the Start , p. 224.

39. Willie Brown's preconvention pep talk based on personal recollection of the author.

40. Tom Wicker, "The New Breed, the Old Breed," The New York Times , as it appeared in The Sacramento Bee , July 17, 1972.

41. Hart, Right from the Start , p. 220.

42. Ibid., pp. 226-227.

43. Frank Mankiewicz, interview.

44. Levy, "A View from inside the California Democratic Convention Delegation," p. 235.

45. There were no black delegates from Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Utah, West Virginia, and McGovern's home state of South Dakota. Black Politics '72 , part I, p. 21.

46. Chisholm, The Good Fight , p. 117.

47. Interviews, Frank Mankiewicz; George McGovern, Washington, D.C., June 9, 1993; also Weil, The Long Shot , p. 143. Weil writes that McGovern took the California challenge very personally.

48. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Jan. 17, 1994.

49. John Burton, interview, Sacramento, Calif., Apr. 26, 1993.

50. The text of the speech was transcribed by a Brown secretary and placed in the Ways and Means Committee files; Assembly Ways and Means Committee, Hearings and Miscellaneous Papers, AC 82-2, position 1, B5153, California State Archives, Sacramento; also, a videotape of the speech was provided by Brown's press office.

51. John Burton, interview.

52. Michael Harris, "The New Breed of Democrats," San Francisco Chronicle , July 12, 1972.

53. Chisholm, The Good Fight , p. 131.

54. "California Delegates Kept Calm," San Francisco Chronicle , July 13, 1972; John Dearman, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Jan. 17, 1994.

55. Levy, "A View from Inside the California Democratic Convention Delegation," p. 236.

56. Hart, Right from the Start , p. 227.

57. George McGovern, interview.

58. Weil, The Long Shot , p. 146.

59. Harold V. Streeter, "Brown's Story of How Eagleton Was Selected," San Francisco Examiner , July 30, 1972; Sam W. Averiett II, "Willie Brown—New Image," San Francisco Chronicle , Aug. 1, 1972.

60. Willie Brown, interview, San Francisco, Calif., Jan. 17, 1994.

61. Interviews, William Lockyer, Hayward, Calif., Nov. 23, 1993; Phillip Isenberg, Sacramento, Calif., May 5, 1993.

63. Herb Caen, San Francisco Chronicle , Oct. 20, 1972; and Earl C. Behrens, "An Eye on the Capitol," San Francisco Chronicle , Nov. 3, 1972; campaign digest, The Sacramento Bee , Oct. 17, 1972.

62. Sam Averiett II, "Willie Brown—New Image," San Francisco Examiner , Aug. 1, 1972.

64. Richard Rodda, "Willie Brown Emerges," The Sacramento Bee , July 16, 1972.

65. Tom Wicker, "The New Breed, the Old Breed."