george moscone was a native san franciscan. he had served in the state senate where he rose to a leadership position. he was a little bit of what we would call in later years a prince of the city. he drove an alfa romeo. he closed many a joint throughout the town. as his good friend, willy brown, said about george, george's only problem is when he has two drinks he thinks hes invisible. and george was swept into office in 19 -- well, not swept but he won the mayority in 1976 with the backs of gays and neighborhood organizations, with a new force in city politics that was spearheaded by the burton brothers and willy brown and their democratic machine. george moscone was part and parcel of that. harvey milk's background was different. harvey came from new york. was a smart new york. >> liked to crack wise, and he had a background in finance and the theater. he had been in the navy. he played football in high school. but eventually he became the rosa parks of the gay movement. he was the fellow who stood up and went to the front o

but the defense contended that dan white had reloaded over george moscone's body. this two people were a block apart. we all know city half. one office on one side, the other office on the other side of city hall. ... so again, the prosecution just -- i mean, a slam-dunk case with the typical hanging jury. it was the failure of imagination. he did not see that if you had a 2-time convicted like phelan sitting there being accused of his third felony, the jury is probably going to view him one way. if you have of light of standing member of the community sitting there, the jury is point to be inclined to view them very differently. and all this took place days after jonestown. the assassinations were ten days after jonestown, and it was the darkest, gloomiest time in the history of san francisco. i just can't imagine -- maybe the fire, of course. a bright light. , i mean, first johnstown. you know, most of the people died in jonestown as we all know, people around here. almost everybody knew somebody or knew somebody who knew somebody who had been lost in jonestown.