Dianne Feinstein, US senator, 1933-2023

On November 27, 1978, Dianne Feinstein told reporters that she was giving up on her hopes of becoming San Francisco’s mayor after suffering two defeats at the ballot box. Within hours, however, the job would be thrust upon her following the assassinations of George Moscone, the mayor, and her colleague on the board of supervisors, Harvey Milk.

As president of the board, Feinstein suddenly found herself as the acting mayor, and it fell to her to announce the shocking news to the city. “It was one of the hardest moments, if not the hardest moment, of my life,” she said.