Skip to Content

Diane Edith Watson

Representative, 2001–2011, Democrat from California

Diane Edith Watson Collection of U. S. House of Representatives, Photography Collection
As a former educator, state legislator, and U.S ambassador, Diane Watson entered the U.S. House of Representatives as an unusually experienced freshman. Throughout her 35 years in public office, Watson established a reputation as a diligent and passionate legislator concerned with improving the plight of women and children—especially those living in poverty. Her diverse legislative interests included welfare reform, civil rights, foreign aid for African nations facing the HIV/AIDS crisis, and improved health care and education in the United States. “People have trusted me, and I have not let them down,” Watson observed during her first congressional campaign. “People have read my name on the ballot for 25 years. They have been born, grown up and gotten married in that time. That means a great deal. When you work your base, you win.”1

Diane Edith Watson was born on November 12, 1933, in Los Angeles, California, daughter of William Allen Louis Watson, a Los Angeles police officer, and Dorothy Elizabeth O’Neal Watson, a postal worker.2 After graduating from Susan Miller Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, Watson received her associate’s degree from Los Angeles City College in 1954 and a B.A. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1956. Watson later earned a master’s degree in school psychology from California State University in 1967 and a Ph.D. in education administration from Claremont College in 1986. Interested in pursuing a career in education, the future Congresswoman worked as a teacher and school psychologist in the Los Angeles public schools, taught abroad in France and Japan, lectured at California State University (Long Beach and Los Angeles branches) and worked in the California department of education.3 Watson’s political career began when she won election to the Los Angeles unified school board in 1975.4 A member of the board of education from 1975 to 1978, she was an outspoken advocate of desegregating Los Angeles public schools. Watson went on to win a spot in the California state senate in 1978, becoming the first African-American woman to serve in that body. “I think I bring another dimension being a black female,” she revealed. “But I don’t want to be judged here as a black or a woman but as a senator.”5 During her two-decade career in the state senate, she chaired the health and human services committee where she worked to provide relief for the poor and sought to rebuild central Los Angeles after the 1992 race riots in the wake of the acquittal of white police officers accused of beating an African-American motorist, Rodney King.6 In 1992, Watson made an unsuccessful bid for the Los Angeles county board of supervisors losing to Yvonne Burke, the first African-American woman elected to Congress from California. State term limits ended Watson’s career in the California senate, but in 1998, President William J. Clinton nominated her as U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia.

In December 2000, U.S. Representative Julian Dixon died suddenly of a heart attack. Dixon, a senior member of the powerful Appropriations Committee, had just won re-election to a 12th term in Congress from his California district. Urged by colleagues to run for the vacant seat, Watson declared her candidacy in the special election after she completed her ambassadorship in January 2001.7 During the campaign, she stressed her political experience, community activism, and local roots in the district which included West Los Angeles and Culver City. Watson earned a 33 percent plurality in the primary, defeating 10 opponents, including state senator Kevin Murray and Los Angeles city councilman, Nate Holden, who captured 26 and 17 percent of the vote, respectively. In the June 5, 2001, general election, Watson easily carried the heavily Democratic district, composed mainly of Hispanic and African-American voters, with 75 percent of the vote against Republican businesswoman Noel Irwin Hentschel.8 In her four subsequent re-election bids, Watson won with more than 80 percent of the vote.9

Sworn into office on June 7, 2001, Watson—the oldest freshman elected to the 107th Congress (2001–2003)—recognized the achievements of her predecessor, a close political ally and former high school classmate. “I never dreamed that this walk would direct me in the footsteps of my dear friend, the late esteemed Julian Dixon.”10 Watson received assignments on the Government Reform and the International Relations committees—she remained on both panels throughout her tenure in the House. As a former ambassador, she took a keen interest in American foreign policy, particularly relating to issues of racism and health in the developing world. In the summer of 2001, Watson attended the United Nations’ Conference on Racism, Xenophobia, and Other Intolerance in Durbin, South Africa; she later urged the United States to host its own conference on racism and reform to the educational, justice, and health care systems as possible avenues to make “reparations” for the practice of American slavery.11 Watson also supported the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, noting that incidents of violence against Arab Americans, which had risen since the 2001 terrorist attacks, were “the tip of a proverbial iceberg.”12

During her tenure in the House, Watson worked to increase U.S. aid to sub-Saharan African nations fighting an HIV/AIDs pandemic. Aside from humanitarian considerations, she argued that the crisis had repercussions for regional stability and American national security because of the strain it placed on so many developing economies. The disease, she observed, “in the very near term, if not more is done, may challenge the very notion of law-based nation states.” She also linked the chaos the disease could wreak on nation states with instability that favored terrorist actions. “Let us not forget that Al Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden has exploited the misery of another state where civil society has collapsed—Afghanistan—to serve as a base for his terror network,” Watson said in November 2001.13

Watson used her seat in Congress to call attention to the plight of impoverished Americans and minorities—including those living in her district. Building upon her work in the state legislature, she proposed “commonsense” welfare reform which included federal reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to provide education, childcare, job training, and employment to welfare recipients by granting states the ability to manage their own welfare programs. A consistent supporter of increased funding for Head Start, the California Congresswoman also lobbied for federal assistance in combating gang violence and protecting at-risk youths.14 During her time in the House, Watson highlighted the achievements of important civil rights activists. In the 108th Congress (2003–2005) she introduced a measure to award a congressional gold medal to Dr. Dorothy Height and she sponsored legislation to extend the authority for construction of a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—both of which were approved by the House and eventually became law.15

On February 11, 2010, Watson announced her decision to retire at the end of the 111th Congress (2009–2011) in order to spend more time with her 100-year-old mother. “I have been really thrilled by the opportunity to help my constituents in whatever way I could,” the veteran politician noted when reflecting upon her career.16

Further Reading

"Watson, Diane,"  Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, 1774-Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?ndex=W000794.

Watson, Diane E., Ph.D. 1978–1998: Legislative History (Sacramento, CA: California State Senate, 1999).

Watson, Diane E., and Beverly J. Rambo. Your Career in Health Care (New York: Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill, 1976).

Manuscript Collections

California State Archives (Sacramento, CA). Papers: Correspondence and chronological files of state senator Diane Watson, 1978–1980, two cubic feet. Includes Sacramento and district chronological files, miscellaneous legislative counsel drafts; Jane Fonda and constituent problems correspondence; bill files, 1979–1982, four cubic feet; bill files, 1981–1986, 1.5 cubic feet; newsletter questionnaires of Diane Watson, 1987.

Footnotes

  1. John Mercurio, “Watson Takes Nod: Democrat Will Face Three Rivals,” 12 April 2001, Roll Call.
  2. Jennifer Warren, “With No Apologies, Watson Fights On,” 16 March 1997, Los Angeles Times: 1A.
  3. “Meet Congresswoman Diane E. Watson,” http:/www.house.gov/Watson_meetcongresswoman.html (accessed 4 February 2003); “Diane Edith Watson,” Who’s Who Among African Americans, 2002 (New York: Gale Research, 2002); Yussuf J. Simmonds, “”Diane Watson,” 10 November 2011, Los Angeles Sentinel: A9.
  4. According to the Los Angeles Times, Diane Watson was the second African-American woman elected to the Los Angeles board of education. The article states that Fay E. Allen won election to the board in 1939. Cathleen Decker, “Looking Back on an Era of Change,” 14 February 2000, Los Angeles Times: A37.
  5. Victor Merina, “Al Eyes on Diane Watson, New Senator and Symbol,” 7 December 1978, Los Angeles Times: CS1.
  6. “Ex-Ambassador Wins U.S. House Seat,” 7 June 2001, Washington Post: A21; Adam Graham-Silverman, “Longtime Political Activist, Experienced State Legislator Is Elected to Succeed Rep. Dixon,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly (8 June 2001).
  7. Diane Watson was 67 years old when sworn into Congress in 2001. F. Finley McRae, “Diane Watson Enters Race for Dixon’s Seat,” 1 February 2001, Los Angeles Sentinel: 1; John L. Mitchell, “Candidates Quickly Line Up to Run for Rep. Dixon’s Seat,” 23 January 2001, Los Angeles Times: B1.
  8. “Diane Watson: Member of Congress, California 32, Democrat,” July 2002, Campaigns and Elections: 18; Emily Pierce, “California Primary Winner Likely to Succeed Rep. Dixon,” Congressional Quarterly Weekly (13 April 2001); McRae, “Diane Watson Enters Race for Dixon’s Seat.”
  9. “Election Statistics, 1920 to Present,” http://clerk.house.gov/members/electionInfo/elections.html.
  10. Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (7 June 2001): H2965.
  11. Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (6 September 2001): 5447.
  12. Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 2nd sess. (7 February 2002): 219.
  13. Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (29 November 2001): 572; Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (11 December 2001): 9089.
  14. “Meet Congresswoman Diane Watson,” http://www.house.gov/watson/meet_congresswoman.html (accessed 2 January 2005); Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 2nd sess. (17 April 2002): 384; Congressional Record, House, 107th Cong., 2nd sess. (8 May 2002): 2170; Politics in America, 2008 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2007): 135.
  15. Politics in America, 2006 (Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2005): 135.
  16. Jean Merl, “In Retiring, Rep. Watson Declines to Endorse a Successor,” 12 February 2010, Los Angeles Times: AA3.