On Monday, Nov. 27, 1978, former Supervisor Dan White shot and killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk inside City Hall. Next month is the 48th anniversary.

Why White went to City Hall

White had resigned his supervisor seat earlier in November, then changed his mind and asked Moscone to reappoint him. Moscone decided instead to appoint Don Horanzy, a federal housing official, and planned to announce it at 11:30 a.m. that day. Milk was among the city leaders who lobbied Moscone not to reappoint White.

The shootings

White met Moscone in the mayor's office, where they argued about the appointment. At about 10:45 a.m., in a private lounge next to the office, White shot Moscone. He then went to the supervisors' offices, passing Board President Dianne Feinstein, who called his name. "I have something to do first," he said, by her account. He asked Milk into his old office and shot him.

Feinstein found Milk's body. At about 11:20 a.m., she told reporters who had gathered for the appointment announcement that both men had been killed and that the suspect was Dan White. White turned himself in about 30 minutes after leaving City Hall at the SFPD's Northern Station, where he had once worked as an officer.

The aftermath

  • Candlelight march: That night, tens of thousands marched from the Castro to City Hall. Joan Baez led “Amazing Grace.”
  • A new mayor: The Board of Supervisors elected Feinstein mayor on Dec. 4, 1978. She was the city's first woman mayor, served about 10 years and later went to the U.S. Senate.
  • The verdict: On May 21, 1979, a jury convicted White of voluntary manslaughter, not murder, and he was sentenced to seven years. The verdict set off the White Night riots. It also led California to abolish the diminished-capacity defense, remembered as the “Twinkie defense.”
  • White's death: White died by suicide in 1985, about a year and a half after his release.

Milk was the first openly gay elected official in California history, NBC News noted. Moscone and Milk had signed the city's gay rights bill together in 1977.