Pete Wilson
Senior Research Fellow

Expertise: Economic growth, education reform, tax policy

Pete Wilson is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as the thirty-sixth governor of California (1991-1999), the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator (1983-1991), eleven years as mayor of San Diego (1971-1983), and five years as a California state assemblyman (1967-1971).

As mayor of San Diego, Wilson led the transformation of that city from a quiet navy town to an international trade hub, amending the city charter to make public safety the first and foremost responsibility of city government and leading a successful effort to manage San Diego's dynamic growth and to revitalize the city's downtown area. He substantially cut the property-tax rate and imposed a limit on the growth of the city budget that became a model for California's subsequently adopted Proposition 4.

As a United States senator, Wilson was a leading voice for a stronger defense and U.S. foreign policy. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he called for early implementation of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a national ballistic missile defense system.

Wilson also cosponsored the federal Intergovernmental Regulatory Relief Act requiring Washington to reimburse states for the cost of new federal mandates. And his fiscal conservatism in the Senate earned him "Watchdog of the Treasury" honors for each of his eight years in the nation's capital.

Wilson's eight years as governor saw California emerge from the depths of depression to a resounding economic recovery. Inheriting the state's worst economy since the Great Depression, Wilson remained focused on California's long-term priorities.

Governor Wilson enacted historic education reforms that have been called California's "education renaissance" -- reforms based on results, accountability, and fiscally sound investments.

Wilson demanded and got rigorous curricular standards, implemented class-size reduction, and ended social promotion, replacing it with early, effective remedial education. He also began new programs of individualized testing of all students, teacher-competency and training, a lengthier instructional year, and a return to phonics and early mastery of early reading, writing, and mathematical skills.

Born on August 23, 1933, in Lake Forest, Illinois, and raised in Missouri, Wilson attended Yale University and proceeded to serve three years as a United States Marine Corps infantry officer. Upon completion of his military obligation, Wilson earned a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.