Ex-Sen. Alan Cranston Dead At 86

ByABC News
December 31, 2000, 8:59 PM

S A N  F R A N C I S C O, Dec. 31 -- Sen. Alan Cranston of California, who endeda 24-year U.S. Senate career in 1993 under the cloud of the savingsand loan industry scandal, has died. He was 86.

Cranston died at his home in the Los Altos hills around 11:30a.m. today, according to his daughter in law, Colette Cranston.His son, Kim, found him slumped over a sink, she said, andparamedics were not able to revive him.

She said the cause of death was not immediately known. She saidover the past year Cranston had spells when he found it difficultto maintain his balance and that recently he has been takingantibiotics.

Campaigned For Nuke Control

After his retirement from the Senate, Cranston, who had been aDemocratic contender for president in 1984, largely dropped out ofpublic view. But he continued to champion the cause of nuclear armscontrol which had been the centerpiece of his political career forfive decades.

In 1996, he became chairman of the Gorbachev Foundation USA, aSan Francisco-based think tank founded by former Soviet PresidentMikhail Gorbachev to promote world peace and nuclear disarmament.

Sen. Cranstons life-long dedication to peace in the world andnuclear arms reduction have been inspirational to me, said Sen.Barbara Boxer, who took over Cranstons seat in 1992. My heartgoes out to his family.

Withdrew Amid Scandal

Cranstons announcement in 1990 that he would not seek a fifthSenate term cited only his recent diagnosis of prostate cancer.

But his public approval rating among California voters at thattime had plunged to a record low due to the savings and loanscandal and Cranstons relationship with Lincoln Savings & LoanPresident Charles Keating, who had just been indicted on securitiesfraud charges which would send Keating to prison for nearly fiveyears until his convictions were overturned.

A later Senate Ethics Committee investigation would lead toformal reprimand of Cranston and lesser sanctions against fourother senators, known with Cranston as the Keating Five, forintervening with federal regulators on behalf of Keating.

Cranston, who received nearly $1.2 million in political fundsfrom Keating, initially insisted that he had been politicallystupid but ethically correct to intervene with federal agencieson Keatings behalf.

Ultimately, Cranston agreed to a finding that he had engagedin an impermissible pattern of conduct in which fund raising andofficial activities were substantially linked in connection withMr. Keating and Lincoln.