Dianne Feinstein: a life in pictures

The longest-serving female US senator, who was the first woman to be mayor of San Francisco and blazed a trail for women in US politics, has died aged 90. We look back on her career

Main image: Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein in her office, December 1978. Photograph: AP

  • Dianne Goldman gets her makeup touched up by Mrs Frank Hinman for a photo shoot as a doctor’s model, San Francisco, California, October 1955
    black and white picture of young woman getting make up done in front of mirror.

  • Dianne Feinstein, member of the California Women’s Board of Terms and Paroles, in 1964
    black and white picture of smiling woman

  • New San Francisco supervisors are sworn in, with Dianne Feinstein taking over as president of the board of supervisors, January 1970
    black and white picture of men and women being sworn in my a judge

  • The San Francisco mayoral candidate Dianne Feinstein campaigns alongside her husband, the neurosurgeon Dr Bertram Feinstein (1914-1978), October 1971. Although unsuccessful on this occasion, Feinstein would later serve as mayor of San Francisco, from 1978 to 1988
    man and woman in a green jacket

  • Dianne Feinstein poses in a Sutro Baths bathing suit at the opening of Pier 39, after losing a bet that the tourism center would open on time, October 1978
    black and white picture of a woman in a swimsuit surround by photographers

  • San Francisco Ice Company spread 17 tons of snow for the annual ‘Snow-Ball’. Pictured is the then mayor Dianne Feinstein giving a sledder a start, December 1978
    woman pushing a child on a sled in a black and white picture

  • Mayor Dianne Feinstein turns in her candidacy forms to at City Hall, September 1979
    black and white picture of woman signing a form

  • Mayor Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco tells reporters: ‘There is no excuse for this kind of violence,’ as she addresses rioting following the verdict in the Dan White murder trial, May 1979
    black and white picture of a woman and three men in an office

  • Mayor Dianne Feinstein leaves the voting booth in San Francisco, December 1979, after casting her ballot in the run-off election for mayor
    black and white picture of woman leaving voting booth

  • Dianne Feinstein with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, September 1982
    Dianne Feinstein with Pope John Paul II in Vatican City, September 1982.

  • Mayor Dianne Feinstein signing the anti-gun bill at City Hall in 1982
    black and white picture of woman sitting at desk in front of men

  • Queen Elizabeth II is about to shake hands with the San Francisco mayor, Dianne Feinstein, and her husband Richard Blum as Nancy Reagan watches, upper right, upon her arrival to San Francisco in afternoon in March 1983
    black and white picture of the Queen getting off a plane surrounded by people

  • Left: Dianne Feinstein bows her head for a moment of silence in memory of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, before the supervisor meeting on the day of the murders. Right: Dan White, taken into custody by Howard Bailey of the SFPD, in the basement of the hall of justice. White was charged with the murder of Moscone and Milk, 27 November 1978
    two black and white pictures, one of woman with bowed head and the other of a man being led away by a police officer

  • Mayor Dianne Feinstein with her new husband Richard Blum shortly after their wedding ceremony at San Francisco City Hall, January 1980
    black and white picture of a man and a woman holding glasses of champagne

  • Dianne Feinstein holds a copy of a billboard in January 1983
    black and white picture of Dianne Feinstein holding a copy of a billboard

  • San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein christens the city’s renovated cable car barn in San Francisco, June 1984
    black and white picture of a woman smashing champagne against a wall

  • San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein, on a cable car with Tony Bennett, June 1984
    black and white picture of people on a cable car

  • San Francisco mayor Dianne Feinstein and the Chinese premier, Zhao Ziyang, talk during a courtesy call Feinstein paid on Zhao in the Zhongnanhai government compound in Peking, November 1984
    black and white picture of man and woman talking in armchairs

  • Bishop Desmond Tutu, right, dances to the song We Are the World performed by a group of school children, as San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein claps during a rally in San Francisco, May 1985
    black and white picture of woman clapping and man dancing

  • Dianne Feinstein, left, California assembly speaker Willie Brown, center, and the Rev Cecil Williams of the Glide Memorial Church of San Francisco, hold hands during Dr Martin Luther King Jr march in downtown San Francisco, January 1986
    people holding hands at a march with balloons behind them

  • Dianne Feinstein relaxes in a chair listening as her stepdaughter Eileen Blum plays the violin
    black and white picture of Dianne Feinstein relaxing in a chair listening as her stepdaughter Eileen Blum plays the violin.

  • Senator Dianne Feinstein at the Democratic national convention in July 1992
    black and white picture of woman smiling

  • Dianne Feinstein adjusting TV monitor in private box during NFL game between San Francisco 49ers & Seattle Seahawks, 1990
    black and white picture of Dianne Feinstein adjusting TV monitor in private box during NFL game between San Francisco 49ers & Seattle Seahawks, 1990.

  • Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dianne Feinstein waves to supporters at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, June 1990 after winning her party’s nomination for governor in the California primary election against John Van de Kamp.
    woman waves to crowd with sign behind saying 'feinstein'

  • Senator Dianne Feinstein walks through the rubble of a home destroyed by a firestorm in Altadena, California, during a tour of southern California in October 1993
    woman walks next to burnt out car

  • The Democratic senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, Dianne Feinstein of California, and Joe Biden of Delaware, November 1993
    black and white picture of man and two women

  • Dianne Feinstein, Bill Clinton and Kathleen Brown at campaign rally at Los Angeles City Hall
    three people raising hands

  • Dianne Feinstein is presented with a ball by USA Basketball Women’s National team member Lisa Leslie at a reception honoring the team, in June 1995
    black and white picture of woman holding basketball with another women next to her

  • Whoopi Goldberg and Dianne Feinstein during MTV’s Bill Clinton for President Rally in Irvine, California
    whoopi goldbergh and dianne feinstein and a man

  • Senator Carol Moseley-Braun and Senator Dianne Feinstein during the Senate judiciary confirmation hearing for Zoe Baird to be the US attorney general
    black and white picture of two women at a desk

  • President George W Bush signs HR 4286, that gave the Congressional Gold Medal in absentia to Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as Senator Dianne Feinstein, Congressman Joe Crowley, the first lady Laura Bush, and Senator Mitch McConnell look on in the Oval Office of the White House May 2008
    bush signing paper on desk as four people stand behind him

  • Senator Hillary Clinton laughs with the media and Dianne Feinstein
    Senator Hillary Clinton laughs with the media and Dianne Feinstein.

  • Dianne Feinstein speaks to a fellow senator on the telephone as two of her staffers converse in the foreground, February 2003
    black and white picture. Dianne Feinstein speaks to a fellow senator on the telephone as two of her staffers converse in the foreground, February 2003.

  • Condoleezza Rice, left, is joined by Dianne Feinstein as she appears before the Senate foreign relations committee before her confirmation hearing in January 2005 on her nomination by President George W Bush to succeed Colin Powell as the secretary of state
    two women sitting at desk with photographers behind

  • Senators pose for a group photo in their seersucker suits in the Presidents Room of the US Capitol, June 2005
    Senators pose for a group photo in their seersucker suits in the Presidents Room of the US Capitol, June 2005.

  • Senator Russell Feingold, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barack Obama and the Senate majority whip, Richard Durbin, listen during a news conference on the ethics bill, January 2007
    people standing in dark suits

  • Members of the joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies hammer the first nails for the platform to be built for the 2009 inauguration ceremony
    people hammering nails outside the US capitol

  • Dianne Feinstein, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Chuck Schumer listen during a news conference on Capitol Hill, August 2009
    three people standing near a podium

  • Guests listen to Dianne Feinstein during a memorial service for the late San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee at city hall in San Francisco, California, December 2017
    aerial view inside city hall

  • Senator Dianne Feinstein attends a Senate judiciary committee hearing in May 2023, her first hearing after fighting illness and being absent from the Senate for almost three months• This article was amended on 3 October 2023 to correct name misspellings.
    woman in blue being pushed in a wheelchair
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