Background
Brown was born in San Francisco, California, one of four children of Edmund and Ida Schuckman Brown. His father was an Irish Catholic, his mother a German Protestant. He acquired the nickname "Pat" during his school years; the nickname was a reference to his Patrick Henry-like oratory. When he was 12 and selling Liberty Bonds on street corners, he would end his spiel with, "Give me liberty, or give me death."
Brown was a debate champion as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society at San Francisco's Lowell High School, from which he graduated in 1923. Brown skipped college and worked in his father's cigar store while studying law at a local night school. He graduated from San Francisco College of Law in spring 1927, passed the California bar exam the following fall, and started a law practice in San Francisco.
Brown ran as a Republican Party for the State Assembly in 1928, but lost; he joined the Democratic Party in 1932. He waited until 1939 to seek public office again, this time running for District Attorney of San Francisco, a race he lost to Matthew Brady.
He ran again for District Attorney in 1943, and this time won. He served in that position for seven years, and made his name attacking bookies and underground abortion providers. In 1949, he raided Sally Stanford's elegant San Francisco bordello.
In 1946, as the Democratic nominee, Brown lost the race for Attorney General of California to Los Angeles County District Attorney Frederick N. Howser. Running again in 1950, he won election as Attorney General and was re-elected in 1954. While he was Attorney General, he was the only Democrat to win statewide election in California.
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