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Sen. Dianne Feinstein remembered as trailblazer for women in politics, ardent defender of human rights

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New York, NY., USA, July 13,1992 Dianne Feinstein the Mayor of San Francisco addresses the Democratic National Convention. She would be elected to the Senate in November of 1992 Credit: Mark Reinstein/MediaPunch /IPX

Dianne Feinstein, the nation’s longest-serving female member of Congress, whose decades of activism shaped policy from gun safety to issues related to torture and terrorism in the post-9/11 world, died this week. Feinstein, a Democrat, was 90 years old, and the oldest member of Congress. She’d been in ill health in the months prior to her death, but continued serving out the remainder of her Senate term.

Northeastern political science faculty note that Feinstein will be remembered as an ardent defender of human rights, a staunch advocate for gun reform, and a pioneer who blazed a trail for women in politics for generations to come. “I find that ‘trailblazer’ is certainly an accurate description of her,” says Daniel Aldrich, a Northeastern professor, director of the university’s Security and Resilience Program and co-director at the Global Resilience Institute.

Continue reading at Northeastern Global News.

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