The efforts to get a four-year university in Sacramento date back to the 1920s; however, legislation repeatedly failed. Local supporters blamed "pork barrel politics" by Bay Area legislators trying to monopolize higher education. Sacramento State was formally established in 1947 through legislation by State Senator Earl D. Desmond, by playing hardball to get it done – convincing the Senate's finance committee to withhold funding for the University of California until he had a commitment. Later on, Desmond eventually had 11 children and grandchildren graduate from the college.
