Pete McCloskey

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Pete McCloskey bigraphy, stories - Recipient of the Purple Heart medal

Pete McCloskey : biography

September 29, 1927 –

Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey, Jr. (born September 29, 1927) is a former Republican politician from the U.S. state of California who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972 but was defeated by incumbent President Richard Nixon. In April 2007, McCloskey switched his affiliation to the Democratic Party. He is a decorated United States Marine Corps veteran of combat during the Korean War, being awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star, and two awards of the Purple Heart.

He published a book called Truth and Untruth: Political Deceit in America in 1972. One of McCloskey’s enduring legacies is his co-authorship of the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Political career

McCloskey served as Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County, California, from 1953 to 1954 and practiced law in Palo Alto, California, from 1955 to 1967, cofounding the firm that eventually became Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He was a lecturer on legal ethics at the Santa Clara and Stanford Law Schools from 1964 to 1967. He was elected as a Republican to the 90th Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of U.S. Rep. J. Arthur Younger and was reelected to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from December 12, 1967 to January 3, 1983. In a 1981 interview, he stated that he thought he "was the first Republican elected opposing the war" despite the fact that his "constituency, two to one, favored the war in 1967." 10/14/1981. WGBH Media Library & Archives. Retrieved 3 November 2010.

He sought the 1972 Republican Presidential nomination on a pro-peace/anti-Vietnam War platform, and obtained 11% of the vote against incumbent President Richard M. Nixon in the New Hampshire primary. At the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Rep. McCloskey received one vote (out of 1324) from a New Mexico delegate. All other votes cast went to President Nixon, thus McCloskey finished second place in the race for the Presidential nomination. Congressman John Ashbrook of Ohio had also challenged President Nixon’s bid for re-nomination, albeit on a conservative platform.

His book The Taking of Hill 610 put an end to Pat Robertson’s 1988 Presidential run.

McCloskey, who served with Robertson in Korea, wrote a public letter which said that Robertson was actually spared combat duty when his powerful father, a U.S. Senator, intervened on his behalf, and that Robertson spent most of his time in an office in Japan. According to McCloskey, his time in the service was not in combat but as the "" responsible for keeping the officers’ clubs supplied with liquor. Robertson filed a $35 million libel suit against McCloskey in 1986. He dropped the case in 1988, before it came to trial and paid McCloskey’s court costs.

McCloskey was the first member of Congress to publicly call for the impeachment of President Nixon after the Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. He was also the first lawmaker to call for a repeal of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that allowed for the War in Vietnam.

An opponent of the Iraq War,Mark Hertsgaard, , The Nation, posted March 9, 2006 (March 27, 2006 issue). Accessed June 20, 2006. McCloskey broke party ranks in 2004 to endorse John Kerry in his bid to unseat George W. Bush as President of the United States.

In 1989, McCloskey co-founded the Council for the National Interest along with former Congressman Paul Findley. He taught political science at Santa Clara University in the early 1980s. For many years, he practiced law in Redwood City, California and resided in Woodside, California.

2006 run for Congress

On January 23, 2006, McCloskey announced at a press conference in Lodi, California that he would return to the political arena by running against seven-term incumbent Republican Richard Pombo in the Republican primary for California’s 11th congressional district. Earlier in the year, he formed a group called the "Revolt of the Elders" to recruit a viable primary candidate to run against Pombo. McCloskey’s aging campaign bus sported the slogan "Restore Ethics to Congress." McCloskey said, "Congressmen are like diapers. You need to change them often, and for the same reason." McCloskey was endorsed in the Republican Party primary by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle editorial, May 24, 2006. and the Los Angeles Times.James Taranto, , Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2006. In the June 6, 2006, primary, McCloskey was defeated by Pombo. McCloskey received 32% of the vote.Brian Foley, , Tri-Valley Herald, June 8, 2006. Accessed June 20, 2006.