Misplaced Pages

Pete McCloskey

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 132.241.246.111 (talk) at 20:16, 22 May 2007 (→IHR controversy). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:16, 22 May 2007 by 132.241.246.111 (talk) (→IHR controversy)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. (born September 29 1927) is a Democratic politician from California, USA. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983 as a Republican, before switching parties in April of 2007. He ran on an anti-war platform for the Republican nomination for President in 1972, but was defeated by incumbent President Richard Nixon. Also in 1972, his book Truth and Untruth: Political Deceit in America was published. One of McCloskey's enduring legacies is his co-authorship of the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

Campaign button from McCloskey's 1972 Presidential run
Campaign button from McCloskey's 1972 Presidential run

Early Life

McCloskey was born in Loma Linda, California, and attended public schools in South Pasadena and San Marino. He attended Occidental College and California Institute of Technology under the U.S. Navy's V-5 Pilot Program. He graduated from Stanford University in 1950 and Stanford University Law School in 1953.

Career

He served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1947, the U.S. Marine Corps from 1950 to 1952, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1952 to 1960 and the Ready Reserve from 1960 to 1967. He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1974, having attained the rank of Colonel. Pete McCloskey won both the Navy Cross and the Silver Star for outstanding service during the Korean War. In 1992, he wrote his fourth book, "The Taking of Hill 610", describing some of his exploits in Korea.

He was Deputy District Attorney for Alameda County, California, from 1953 to 1954 and practiced law in Palo Alto, California, from 1955 to 1967. 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.

McCloskey was not a candidate for reelection in 1982, but was instead an unsuccessful Republican candidate for nomination to the United States Senate.

McCloskey was the first Republican Congressman to publicly call for the impeachment of then-President Nixon after the Watergate scandal and the Saturday Night Massacre. An opponent of the Iraq War, 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 the late 1980s, religious broadcaster Pat Robertson sued Congressman McCloskey and Representative Andy Jacobs for libel. McCloskey had made remarks, which Jacobs repeated, stating that Robertson had used connections to avoid combat duty in the Korean War, where McCloskey had known Robertson. Eventually, Robertson dropped his lawsuit, claiming scheduling conflicts between court dates and his 1988 presidential campaign as the reason, and he was ordered to pay part of McCloskey's court costs.

In 1989, McCloskey co-founded the Council for the National Interest along with former Congressmen Paul Findley (R-IL). He taught political science at Santa Clara University in the early 1990s. For many years, he practiced law in Redwood City, California and resided in Woodside, California.

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(map). Earlier in the year, he'd formed a group called the "Revolt of the Elders" to recruit a viable primary candidate to run against Pombo.

In the June 6, 2006 primary, McCloskey was defeated by Pombo. McCloskey received 32% of the vote.

On July 24, 2006, McCloskey endorsed Jerry McNerney, a Democrat who would go on to unseat Pombo in the 2006 midterm elections. McCloskey even spent most of Election Night at McNerney's victory party.

The Sierra Club recognized McCloskey for helping to unseat the anti-environmentalist Pombo with their 2006 Edgar Wayburn Award.

In the spring of 2007, McCloskey announced that he had changed his party affiliation to the Democratic Party. In an email and letter to the Tracy Press, McCloskey stressed that the "new brand of Republicanism" had finally led him to abandon the party that he had joined in 1948.

IHR controversy

Pete McCloskey gave a featured address at an event which unbeknown to McCloskey was sponsored by the Holocaust denial group Institute for Historical Review (IHR) in 2000. According to the San Jose Mercury News, February 20 2006

Campaign charges are exploding over a 2000 speech McCloskey gave to the controversial Institute for Historical Review, some of whose members question the severity of the Holocaust. McCloskey said at the time, "I don't know whether you are right or wrong about the Holocaust," and referred to the "so-called Holocaust". McCloskey said Friday that he has never questioned the existence of the Holocaust, and the 2000 quote referred to a debate over the number of people killed.

McCloskey claimed in an interview with the Contra Costa Times on January 18 2006 that the IHR transcript of his speech was inaccurate.

Notes

  1. Mark Hertsgaard, A Dragon Slayer Returns, The Nation, posted March 9 2006 (March 27 2006 issue). Accessed 20 June 2006.
  2. Brian Foley, Pombo to face McNerney in November; Zone 7 candidates tight, Tri-Valley Herald, June 8 2006. Accessed 20 June 2006.
  3. McCloskey Bucks GOP, Backs Democrat, Washington Post, July 24 2006
  4. McNerney, enviros take down Richard Pombo, Capitol Weekly, Novembey 9 2006
  5. John Upton,Greens honor McCloskey, Tracy Press, November 25 2006
  6. Lisa Vorderbrueggen, McCloskey leaves Republican Party, Contra Costa Times Politics Weblog, April 16 2007
  7. McCloskey, Pete (April 21, 2007), "McCloskey: Why I have switched political parties", Tracy Press{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  8. 13th IHR Conference: A Resounding Success, The Journal of Historical Review, May-June 2000 (Vol. 19, No. 3), pages 2-11. Accessed online 20 June 2006.
  9. Paul N. McCloskey, Jr., Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League, The Journal for Historical Review, September/December 2001, Volume 20 number 5/6, page 13, ISSN 0195-6752. Accessed online 20 June 2006.
  10. Mary Anne Ostrom, At 78, Spoiling for One Last Fight, San Jose Mercury News, February 20 2006, reprinted on McCloskey's web site. Accessed online 20 June 2006.
  11. Lisa Vorderbrueggen, McCloskey takes challenge to run against Pombo, Contra Costa Times, January 19 2006. Accessed online 20 June 2006.
  12. This claim of an inaccurate transcript has been corroborated by Mark Hertsgaard of The Nation. Mark Hertsgaard, 'Dragon Slayer' No Saint George? Hertsgaard Replies, The Nation, May 1 2006. Accessed 20 June 2006.

External links

Political offices
Preceded byJesse A. Younger Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from California's 11th congressional district
1969 – 1983 		Succeeded byLeo Joseph Ryan, Jr.
Categories: