Pete McCloskey

Paul Norton McCloskey Jr. (born September 29, 1927) is an American politician who represented San Mateo County, California as a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967 to 1983.

Born in Loma Linda, California, McCloskey pursued a legal career in Palo Alto, California, after graduating from Stanford Law School.

He served in the Korean War as a member of the United States Marine Corps.

For his service, he was awarded the Navy Cross and the Silver Star.

McCloskey was born on September 29, 1927, in Loma Linda, California, the son of Mary Vera (McNabb) and Paul Norton McCloskey.

He attended public schools in South Pasadena and San Marino.

He was inducted into South Pasadena High School Hall of Fame for the sport of baseball.

He attended Occidental College and California Institute of Technology under the U.S. Navy's V-5 Pilot Program.

McCloskey voluntarily 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 graduated from Stanford University in 1950 and Stanford University Law School in 1953.

Pete McCloskey's great-grandfather was orphaned in the Great Irish Famine and came to California in 1953 at the age of 16.

He and his son, McCloskey's grandfather, were farmers in Merced County.

The family were lifelong Republicans.

McCloskey served as a 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 McCloskey, Wilson & Mosher, a forerunner to the firm that eventually became Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

He was a lecturer on legal ethics at Santa Clara University and Stanford Law School from 1964 to 1967.

He won election to the House of Representatives in 1967, defeating Shirley Temple in the Republican primary.

He was reelected to the seven succeeding Congresses, serving from December 12, 1967, to January 3, 1983.

He unsuccessfully challenged President Richard Nixon in the 1972 Republican primaries on an anti-Vietnam War platform and was the first member of Congress to publicly call for President Nixon's resignation after the Saturday Night Massacre.

In the 1972 Republican Party presidential primaries McCloskey campaigned on a pro-peace/anti-Vietnam War platform and obtained 19.7 percent of the vote against incumbent President Richard M. Nixon in the New Hampshire primary.

At the New Mexico Republican Party state convention Rep. Manuel Lujan Jr.. cast a decisive vote that resulted in McCloskey being awarded a national convention delegate.

Consequently, at the Republican National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida, Rep. McCloskey received one vote (out of 1,348) from a New Mexico delegate; all other votes cast went to Nixon.

He co-authored the 1973 Endangered Species Act.

He retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1974, having attained the rank of colonel.

He was awarded the Navy Cross and Silver Star decorations for heroism in combat and two Purple Hearts as a Marine during the Korean War.

He then volunteered for the Vietnam War before eventually turning against it.

He chose, in early 1975, to see for himself the effects of US bombing in Cambodia, stating afterwards that his country had committed "greater evil than we have done to any country in the world, and wholly without reason, except for our benefit to fight against the Vietnamese."

In January 1980, McCloskey was one of six members of an official bipartisan delegation of the House of Representatives appointed by Speaker Tip O'Neill to visit Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.

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."

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 had allowed for the War in Vietnam.

McCloskey continually won re-election until 1982, when he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination to represent California in the United States Senate.

The nomination was won by Pete Wilson, who went on to defeat Jerry Brown in the general election.

During the 1988 Republican presidential primaries, McCloskey helped end Pat Robertson's campaign by revealing that Robertson's claims of serving in combat were false.

In 1989, McCloskey co-founded the Council for the National Interest, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works for "Middle East policies that serve the American national interest."

He was elected as a Republican to the 90th Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative J. Arthur Younger, after defeating Shirley Temple in the primary.

In 1992, he wrote his fourth book, The Taking of Hill 610, describing some of his exploits in Korea.

He strongly opposed the Iraq War and supported Democrat John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

In 2006, he made an unsuccessful run for Congress against Republican Richard Pombo.

He endorsed Democrat Jerry McNerney in the general election and became a Democrat himself shortly thereafter.

In 2016, McCloskey published a tribute to Lujan titled An Honest Public Servant.