Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. (September 29, 1927 – May 8, 2024) was 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. He won election to the House of Representatives in 1967, defeating Shirley Temple Black in the Republican primary. He co-authored the 1973 Endangered Species Act. 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.
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, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works for "Middle East policies that serve the American national interest." 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.
Early life Pete McCloskey's great-grandfather was orphaned in the Great Irish Famine and came to California in 1853 at the age of 16. He and his son, McCloskey's grandfather, were farmers in Merced County. The family were lifelong Republicans.McCloskey, P. "Another Point of View: What Happened to the Party of Ford & Eisenhower?". (Auburn, Calif.) Sentinel, April 27, 2007.
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. He graduated from Stanford University in 1950 and Stanford University Law School in 1953.
Military service 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 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. In 1992, he wrote his fourth book, The Taking of Hill 610, describing some of his exploits in Korea.
Political career
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.
Congress 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. He 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."WGBH (October 14, 1981). "Interview with Paul N. McCloskey, 1981." WGBH Media Library & Archives, October 14, 1981. Retrieved on November 3, 2010 from .
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. 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 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. In 2016, McCloskey published a tribute to Lujan titled An Honest Public Servant.
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 Beirut the delegation met with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasir Arafat with a plan to conclude the trip with a meeting with Prime Minister Menachem Begin and other Israeli leaders in Jerusalem.
In 1980, he endorsed Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter, despite his conflict with Reagan, saying that there's bigger chance of war under Carter than Reagan.
In June 1981, in a speech to retired United States military officers, McCloskey said: "'We've got to overcome the tendency of the Jewish community in America to control the actions of Congress and force the President and the Congress not to be evenhanded' in the Middle East." In a press conference later the same day Mr. McCloskey criticized Menachem Begin for lobbying the Rev. Jerry Falwell for support for the June 7, 1981, Israeli airstrike on an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor and added, "We have to respect the views of our Jewish citizens, but not be controlled by them." McCloskey later defended his remarks saying "There is a strong Jewish lobby ... I do not understand why the Jewish community should resent it being labeled as such. They are a very effective lobby." However, he also predicted that criticism by B'nai B'rith officials in California would harm his prospects of winning the 1982 Republican Senate primary there.
Shortly after Israel's passage of the Golan Heights Law on December 14, 1981, McCloskey denounced the move as an "aggressive and imperialistic action" and urged his Congressional colleagues to block a $2.2 billion foreign aid package to Israel unless the action was rescinded. He said the "annexation of the Golan Heights was another step which could eventually drag the U.S. into a nuclear war."
In 1982, McCloskey was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for nomination to the United States Senate. The California Republican Senatorial primary that year was a contentious battle among the major candidates in the 12-person GOP field, featuring mainly Reps. McCloskey, Bob Dornan, Barry Goldwater Jr. (son of Arizona Senator and 1964 Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater), Maureen Reagan (daughter of then-President Ronald Reagan), San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson, former Rep. John G. Schmitz, and Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce president Ted Bruinsma. Wilson was the eventual victor and went on to defeat the Democratic candidate, then-Governor Jerry Brown, in the general election.
According to Paul Findley, McCloskey was hounded by the Anti-Defamation League, both during his political career and when he retired to private practice as a lawyer, for his outspoken views on Israel's attitude to Palestinians and on the Israel lobby.Paul Findley, They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, Chicago Review Press, 2003 pp.54–61 p.59:'A tracking system initiated by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL) assured that McCloskey would have no peace, even as a private citizen.'
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 Party for California's 11th congressional district.map 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 ChronicleMcCloskey over Pombo, San Francisco Chronicle editorial, May 24, 2006. and the Los Angeles Times.James Taranto, From the WSJ Opinion Archives, The Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2006. In the June 6, 2006 primary, McCloskey was defeated by Pombo, receiving 32 percent of the vote.Brian Foley, Pombo to face McNerney in November; Zone 7 candidates tight, Tri-Valley Herald, June 8, 2006. Accessed June 20, 2006.
On July 24, 2006, McCloskey endorsed Jerry McNerney, a Democrat who defeated Pombo in the 2006 midterm elections.McCloskey Bucks GOP, Backs Democrat , The Washington Post, July 24, 2006 McCloskey spent most of Election Night at McNerney's victory party.McNerney, enviros take down Richard Pombo , Capitol Weekly, November 9, 2006 The Sierra Club recognized McCloskey for helping to unseat Pombo with their 2006 Edgar Wayburn Award.John Upton,Greens honor McCloskey, Tracy Press, November 25, 2006.
IHR/Holocaust controversy During the 2006 primary campaign there was controversy over what McCloskey allegedly said about the Holocaust during his keynote address, titled "The Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League", to the May 2000 Institute for Historical Review conference. According to the San Jose Mercury News, McCloskey said at the time, "I don't know whether you are right or wrong about the Holocaust," and he referred to the "so-called Holocaust". McCloskey replied "that he has never questioned the existence of the Holocaust, and the 2000 quote referred to a debate over the number of people killed."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 June 20, 2006. McCloskey said in an interview with the Contra Costa Times on January 18, 2006, that the IHR transcript of his speech had been inaccurate.Lisa Vorderbrueggen, McCloskey takes challenge to run against Pombo, Contra Costa Times, January 19, 2006..