Former Congressman Paul N. “Pete” McCloskey, a longtime supporter of Palestinian rights and USS Liberty veterans, died of congestive heart failure peacefully at his home in Winters, California, on May 8th in the care of his wife of forty-two years, Helen, and their five dogs. He was 96.
McCloskey was a rarity in American politics. His actions were guided by his sense of justice, not by political ideology. He hated inequity and did not hesitate to take on members of his own political party.
“He stood for everyone without a voice, and was especially passionate about our environment — he was afraid of nothing or anyone who sought to take advantage of another,” said Joe Cotchett, his law partner since 2004. “He was the epitome of a leader, as demonstrated throughout his entire life.”
Palestine and USS Liberty
Following trips to the Middle East in the late 1970s, Pete McCloskey, like two other Republicans, Senators Charles Percy, Congressman Paul Findley, and independent of one another, returned with the strong conviction that American foreign policy in the region was unbalanced and would prove over the long run to be disastrous for US interests and for the Palestinian people.
McCloskey and a handful of other members of Congress proposed cuts in aid to Israel for its continuing expansion of settlements in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank, in violation of international law. McCloskey’s farewell speech in Congress was in support of a change in the US’s Middle East policies to one recognizing both Israel’s security issues and the necessity of a recognized State for the Palestinian people.
McCloskey, who stated publicly that Congress is “terrorized” by the Israel lobby, was one of several people targeted by the Israel Lobby to be removed from Congress. In the 1982 Republican primary, his opponent Pete Wilson (R-CA) made repeated, heavy-handed fund-raising appeals to pro-Israel donors.
In a 1986 article entitled “Harsh Truths, Harsher Realities,” McCloskey wrote: “The battle for the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people will be won or lost in public opinion of the United States.”
He pointed out: “Public opinion in America is determined by a network of newspapers, radio and television commentators, and organizations which communicate with the radio, the press and television. There is no organization today in this world that represents the Palestinians and the PLO as a news agency. Now this is a matter which has been caused and certainly assisted by the strength of the Jewish community in America. The Jewish community does not want books circulated in America that are critical of Israel. The Jewish community does not want movies made that are critical of Israel. Every American has seen the movie, The Holocaust, at least once every six months over the last five years. When the Palestinians have tried to present, even on public television, movies that reflect the treatment of Palestinians on the West Bank, they are generally blocked by prominent Israeli sympathizers in the news distribution media.”
In 1989, McCloskey and former Congressman Paul Findley founded the Council for the National Interest to counter the Israel Lobby and to support “Middle East policies that serve the American national interest.” An announcement stated that current US policies caused great damage to the region and to the United States. “Because of its generally unqualified support for Israel. the US is viewed worldwide as the co-sponsor of Israeli policies that hold by force of arms territories belonging to Arabs, and abuse the basic human rights of 1.7 million Palestinians living in those territories.”
McCloskey also at times assisted the nonprofit organization If Americans Knew. Founder Alison Weir (also president of CNI) said: “I was honored to call him a friend. I will always be immensely grateful for his help.”
McCloskey had also long advocated for a full investigation of Israel’s 1967 attack on a US Navy ship, the USS Liberty, that had killed 34 American Servicemen and injured over 170. He became pro bono attorney for the USS Liberty Veterans Association. (See video below.)
Fifteen years after the attack, an Israeli pilot approached Liberty survivors and then held extensive interviews with McCloskey. The senior Israeli lead pilot told McCloskey that he recognized the Liberty as American immediately, informed his headquarters, and was told to ignore the American flag and continue his attack. He refused to do so and returned to base, where he was arrested.
Before his death, McCloskey and his wife co-authored a book on the Israeli attack, Betrayal of the USS Liberty, which will be released later this year.
Biography
McCloskey was born in the Southern California city of Loma Linda, to a family with deep roots in California. His great-grandfather, orphaned during the Irish potato famine, came to San Francisco in 1853. One grandfather was a U.S. attorney and captain of the National Guard unit that helped control rioting in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. His maternal grandfather was mayor of San Bernardino in the early 1900s.
McCloskey attended South Pasadena High School. As Valedictorian for his graduating class, he spoke in support of the formation of the United Nations. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1950 from Stanford University, as well as his law degree in 1953, the latter interrupted by his service in the US Marine Corps.
McCloskey joined the Marine Corps as an officer and famously led his rifle platoon during some of the most intense fighting of the Korean war, including six bayonet assaults. During his 10 months in North Korea, 58 of the 61 members of his platoon were either killed or wounded. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism, the Nation’s second highest honor and the highest award given by the Marine Corps. He was also awarded the Silver Star for bravery in combat, and two Purple Hearts.
From 1953 to 1960, he commanded a Marine Reserve Rifle Company, and participated in counter-insurgency training. He volunteered for the Vietnam War, however, after a fact-finding trip to the war-torn country in 1971, he reversed course and became an outspoken opponent of the war. He called the bombing in Cambodia a “greater evil than we have done to any country in the world.”
“I don’t think you can impose democracy or any system of government through the barrel of a gun without the people resenting what you are trying to impress on them,” he told Rob Caughlan, who produced a video biography of McCloskey which aired on PBS entitled Leading from the Front, which was narrated by actor, friend and fellow war veteran turned anti-war activist Paul Newman.
“I’ve known some great men in my long life, but none that ever matched McCloskey,” said Chuck Daly, a highly-decorated rifle platoon commander who served with McCloskey in Korea and later became a special assistant to President John F. Kennedy and director of the Kennedy Museum. “Pete was one of the finest Marines in the Korean War.”
McCloskey retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1974 with the rank of Colonel.
McCloskey has lectured on constitutional and military ethics at the Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the Marine Corps Staff College at Quantico, Virginia.
Following the Korean War, McCloskey served as Deputy District attorney in Alameda County, then opened a law practice in 1956, which evolved into the Silicon Valley firm of Wilson, Sonsini. He also formed a law partnership with his old friend Lewis Butler of San Francisco. Butler & McCloskey handled only environmental cases. Butler said the two men made very little money, but “we saved Bay Area tidelands from a housing tract, the town of Volcano from becoming a cement plant, Round Valley from the proposed Corps of Engineers Dos Rios dam and the Napa Valley from subdividing prime vineyards.”
McCloskey also served as President of the Palo Alto Bar Association (1960), and President of the Conference of Barristers of the State Bar (1961). In that role, he and Judge Quentin L. Kopp, (Ret) wrote Guide to Professional Conduct for the New Practitioner, (State Bar, 1961).
McCloskey also served as Trustee of the Santa Clara Bar Association. He has taught Legal Ethics and Political Science as a guest professor at both Stanford University and Santa Clara Law School, as well as to younger students at Thacher School in Ojai.
In 1967, Pete McCloskey ran for Congress in a special election held following the death of the incumbent Congressman, defeating front-runner child-actress Shirley Temple Black. From the beginning of his political career, McCloskey was a Republican maverick, remaining independent of party ideology and pressure.
Earth Day, Anti-War
A life-long back-packer and fly-fisherman, McCloskey, often referred to as “a Teddy Roosevelt-style conservationist,” was fiercely protective of wilderness. In 1970, along with US Senator Gaylord Nelson, he co-founded the first Earth Day, and in 1973, co-authored the Endangered Species Act. He served six years as Congressional Delegate to the International Whaling Conference, and as Congressional Advisor to the Law of the Sea Treaty Delegation under Chairmen John Stevenson and Elliot Richardson.
“With a twinkle in his eye but a titanium backbone, Pete McCloskey
spent his whole life campaigning for peace, justice, and a livable
future,” said Denis Hayes, who organized the first Earth Day. “A
powerful champion of endangered species, Pete, ironically, became one:
the last remaining progressive, green, anti-war Republican.”... READ MORE https://israelpalestinenews.org/pete-mccloskey-longtime-supporter-of-palestinians-and-uss-liberty-veterans-has-passed-away/
[AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes or watch videos) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]
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