Paul Norton "Pete" McCloskey Jr. (September 29, 1927 – May 8, 2024) was an American politician. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing California 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.[1]
He was a co-chair of the first Earth Day in 1970.[1] He ran for the United States Senate in 1982, but lost the Republican nomination to Pete Wilson. He unsuccessfully ran for congress again in 2006.
A former U.S. Marine and Korean War veteran, he called out Pat Robertson's false claims of being a combat veteran of the Korean War during the 1988 presidential election.[4] This led to Robertson suing McCloskey and negatively impacting Robertson's own presidential campaign.[4][5]