Paul Norton McCloskey, Jr. is a decorated veteran and former Republican Congressman. Having served in the Korean War and the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Navy Cross, Silver Star, and two Purple Heat awards. He then began his political career, first serving as Deputy District Attorney for Alameda county in California from 1953 to 1954, and then practicing law until 1967. He was then elected as a Republican to the 90th Congress and served to the seven succeeding Congresses (1967-1983). McClosky was the first member of Congress to call for the Impeachment of President Nixon after the Watergate Scandal and the first lawmaker to call for the repeal of the gulf of Tonkin Resolution that allowed for the Vietnam War.

In 1982, McCloskey was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for nomination to the United States Senate. In 1989, McCloskey co-founded the Council for the National Interest, and in the early 80s he taught political science at Santa Clara University. He unsuccessful in his 2006 run for Congress and in the spring of 2007, McCloskey announced that he had changed his party affiliation to the Democratic Party.