Jerome R. Waldie

Jerome Russell "Jerry" Waldie (February 15, 1925 – April 3, 2009)^[1] was a United States Representative from California.

Early life

Born in Antioch, California, Waldie attended Antioch public schools. After three years in the Army during World War II, he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 with a degree in political science, and earned a law degree from the university's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1953. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946.

Political career

Waldie served as a Democratic member of the California State Assembly from 1959 to 1966, becoming Majority Leader in 1961. One of his last accomplishments in Sacramento was to carry the constitutional amendment pushed by Speaker of the Assembly Jesse Unruh to create a full-time Legislature.

Waldie was then elected to the Eighty-ninth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative John F. Baldwin. He was reelected four times, serving from June 7, 1966 to January 3, 1975.

As Congressman, he was an early critic of U.S. involvement in Vietnam and an advocate of health care reforms.

During the Watergate scandal, Waldie was a vocal critic of President Richard Nixon. Three days after Nixon fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox (in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre") Waldie introduced a resolution calling for the impeachment of the President, one of the first members of the House Judiciary Committee to do so. He later voted to impeach Nixon in July 1974.

Waldie did not run for reelection to the Congress that year. Instead, he campaigned for the Democratic nomination for Governor of California in the June Primary election, but was defeated by then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown, who went on to win in November.

Post-Congressional life

As an ex-Congressman, Waldie served as a public advocate. He was chairman of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission from 1978 to 1979 and the executive director of the White House Conference on Aging (1980). He also served as member of the California Agricultural Relations Board from 1981 to 1985. He eventually retired to Placerville, California where he resided until his death in April 2009.

References

1. ^ Woo, Elaine (April 6, 2009). "Jerome Waldie, former state and federal lawmaker, dies at 84". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-jerome-waldie7-2009apr07,0,6933167.story. Retrieved April 7, 2009. 

Bibliography

• Jerome Waldie and Nestle Frobish. Fair Play For Frogs: The Waldie-Frobish Papers' (New York, 1977)
• Jerome Waldie. Oral History Interview. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1987

External links

• Jerome R. Waldie at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by John F. Baldwin, Jr.	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 14th congressional district 1966–1975	Succeeded by John J. McFall

Persondata
Name	Waldie, Jerome Russell
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 15, 1925
Place of birth
Date of death	April 3, 2009
Place of death