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Edwin Meese
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Edwin "Ed" Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988).
Early life and education
Meese is the eldest of four sons born to Edwin Jr. and Leone Meese. His father was an Oakland city government official, president of the Zion Lutheran Church, and served 24 years in the non-partisan office of Treasurer of Alameda County.
At age ten, Meese published along with his brothers a mimeographed neighborhood newspaper, the Weekly Herald, and used the proceeds to buy a War Bond.
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Encyclopedia
Edwin "Ed" Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988).
Early life and education
Meese is the eldest of four sons born to Edwin Jr. and Leone Meese. His father was an Oakland city government official, president of the Zion Lutheran Church, and served 24 years in the non-partisan office of Treasurer of Alameda County.
At age ten, Meese published along with his brothers a mimeographed neighborhood newspaper, the Weekly Herald, and used the proceeds to buy a War Bond. The young Meese also rode a bicycle on a paper route and worked in a drugstore. At Oakland High School, Meese led his high school debate team to statewide championships and was recognized as valedictorian, class of 1946. Two weeks prior to graduation, he was accepted to Yale University and granted a scholarship. Meese served as president of the Yale Political Union, chairman of the Conservative Party, and chairman of he Yale Debating Association. Meese made the dean's list, and graduated with a bachelor of arts of political science in 1953.
Military service
Meese was a member of ROTC since enrollment, and upon graduation enlisted in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant. He spent 24 months at Fort Sill near Lawton, Oklahoma. Meese earned experience in logistics, conducting installation and operations of the 240 mm howitzer M1. Meese completed active duty in 1956 and continued in the United States Army Reserve, specializing in military intelligence. Meese rose to rank of Colonel by the time of his retirement in 1984, when he became the U.S. Attorney General.
Early career
Meese returned to California, obtaining a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a state Moot Court champion. He graduated in 1958 and accepted a position with the district attorney's office of Alameda County as a law clerk at $281 per month. While there, he worked under D. Lowell Jensen, the dissrtict attorney who was engaged in developing a case-management software program known as Dalite. Meese prosecuted felony cases while maintaining a private practice on nights and weekends, focusing on civil law. During this service, he first drew the attention of Republican State Senator Donald Grunsky, who would later recommend him to governor Ronald Reagan.
In 1959 he married high school sweetheart Ursula Herrick, daughter of Oakland's postmaster.
California governor's office
Meese joined Ronald Reagan's staff in 1967. He served as legal affairs secretary from 1967–1968 and as executive assistant and chief of staff to Governor Reagan from 1969 through 1974.
While Reagan's legal affairs secretary, Meese was involved in persuading Reagan to request the resignation of then-chief of staff Philip Battaglia on the grounds that Battaglia was engaging in homosexual acts with two aides, including then-intern Jack Kemp. The allegations regarding Kemp, however, were circumstantial, based on their joint purchase of a cabin.
As Reagan's chief of staff, Meese was instrumental in the decision to crack down on student protesters at People's Park in Berkeley, California, on May 15, 1969. Meese was widely criticized for escalating official response to the People's Park protest, during which law enforcement officers killed one protestor and seriously injured hundreds of others, many of whom were bystanders. Meese advised Reagan to declare a state of emergency in Berkeley, contrary to the recommendation of the Berkeley City Council, which led to a two-week occupation of the city by National Guard troops.
Industry and academia
From January 1975 to May 1976, he was vice president for administration of Rohr Industries in Chula Vista, California. He left Rohr to enter private law practice in San Diego County, California. He served as a professor of law at the University of San Diego from 1977 to 1981, and also was director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.
Reagan presidency
Meese headed Reagan's transition effort following the 1980 election. During the presidential campaign, he served as chief of staff and senior issues adviser for the Reagan–Bush committee. After Reagan's election, he became Counselor to the President, and a member of both the President's Cabinet and the National Security Council from 1981 to 1985.
U.S. Attorney General
Meese became Attorney General in February 1985, holding this office until August, 1988. By this time, his former employeer, D. Lowell Jenson now worked for him as Deputy Assistant U.S. Attorney General, the second-ranking official in the Justice Department.
Iran-Contra
Meese's tenure was highly controversial. His involvement in the Iran-Contra Affair as a "counselor" and "friend" to the President, not as the nation's chief law enforcement officer, attracted the most criticism. Chapter 31 of the official Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters reveals his direct involvement:
Meese knew that the 1985 HAWK transaction, in which the National Security Council staff and the Central Intelligence Agency were directly involved without a presidential covert-action Finding authorizing their involvement, raised serious legal questions. The President was potentially exposed to charges of illegal conduct if he was knowledgeable of the shipment and had not reported it to Congress, under the requirements of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and in the absence of a Finding.... When Meese got answers in his inquiry that did not support his defense of the President, he apparently ignored them, as he did with Secretary of State George P. Shultz's revelation on November 22 that the President had told him that he had known of the HAWK shipment in advance.
Supreme Court views
Meese also became the subject of deep controversy when he gave a speech calling for a "jurisprudence of original intent" in 1985 and criticizing the Supreme Court for straying from the original intention of the U.S. Constitution. Meese's speech was publicly rebuked by sitting Supreme Court Justices William J. Brennan and John Paul Stevens in speeches later that year, in a dispute that foreshadowed the contentious Robert Bork hearings of 1987. It has also been alleged that Meese subjected nominees for federal judgeships to a "litmus test" to gauge their fidelity to Reagan Administration judicial policy, including whether the nominee believed that Roe v. Wade had been correctly decided; Meese has repeatedly denied this.
Meese Report
On May 21, 1984, Reagan announced his intention to appoint the Attorney General to study the effect of pornography on society. The Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, often called the Meese Commission, convened in the spring of 1985 and published its findings in July 1986. The Meese Report advised that pornography was in varying degrees harmful.
Fellowships
Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank.
Adjunct Fellow at the Discovery Institute, a conservative Christian think tank that is most widely known for its work promoting Intelligent design and inspiring the Intelligent Design movement.
Chairman of the of the , the public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute.
Serves on the Board of Directors of the Junior State of America, a nationally-recognized non-partisan youth organization that aims to help high school students acquire policy knowledge and oratorical skills to prepare them for leadership later in life.
Served on the Executive Committee (1994) and as president (1996) of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a forum that was formed in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a networking tool for leading US conservative political leaders, financiers and religious right activist leaders.
Served as co-chairman of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Sentencing Committee.
Ed Meese is also on the Board of Directors for the Capital Research Center, a conservative think tank devoted to the research of non-profit groups
Writings
- Judicial Tyranny: The New Kings of America? - contributing author (Amerisearch, 2005) ISBN 0-9753455-6-7
The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, ISBN 1-59698-001-X
With Reagan, 1992, Regnery Gateway, 0-89526-522-2
See also
- Attorney General's Commission on Pornography
External links
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