Pete McCloskey, a California congressman who raised a flag of rebellion against President Richard M. Nixon’s war policies in Vietnam with a spirited but futile race for the Republican presidential nomination in 1972, died on Wednesday at his home in Winters, Calif., west of Sacramento. His death was announced in a statement released on Wednesday by a family spokesman, Lee Houskeeper. Mr. McCloskey, who represented an area south of San Francisco for 15 years, from late 1967 to early 1983, was a liberal Republican who admired President John F. Kennedy, voted for environmental causes with Democrats and believed that the Republican Party had veered too far to the right. He had no money, party support or realistic prospects. Tens of thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were dying in a war that could not be won, he argued.

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Persons: Pete McCloskey, Richard M, Lee Houskeeper, Mr, McCloskey, John F, Kennedy, Nixon, Shirley Temple Black Organizations: Republican, Republican Party Locations: California, Vietnam, Winters, Calif, Sacramento, San Francisco