Jerome Waldie


Jerome Russell Waldie 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 89th Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative John F. Baldwin. He was re-elected four times, serving from June 7, 1966 to January 3, 1975.
As a Congressman, he was an early critic of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, and also advocated 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, 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 during the impeachment process against Richard Nixon.
Waldie did not run for re-election 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. 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.