Which Republican congressman served as Earth Day co-chair in 1970?

Republican congressman Pete McCloskey served as a co-chair of the first Earth Day in 1970.

McCloskey was a California Republican who represented the state’s 12th congressional district and later its 16th district in the U.S. House. His participation showed that the emerging environmental movement was not exclusively identified with one political party. He co-chaired the first Earth Day alongside Democratic senator Gaylord Nelson, who had proposed the national environmental teach-in.

The event took place on April 22, 1970, with organizer Denis Hayes coordinating activities across the United States. Roughly 20 million Americans took part in rallies, teach-ins, campus events, and community actions, making the event a landmark in the growth of modern environmental politics.

McCloskey is sometimes confused with other prominent Republicans associated with environmental policy, including New York governor Nelson Rockefeller and senator Barry Goldwater. Neither was the Republican co-chair of the first Earth Day; that role belonged to McCloskey.