Frank Xavier McCloskey

Francis Xavier Frank McCloskey was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1939. After his high school graduation in 1957, he joined the Air Force. He was discharged in 1961 and began a career as a journalist, working for the City News Bureau in Chicago and the Indianapolis Star. He began working for Bloomington’s Daily Herald-Telephone newspaper in the mid-1960s, covering politics and city hall. At the same time he attended Indiana University, majoring in Political Science, and graduating with an A.B. in 1968. He then attended the Indiana University School of Law, where he received his J.D. in 1971. While still in law school he began his campaign for Mayor of Bloomington, as a Democrat, and was elected in 1971. He held the position until 1982. In 1983 he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, Indiana Eighth District, and was re-elected five times, before losing in 1994. McCloskey’s congressional campaigns were not without controversy – his first hinged on his opponent’s arrest for drunk driving just before the election, while his 1984 re-election resulted in a recount lasting 4 months, a walkout protest by the entire Republican House, and ultimately a 4 vote win. As a result of a Congressional fact-finding mission in 1991, McCloskey began a decade long campaign to bring peace and stability to Bosnia and the Balkans. His actions often brought on the wrath of world leaders and politicians, but ultimately his efforts helped pave the way for the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995. After losing his seat in 1994, McCloskey returned to Bloomington but continued to work on Balkan peace initiatives and was named Director of the Kosovo Programs for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in 2002. McCloskey died in Bloomington in 2003 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. McCloskey was inducted into the Law School\u27s Academy of Law Alumni Fellows in 2008.https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/notablealumni/1001/thumbnail.jp