Wiley Mayne, 90; House GOP member who voted not to impeach Nixon
Wiley Mayne, 90, who represented northwest Iowa in Congress for eight years and was one of 10 Republicans who voted not to impeach President Nixon, died May 27 at St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center in Sioux City, Iowa, after suffering a cardiopulmonary problem, his son John Mayne said.
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Mayne voted not to impeach Nixon in July 1974, saying there was not enough evidence to warrant articles of impeachment.
His view would change early that August, when transcripts implicating Nixon in the cover-up of the Watergate break-in became public. Mayne announced on the House floor that he would vote for impeachment. Nixon resigned Aug. 9.
That November, Mayne was defeated by a political newcomer, Democrat Berkley Bedell, in a close election.
Born Jan. 19, 1917, in Sanborn, Iowa, Mayne earned degrees from Harvard and the University of Iowa law school. He served as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, spent three years in the Navy, and then embarked on a decades-long career in law starting in 1946.
He was elected to Congress in 1966. After losing his seat in 1974, Mayne returned to Sioux City and renewed his law practice.
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