Edwin Meese III
Edwin Meese III is an American lawyer and politician known for his role in the Reagan administration. Born as the eldest of four sons in California, he graduated from Yale University in 1953 and later earned his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1958. Meese served as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County for eight years, during which he was notably involved in opposing protests related to the anti-draft and free speech movements. His political career advanced as he became a key advisor to Ronald Reagan, first as secretary and executive assistant during Reagan's governorship and later as counselor to the president and attorney general from 1985 to 1988.
As attorney general, Meese was a proponent of increasing government secrecy and classified document regulations, reflecting his concerns over press leaks. He is perhaps best known for his support of the Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, which called for stricter enforcement of obscenity laws. Meese advocated for public action against the distribution of materials he deemed obscene, encouraging citizens to protest and boycott establishments that carried such content. His tenure and views reflect significant political and cultural debates of the era, particularly regarding civil liberties and government authority.
Subject Terms
Edwin Meese III
Identification: American government official
Significance: As presidential counselor and attorney general in President Ronald Reagan’s cabinet, Meese provided justification of expanding government secrecy and strengthening enforcement of obscenity laws
Meese was the oldest of four sons of Edwin Meese, Jr., a tax collector in Alameda County, California. He graduated from Yale in 1953 and the University of California at Berkeley Law School in 1958. For the next eight years he was deputy district attorney in Alameda County, where he took an active role in opposing antidraft and free speech protests in Oakland and Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement convulsed the University of California campus in 1964.
After serving as Ronald Reagan’s secretary and executive assistant when Reagan was governor of California, Meese accompanied Reagan to Washington as counselor to the president from 1981 to 1985, and as attorney general from 1985 to 1988. Meese was infuriated when secret discussions and activities of the Reagan Administration were published in the daily press. He strongly supported administration moves to increase the number of categories of government documents classified as secret and to require all government personnel with access to classified material to sign lifetime secrecy pledges.
When the 1986 Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography urged greater enforcement of obscenity laws by federal prosecutors, Meese hailed the report and ordered the establishment of a special team of federal prosecutors to engage in an all-out campaign against obscene material. He also urged citizens to use picketing and boycotts to pressure stores into removing obscene material, such as Playboy magazine, from their shelves.