Editing Edwin Meese (section)

==Career==
Meese returned to California, where he obtained a law degree from [[UC Berkeley School of Law]] in 1958 and was a state [[Moot Court]] champion. 

He accepted a position with the district attorney's office of [[Alameda County, California]] as a [[law clerk]]. While there, he worked under district attorney J. Frank Coakley and future district attorney [[Delwen Lowell Jensen]]. Jensen received a [[Law Enforcement Assistance Administration|LEAA]] grant to develop DALITE (District Attorney's Automated Legal Information System),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Improving Prosecution? The Inducement and Implementation of Innovations for Prosecution Management {{!}} Office of Justice Programs |url=https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/improving-prosecution-inducement-and-implementation-innovations |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=www.ojp.gov}}</ref> a case management software program, like [[PROMIS (software)|PROMIS]] (Prosecutor's Management Information System), developed by [[Inslaw]].<ref name="Fricker">{{cite magazine |author=Fricker, Richard L. |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw.html |magazine=Wired |year=1993 |access-date=August 28, 2008 |title=The INSLAW Octopus |pages=ppg.1–8 |archive-date=May 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090516015210/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.01/inslaw.html?topic=&topic_set= |url-status=live }}</ref> Meese prosecuted felony cases while maintaining a private practice on nights and weekends, where he focused on civil law. During this service, he first drew the attention of [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] State Senator [[Donald L. Grunsky]], who would later recommend him to [[Governor of California|governor-elect]] [[Ronald Reagan]].

In 1959, he married his high school sweetheart Ursula Herrick, daughter of Oakland's postmaster.<ref name="Edwards"/>

===California governor's office===
Meese joined [[Ronald Reagan]]'s [[Governor of California|gubernatorial]] staff in 1967 as legal affairs secretary, serving in that role for a year, until 1968. In 1969, he became Governor Reagan's executive assistant and [[chief of staff]], and served in that capacity until 1974. Despite his later well-known reputation of being fond of Reagan, Meese was initially reluctant to accept the appointment. "I was not particularly interested", he later said of the position.<ref name="Edwards"/>

Meese was known for his ability to explain complex ideas to Reagan in a way that often mirrored Reagan's own speaking style and mannerisms, leading Reagan biographer [[Lou Cannon]] to describe him as "Reagan's geographer".<ref name=Cannon>{{cite book |title=Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power |last=Cannon |first=Lou|year=2005 |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]] |isbn=978-1586482848 |pages=592}}</ref>

After being named Reagan's chief of staff, Meese convinced his predecessor's deputy, [[Mike Deaver]], to stay on with him, beginning a partnership that would last more than two decades.<ref name=Deaver>{{cite journal |last=Heritage Foundation |date=November 2004 |title=Interview with Michael K. Deaver}}</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=June 2022}} For his role in Reagan's office, Meese earned reluctant praise from across the aisle. [[Bob Moretti]], a Democrat and former Democratic Speaker of the Assembly, said, "Were I in the governor's seat, I would want someone like [Ed Meese] on my side."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Acting President |last=Schieffer |first=Bob |author2=Gary Paul Gates |year=1990 |publisher=[[Plume (publisher)|Plume]] |isbn=978-0525485797 |page=45}}</ref>

====Berkeley protests====
{{Main|1960s Berkeley protests|1969 People's Park protest}}
As Reagan's chief of staff, Meese was instrumental in the decision to crack down on student protesters at [[People's Park (Berkeley)|People's Park]] in [[Berkeley, California]], on May 15, 1969. Meese was widely criticized for escalating the official response to the People's Park protest, during which law enforcement officers killed one student, on his way to class, who was not a protester and injured hundreds of others, including bystanders. Meese advised Reagan to declare a [[state of emergency]] in Berkeley, contrary to the recommendation of the Berkeley City Council. That resulted in a two-week occupation of People's Park by [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] troops.

The first governor to turn to Meese for advice on riot control was Democrat [[Pat Brown|Edmund (Pat) Brown]], who first telephoned Meese seeking advice on how to best handle the situation. "I told him," Meese said, "that the people in that building should be arrested and taken out of there. I told him that if they were allowed to stay, there would be another mob scene, even bigger, the next day." Meese and Deputy District Attorney [[Lowell Jensen]] later served as co-counsels in the trial of Berkeley demonstrators. Meese was recognized as one of five "Outstanding Young Men of California" by the California Junior Chamber of Commerce for his role in countering the Berkeley demonstrators.<ref name="Edwards"/> Meese's role in quelling the riots at [[University of California, Berkeley|UC Berkeley]] has been identified by critics and supporters as an example of a conservative law-enforcement philosophy at work.<ref name=Ravitch>{{citation |last=Ravitch |first=Diane |author-link=Diane Ravitch |title=The Troubled Crusade |year=1983 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0465087570 |page=[https://archive.org/details/troubledcrusadea00ravi/page/191 191] |url=https://archive.org/details/troubledcrusadea00ravi/page/191 }}</ref>

===Industry and academia===
From January 1975 to May 1976,  in [[Chula Vista, California|Chula Vista]],  [[San Diego County, California]], Meese served as vice president for administration of [[Rohr Industries]], manufacturer of [[railcar]]s for the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] [[Bay Area Rapid Transit]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-23 |title=Office of the Attorney General {{!}} Attorney General: Edwin Meese, III {{!}} United States Department of Justice |url=https://www.justice.gov/ag/bio/meese-edwin-iii |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=www.justice.gov |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Jr |first1=George Lardner |last2=Thornton |first2=Mary |date=1987-09-03 |title=A WEDTECH ENTANGLEMENT |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/09/03/a-wedtech-entanglement/ae165f1e-244e-4181-8a14-1c7d3d9749ec/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Back in Law Enforcement |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/01/24/back-in-law-enforcement/26790bed-653d-4809-97cc-d62a0f3e279a/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Meese (Edwin) papers |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt358035d1/entire_text/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=oac.cdlib.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Edwin Meese III |url=https://med.virginia.edu/ciag/contact/edwin-meese-iii/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=Critical Incident Analysis Group - CIAG |language=en-US |archive-date=February 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240201013427/https://med.virginia.edu/ciag/contact/edwin-meese-iii/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP91B00134R000400130005-1.pdf|title=Officer Edwin Meese|website=cia.gov|access-date=25 February 2024}}</ref> He left Rohr to enter private law practice in [[San Diego County, California]].

After receiving a grant from the [[Sarah Scaife Foundation]], Meese developed what he called "a plan for a law school center for criminal justice policy and management". The plan was accepted by the [[University of San Diego]], a private Catholic school.<ref name="Edwards"/> From the fall of 1977 to January 1981, Meese served as professor of law at the university, where he also directed the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Management.<ref name=Yost>{{cite news |title=Meese to Join Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution |first=Pete |last=Yost |agency=[[Associated Press]] |location=Washington |date=July 14, 1988}}</ref> During the same time, Meese served as vice chairman of California's Organized Crime Control Commission and participated in the [[State Bar of California|California Bar Association]]'s criminal law section.<ref name="Edwards"/>