Mike McKevitt

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Mike McKevitt
Member of the Korean War Memorial Commission
In office 1987–1995
President	Ronald Reagan
Counsel at White House Energy Policy Office
In office 1973–1974
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Robert E. Montgomery Jr.
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislation
In office 1973–1973
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	W. Vincent Rakestraw
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 1st district
In office January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	Byron Rogers
Succeeded by	Pat Schroeder
District Attorney for Denver, Colorado
In office 1967–1971
Preceded by	Bert M. Keating
Succeeded by	Jarvis W. Secombe
Assistant Attorney General for Colorado
In office 1958–1967
Personal details
Born	James Douglas McKevitt October 26, 1928 Spokane, Washington, U.S.
Died	September 28, 2000(2000-09-28) (aged 71) Washington, D. C., U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Occupation	Attorney

James Douglas "Mike" McKevitt (October 26, 1928 – September 28, 2000) was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Representative from Colorado from 1971 to 1973.

Born in Spokane, Washington, McKevitt graduated from Grant High School in Sacramento, California. He received a B.A. from the University of Idaho (Moscow, Idaho) in 1951, and a law degree from the University of Denver School of Law in 1956.

He was in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1953, rising to the rank of captain.

He was a lawyer in private practice. He served as assistant attorney general, Colorado state attorney general's office from 1958 to 1967. He served as District Attorney, Denver, Colorado from 1967 to 1971, during which time McKevitt became known for prosecuting and harassing Denver's "hippies" and the restaurants where they would eat.^[1][2] On August 8, 1969, he seized a print of the 1967 Swedish film I Am Curious (Yellow) from the Vogue Art Theater in the city, therefore banning it on the basis of it being "obscene and pornographic".^[3] The ban lasted sixteen days, during which the film was returned to the theater.^[4] The ban was lifted on August 22, 1969, after a judge declared it to be a "prior restraint on the defendants' right to freedom of speech".^[5]

McKevitt was elected as a Republican to the Ninety-second Congress (January 3, 1971 – January 3, 1973). That year, 20-year incumbent Democrat Byron Rogers had been defeated in the primary by a considerably more liberal Democrat, attorney Craig Barnes. Several of Rogers' more conservative supporters threw their support to McKevitt in the general election. The split in the party combined with McKevitt's popularity to allow McKevitt to win by 10,000 votes. However, McKevitt was a conservative Republican in a strongly Democratic district, and he was defeated for reelection to the Ninety-third Congress in 1972 by liberal Democrat Pat Schroeder.

McKevitt remained in Washington for some time after his brief congressional term, serving as Assistant United States Attorney General, Office of Legislation in 1973, a counsel on energy policy the White House from 1973 to 1974, and a member of the Korean War Memorial Commission from 1987 to 1995.

He died on September 28, 2000, in Washington, D.C. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

• United States Congress. "Mike McKevitt (id: M000513)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress