I survived only a year in Berkeley, partly because I declined to sign the anticommunist loyalty oath.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I had hoped to go to law school, but the war started, and because of the strong feeling that I did not want to kill anybody, I joined the Merchant Marine when I graduated from Berkeley.
I felt that a number of people might have questioned my loyalty, but I continue to be a patriotic American.
I never really felt like I belonged in California.
I didn't leave the Congress; I was expelled.
I believed that I was being forced to sacrifice my family and my career in defense of the Communist Party, from which I had long been separated and which I had grown to dislike and distrust.
For years after I resigned, I was still faithful to their way of thinking. But not in the American Communists.
I took an oath of office to protect Arizona from all enemies, foreign and domestic.
In 1972, I signed a union card for SEIU. And for the last 38 years, 14 as president, it's been my life. I've seen the most miraculous, spectacular things. But there's a time to learn, a time to lead and a time to leave.
I have taken an oath in my heart to oppose communism until the day I die.
I retired when the Supreme Court rose for the summer recess in 2009, and a couple of weeks later I drove north from Washington with no regrets about the prior 19 years or about the decision to try living a more normal life for whatever time might remain.