Edward Brooke
Edward Brooke | |
---|---|
John Volpe | |
Preceded by | Edward McCormack |
Succeeded by | Edward T. Martin |
Personal details | |
Born | Edward William Brooke III October 26, 1919 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Died | January 3, 2015 Coral Gables, Florida, U.S. | (aged 95)
Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
Political party | Republican |
Spouses |
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Children | 3 |
Education | |
Awards |
|
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | 1941–1946 |
Rank | Captain |
Unit | 366th Infantry Regiment |
Battles/wars |
|
Edward William Brooke III (October 26, 1919 – January 3, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who represented
Born to a middle-class black family, Brooke was raised in Washington, D.C. After attending Howard University, he graduated from Boston University School of Law in 1948 after serving in the U.S. Army during World War II. Beginning in 1950, he became involved in politics, when he ran for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. After serving as chairman of the Boston Finance Commission, Brooke was elected attorney general in 1962, becoming the first African-American to be elected attorney general of any state.
He served as attorney general for four years, before running for Senate in
Early life and education
Edward William Brooke III was born on October 26, 1919, in Washington, D.C., to a middle-class black family.[3] His father Edward William Brooke Jr. was a lawyer and graduate of Howard University who worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and his mother was Helen (née Seldon) Brooke.[4] He was the second of three children.[5] Brooke was raised in a racially segregated environment that was "insulated from the harsh realities of the Deep South",[3] with Brooke rarely interacting with the white community.[6] He attended Dunbar High School—then one of the most prestigious academic high schools for African Americans—and graduated in 1936.[7] After graduating, he enrolled in Howard University, where he first considered studying in medicine, before ending up studying social studies and political science.[8] Brooke graduated from university in 1941, with a bachelor of science degree,[4] After serving in the US Army during World War II, Brooke graduated from the Boston University School of Law in 1948. "I never studied much at Howard," he later reflected, "but at Boston University, I didn't do much else but study."[9]
Military service
Brooke enlisted in the
Brooke's time in the army exposed him to the inequality and racism which existed in the army system. This, combined with the signing of Executive Order 9066, led him to rethink his support of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt.[12] His time in the army also changed his perception of race, with him meeting his future-wife Remigia Ferrari-Scacco in Italy. He reasoned that "race had not mattered during our courtship in Italy, and therefore it should not have mattered in the United States".[13]
Early career
After graduating from Boston University, Brooke worked as a lawyer. He declined offers to join established law firms, instead opening his own law practice in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston.
Politics
Brooke began his foray in politics in 1950, when, at the urging of friends from his former army unit, Brooke ran for a seat in the
Despite losing the secretary's race to White, the closeness of the results led to Republican leaders taking notice of Brooke's potential.
As attorney general, Brooke gained a reputation as a vigorous prosecutor of organized crime and corruption, securing convictions against a number of members of the administration of governor Foster Furcolo; an indictment against Furcolo was dismissed due to lack of evidence.[17] He also coordinated with local police departments on the Boston Strangler case, although the press mocked him for permitting an alleged psychic to participate in the investigation.[18] In 1964, following the nomination of Barry Goldwater as the Republican party's nominee for president, Brooke found Goldwater's nomination offensive.[19] He publicly broke with the party, and implored Republicans "not to invest in the 'pseudo-conservatism' of zealots".[20][21] His public repudiation of Goldwater actually helped Brooke win re-election in 1964, as he won by a plurality of nearly 800,000.[20] Encouraged by an outpour of positive support, Brooke continued to offer blunt criticisms of the Republicans, though he began softening his rhetoric by proposing strategies to rebuild the Republican party. This included an off-year national convention to "hammer out an agreement for the future of the party" and "draft a responsible platform to address bread-and-butter issues".[22] By 1965, Brooke had emerged as the main Republican spokesman for racial equality, despite "never rallying his race to challenge segregation barriers with the inspirational fervor of a Martin Luther King."[18][22]
US Senate
First term (1967–1973)
In
Brooke said "In all my years in the Senate, I never encountered an overt act of hostility". He recalled visiting the swimming pool at the
Tenure
A member of the moderate-to-liberal Northeastern wing of the Republican Party, Brooke organized the Senate's "Wednesday Club" of progressive Republicans who met for Wednesday lunches and strategy discussions.
In 1967, Brooke went to Vietnam on a three-week trip as a fact-finding mission. During his first formal speech in the Senate following the trip, he reversed his previous position on the Vietnam War that increased negotiations with the North Vietnamese rather than an escalation of the fighting were needed. He began to favor President Johnson's "patient" approach to Vietnam as he had been convinced that "the enemy is not disposed to participate in any meaningful negotiations".[11]
By his second year in the Senate, Brooke had taken his place as a leading advocate against discrimination in housing and on behalf of affordable housing. During the Nixon presidency, Brooke opposed repeated Administration attempts to close down the Job Corps and the Office of Economic Opportunity and to weaken the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—all foundational elements of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society.[28]
In 1969, Brooke spoke at
On June 9, 1969, Brooke voted in favor of President Nixon's nomination of Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice of the United States following the retirement of Earl Warren.[33] Brooke was a leader of the bipartisan coalition that defeated the Senate confirmation of Clement Haynsworth, President Nixon's nominee to the Supreme Court on November 21, 1969.[34] A few months later, he again organized sufficient Republican support to defeat Nixon's third Supreme Court nominee Harrold Carswell on April 8, 1970.[35] The following month, Nixon nominee Harry Blackmun (who later wrote the Roe v. Wade opinion) was confirmed on May 12, 1970, with Brooke voting in favor.[24][36] On December 6, 1971, Brooke voted in favor of Nixon's nomination of Lewis F. Powell Jr.,[37] while on December 10, Brooke voted against Nixon's nomination of William Rehnquist as Associate Justice.[38] On December 17, 1975, Brooke voted in favor of President Gerald Ford's nomination of John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court.[39]
Second term (1973–1979)
Relations with the White House and 1972 election
Despite Brooke's disagreements with Nixon, the president reportedly respected the senator's abilities; after
Tenure
Before the first year of his second term ended, Brooke became the first Republican to call on President Nixon to resign,
In 1974, with Indiana senator Birch Bayh, Brooke led the fight to retain Title IX, a 1972 amendment to the Higher Education Act of 1965, which guarantees equal educational opportunity (including athletic participation) to girls and women.[citation needed]
In 1975, with the extension and expansion of the
In Massachusetts, Brooke's support among Catholics weakened due to his stance on abortion.
Post-Senate life
After leaving the Senate, Brooke practiced law in Washington, D.C., first as a partner at the Washington firm of O'Connor & Hannan; later of counsel to Csaplar & Bok in Boston.[45] He also served as chairman of the board of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.[46] In 1984 he was selected as chairman of the Boston Bank of Commerce,[45] and one year later was named to the board of directors of Grumman.[11]
In 1992, a Brooke assistant stated in a plea agreement as part of an investigation into corruption at the Department of Housing and Urban Development that Brooke had falsely answered questions about whether he or the assistant had tried to improperly influence HUD officials on behalf of housing and real estate developers who had paid large consulting fees to Brooke.[47] The HUD investigation ended with no charges being brought against Brooke.[48]
In 1996, Brooke became the first chairman of the World Policy Council, a think tank of Alpha Phi Alpha, an African-American fraternity. The Council's purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns. In 2006 Brooke served as the council's chairman emeritus and was honorary chairman at the Centennial Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha held in Washington, D.C.[49]
Political positions
Edward Brooke was a self-described moderate or liberal Republican, generally referred to as Rockefeller Republicans. On social issues he was a liberal who supported civil rights, women's rights, and civil liberties such as gay rights.[50] On economic issues he was fiscally conservative, but was pragmatic about it; he still allowed that "There are things that people can't do for themselves and therefore government must do it for them".[51]
During the 2008 presidential election, Brooke indicated in a WBUR-FM interview that he favored Democratic nominee Barack Obama.[52]
Awards and honors
- Presidential Medal of Freedom[53][54]
- Congressional Gold Medal, presented on October 28, 2009, two days after Brooke's 90th birthday[55] At his 2009 Congressional Gold Medal Acceptance speech, Brooke scolded policymakers for excessive partisan bickering.[56]
- Bronze Star Medal[53]
- Adam Clayton Powell Award (Phoenix Award) in 1979[57]
- Jeremy Nicholson Negro Achievement Award, acknowledging his outstanding contributions to the African-American community[58]
- The Edward W. Brooke Courthouse (dedicated June 20, 2000) in Boston; part of the Massachusetts Trial Court system and houses the Central Division of the Boston Housing Court, among others.[59]
- In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed Edward Brooke on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.[60]
Personal life and death
Brooke had an affair with
Brooke went through a divorce late in his second term. His finances were investigated by the Senate, and John Kerry, then a prosecutor in Middlesex County, announced an investigation into statements Brooke made in the divorce case. Prosecutors eventually determined that Brooke had made false statements about his finances during the divorce, and that they were pertinent, but not material enough to have affected the outcome. Brooke was not charged with a crime, but the negative publicity cost him some support in his 1978 reelection campaign, and as a result he lost to Paul Tsongas.[62][63][64]
In September 2002, Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer and assumed a national role in raising awareness of the disease among men.[65]
On January 3, 2015, Brooke died at his home in Coral Gables, Florida, at age 95. At the time of his death, he was the last living former U.S. senator born in the 1910s.[26][53][66][67] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[68]
See also
- List of African-American firsts
- List of African-American Republicans
- List of African-American United States senators
Footnotes
- Hiram Rhodes Revels, was appointed by the Mississippi state legislature to an unexpired term in 1870. Blanche Bruce was the first African American elected to the Senate, elected by the Mississippi state legislature to a full term in 1874. Prior to the 17th Amendment in 1913, US Senators were elected by state legislatures.[2]
References
Citations
- ^ "U.S. Senate: Edward Brooke: A Featured Biography". senate.gov. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ^ a b Brooke 2007, pp. 4–5.
- ^ a b c d e U.S. Government Printing Office 2008, p. 332.
- ^ Cutler 1972, pp. 13–14.
- ^ Brooke 2007, pp. 21–38.
- ^ Cutler 1972, pp. 14–18.
- ^ Cutler 1972, p. 20.
- ^ Barlow, Rich (February 2015). "Remembering a Pioneering Politician". Bostonia. Boston University: 12.
- ^ Cutler 1972, p. 23.
- ^ a b c d e "Brooke, Edward William, III | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ^ Brooke 2007, pp. 43–48.
- ^ Brooke 2007, p. 278.
- ^ Cutler 1972, p. 63.
- ^ Cutler 1972, pp. 65–67.
- ^ "Former senator awarded Congressional Gold Medal". CNN. October 28, 2009. Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2009.
- ^ Cutler 1972, pp. 104–105.
- ^ a b c d "The Senate: An Individual Who Happens To Be a Negro". Time. Vol. 89, no. 7. February 17, 1967. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ Wright 2011, pp. 94–95.
- ^ a b Wright 2011, p. 95.
- ^ Brooke 2007, pp. 107–108.
- ^ a b Wright 2011, p. 96.
- ^ Giroux, Greg (January 4, 2015). "Edward Brooke Served in a Different Era of Senate Politics". Bloomberg News. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
- ^ a b Martin, Douglas (January 3, 2015). "Edward W. Brooke III, 95, Senate Pioneer, Is Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
- ^ "NAACP Spingarn Medal". Archived from the original on August 2, 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f Feeney, Mark – Metro (January 4, 2015). "Edward W. Brooke, first African-American elected to the US Senate since Reconstruction, dies". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ "Senate – August 30, 1967" (PDF). Congressional Record. 113 (18). US Government Printing Office: 24656. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ Sokol, Jason (January 1, 2021). "The Color-Blind Commonwealth? Edward Brooke's Senate Campaign in 1966". Historical Journal of Massachusetts. 49 (1): 20–42.
- ^ a b Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Choice 2016, FRONTLINE, PBS, 30:30–32:30
- ^ Dedman, Bill (May 9, 2007). "Reading Hillary Rodham's hidden thesis". MSNBC. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
- ^ Rodham, Hillary D. (1969). Hillary D. Rodham's 1969 Student Commencement Speech (Speech). Wellesley College. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
- ^ Dougherty (ed.), Biography: Hillary Clinton, 10:00–11:00, archived from the original on May 23, 2016, retrieved July 1, 2017
- ^ "Senate – June 9, 1969" (PDF). Congressional Record. 115 (11). US Government Printing Office: 15195–15196. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – November 21, 1969" (PDF). Congressional Record. 115 (26). US Government Printing Office: 35396. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – April 8, 1970" (PDF). Congressional Record. 116 (8). US Government Printing Office: 10769. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – May 12, 1970" (PDF). Congressional Record. 116 (11). US Government Printing Office: 15117. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – December 6, 1971" (PDF). Congressional Record. 117 (34). US Government Printing Office: 44857. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – December 10, 1971" (PDF). Congressional Record. 117 (35). US Government Printing Office: 46197. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
- ^ "Senate – December 17, 1975" (PDF). Congressional Record. 121 (32). US Government Printing Office: 41128. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
- ^ "The Brooke Scenario". Time. December 13, 1971. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2010.
- ^ "Brooke Tells Nixon— Face-to-Face— He Should Resign", by Don Irwin, Los Angeles Times, November 14, 1973, p. I-1
- RollCall.com. Retrieved December 7, 2016.
And he introduced and passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which leveled the playing field for women seeking access to credit and loans.
- ^ "A Brand New Race for 2nd Place". Time. November 17, 1975. Archived from the original on July 16, 2010. Retrieved December 25, 2010.
- ^ "Edward Brooke – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ a b "Business People: Boston Bank Names Brooke Chairman". The New York Times. November 26, 1984. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
- ^ "The Black Social History". Sitting Bull.com. August 26, 2014. Retrieved January 3, 2015.
- ^ Aide Implicates Ex-Senator in H.U.D. Case, The New York Times, November 22, 1992.
- ^ "Counsel Clears Ex-senator in HUD Case". Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. June 3, 1995. Archived from the original on January 4, 2015.
- ^ Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity (2005). Alpha Phi Alpha Men: "A Century of Leadership" (Video). Rubicon Productions.
- ISBN 9780820339559.
- ^ "Edward Brooke: Why Republican". visionaryproject – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sen. Brooke Favors Obama". WBUR.org. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
- ^ a b c Smith, Timothy W. (January 3, 2015). "Edward W. Brooke, first African American popularly elected to U.S. Senate, dies at 95". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
- ^ "Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients". senate.gov. United States Senate. Retrieved February 4, 2013.
- ^ "Former senator awarded Congressional Gold Medal". CNN.com. October 28, 2009. Archived from the original on March 24, 2010. Retrieved October 28, 2009. .
- ^ Lorber, Janie (October 28, 2009). "Former Senator Scolds Lawmakers". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
- ^ "Awards climax annual legislative weekend". Columbus Times. September 30, 1979.
- ^ "The 8 African-American Senators". abcnews.go.com. ABC News. February 1, 2013.
- ^ "Dedication of the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse". bu.edu (Press release). Boston University. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012.
- ISBN 1-57392-963-8.
- ^ "Barbara Walters: I had affair with U.S. senator". CNN.com. Associated Press. May 1, 2008. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008.
- ^ Jacobs, Sally (March 5, 2000). "The unfinished chapter". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on June 10, 2003.
- ^ "/ Photo gallery". The Boston Globe. June 16, 1978. Retrieved March 12, 2010.
- ^ "Sen. Brooke Not To Face Prosecution For Perjury". Galveston Daily News. United Press International. August 2, 1978 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Clementson, Lynette (June 10, 2003). "Surprise Role for Ex-Senator: Male Breast Cancer Patient". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008.
- ^ "Edward W Brooke, first black man to win popular election to US Senate, dies". The Guardian. January 4, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2015.
- Bellotti, Francis (January 5, 2015). "Edward Brooke — one of the last political giants". The Boston Globe. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ISBN 9781440859144– via Google Books.
General and cited sources
- Wright, Leah M. (March 18, 2011). "'The Challenge of Change': Edward Brooke, The Republican Party, and the Struggle for Redemption" (PDF). Souls. 13: 91–118. S2CID 144076032. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- Brooke, Edward William (2007). Bridging the Divide: My Life. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-3905-8. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- Cutler, John Henry (1972). Ed Brooke: Biography of a Senator. Bobbs-Merrill. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- ISBN 9780160801945. Retrieved January 23, 2022.
- Judson L. Jeffries, U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke and Governor L. Douglas Wilder Tell Political Scientists How Blacks Can Win High-Profile Statewide Office, American Political Science Association, 1999.
- Timothy N. Thurber, Virginia Commonwealth University, "Goldwaterism Triumphant?: Race and the Debate Among Republicans over the Direction of the GOP, 1964–1968." Paper presented at the 2006 Conference of the Historical Society, Chapel Hill, NC.
- Barbara Walters (2008), Audition: A Memoir. Random House. ISBN 978-0-307-26646-0.
- Edward Brooke (1966), The Challenge of Change: Crisis in our Two-Party System. Little, Brown, Boston.
Further reading
- Becker, John F.; Heaton, Eugene E. Jr. (Autumn 1967). "The Election of Senator Edward W. Brooke". doi:10.1086/267534.
- Kinkead, Gwen. Edward W. Brooke, Republican Senator from Massachusetts (Grossman Publishers, 1972).
External links
- United States Congress. "Edward Brooke (id: B000871)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Edward Brooke's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
- "Edward Brooke through the years – Pictures". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- Appearances on C-SPAN