Edward Brooke | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 1967 | |
| United States Senator fromMassachusetts | |
| In office January 3, 1967 – January 3, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Leverett Saltonstall |
| Succeeded by | Paul Tsongas |
| 35th Attorney General of Massachusetts | |
| In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1967 | |
| Governor | |
| Preceded by | Edward McCormack |
| Succeeded by | Edward T. Martin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward William Brooke III (1919-10-26)October 26, 1919 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Died | January 3, 2015(2015-01-03) (aged 95) Coral Gables, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| 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 andRepublican Party politician who representedMassachusetts in theUnited States Senate from 1967 to 1979. He was the firstAfrican American elected to the United States Senate by popular vote.[1][a] Prior to serving in the Senate, he served as theAttorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1963 until 1967. Edward Brooke was the first African-American sinceReconstruction in 1874 to have been elected to the United States Senate and he was the first African-American since 1881 to have held a United States Senate seat. Brooke was also the first African-American U.S. senator to ever be re-elected. He was the longest-serving African-American U.S. senator at twelve years until surpassed byTim Scott in 2025.[3]
Born to a middle-class black family, Brooke was raised in Washington, D.C. After attendingHoward University, he graduated fromBoston University School of Law in 1948 after serving in theU.S. Army duringWorld War II. Beginning in 1950, he became involved in politics, when he ran for a seat in theMassachusetts House of Representatives. After serving as chairman of theBoston Finance Commission, Brooke was elected attorney general in1962, 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 in1966. In the election, he defeatedDemocratic former GovernorEndicott Peabody in a landslide, and was seated on January 3, 1967. In the Senate, Brooke aligned with theliberal faction in the Republican party. He co-wrote theCivil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibitedhousing discrimination. He was re-elected to a second term in1972, after defeating attorney John Droney. Brooke became a prominent critic of Republican PresidentRichard Nixon, and was the first Senate Republican to call for Nixon's resignation in light of theWatergate scandal. In1978, he ran for a third term, but was defeated by DemocratPaul Tsongas. After leaving the Senate, Brooke practiced law in Washington, D.C., and was affiliated with various businesses and nonprofit organizations. Brooke died in 2015, at his home inCoral Gables, Florida, at the age of 95, and was the last living former U.S. senator born in the 1910s.
Edward William Brooke III was born on October 26, 1919, inWashington, D.C., to a middle-class black family.[4] His father Edward William Brooke Jr. was a lawyer and graduate ofHoward University who worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and his mother was Helen (née Seldon) Brooke.[5] He was the second of three children.[6] Brooke was raised in a racially segregated environment that was "insulated from the harsh realities of theDeep South",[4] with Brooke rarely interacting with the white community.[7] He attendedDunbar High School—then one of the most prestigious academic high schools for African Americans—and graduated in 1936.[8] After graduating, he enrolled in Howard University, where he first considered studying in medicine, before ending up studying social studies and political science.[9] Brooke graduated from university in 1941, with a bachelor of science degree,[5] After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Brooke graduated from theBoston 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."[10]
Brooke enlisted in theUnited States Army in 1941 following the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor.[11] He was commissioned as asecond lieutenant. He saw combat inItaly as a member of the segregated366th Infantry Regiment.[12] Brooke spent 195 days with his unit in Italy. There, his fluent Italian and his light skin enabled him to cross enemy lines to communicate withItalian partisans.[12] By the end of the war, Brooke had attained the rank ofcaptain, aBronze Star Medal, and aDistinguished Service Award.[5]
Brooke's time in the army exposed him to the inequality and racism which existed in the army system. This, combined with the signing ofExecutive Order 9066, led him to rethink his support of Democratic PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt.[13] 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".[14]
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 theRoxbury neighborhood of Boston.
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 theMassachusetts House of Representatives.[5] Brooke didn't affiliate with both of the major parties, choosing instead to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. He won the Republican nomination, and was endorsed by the party, but lost the general election in a landslide to his Democratic opponent. Two years later, he ran again for the same seat, but again lost the election to the same Democratic opponent.[5] In1960, Brooke ran forsecretary of state (which, in Massachusetts, is styled "Secretary of the Commonwealth"); he won the Republican nomination, becoming the first black person to be nominated for statewide office in Massachusetts. However, he lost the election to future mayor of BostonKevin White, whose campaign issued abumper sticker saying, "Vote White,"[2] which some took as a reference to Brooke's race.
Despite losing the secretary's race to White, the closeness of the results led to Republican leaders taking notice of Brooke's potential.[15] GovernorJohn Volpe sought to reward Brooke for his efforts, and offered him a number of jobs, most of them judicial in nature. Seeking a position with a higher political profile, Brooke eventually accepted the position ofFinance Commission of Boston, where he investigated financial irregularities and uncovered evidence of corruption in city affairs. He was described in the press as having "the tenacity of aterrier", and it was reported that he "restore[d] to vigorous life an agency which many had thought moribund."[16] He parlayed his achievements into a successful election asAttorney General of Massachusetts in1962, becoming the first African-American to be elected attorney general of any state.[17]
As attorney general, Brooke gained a reputation as a vigorous prosecutor oforganized crime and corruption, securing convictions against a number of members of the administration of governorFoster Furcolo; an indictment against Furcolo was dismissed due to lack of evidence.[18] He also coordinated with local police departments on theBoston Strangler case, although the press mocked him for permitting an allegedpsychic to participate in the investigation.[19] In 1964, following the nomination ofBarry Goldwater as the Republican party's nominee for president, Brooke found Goldwater's nomination offensive.[20] He publicly broke with the party, and implored Republicans "not to invest in the 'pseudo-conservatism' of zealots".[21][22] His public repudiation of Goldwater actually helped Brooke win re-election in1964, as he won by a plurality of nearly 800,000.[21] 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".[23] 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 aMartin Luther King."[19][23]
At the November 8, 1966,Massachusetts Senate election, Brooke defeated formerGovernorEndicott Peabody with 1,213,473 votes to Peabody's 744,761, and served as aUnited States senator for two terms, from January 3, 1967, to January 3, 1979. The black vote had,Time wrote, "no measurable bearing" on the election as less than 3% of the state's population was black, and Peabody also supported civil rights for blacks. Brooke said, "I do not intend to be a national leader of the Negro people", and the magazine said that he "condemned bothStokely Carmichael and Georgia'sLester Maddox" as extremists; his historic election nonetheless gave Brooke "a 50-state constituency", the magazine wrote, "a power base that no other Senator can claim".[19]
Brooke said "In all my years in the Senate, I never encountered an overt act of hostility". He recalled visiting the swimming pool at theRussell Senate Office Building, where segregationistsJohn C. Stennis,John Little McClellan, andStrom Thurmond invited the new senator to join them in the water. "There was no hesitation or ill will that I could see. Yet these were men who consistently voted against legislation that would have provided equal opportunity to others of my race ... it was increasingly evident that some members of the Senate played on bigotry purely for political gain".[12]
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.[24] Brooke, who supportedMichigan GovernorGeorge W. Romney[19] and New York GovernorNelson Rockefeller's bids for the 1968 GOP presidential nomination againstRichard Nixon's, often differed with President Nixon on matters of social policy and civil rights.[25] In 1967, Brooke was awarded theSpingarn Medal from theNAACP.[26]
In 1967, Brooke went toVietnam 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 theVietnam 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".[12]
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.[27] WithWalter Mondale, a Minnesota Democrat and fellow member of theSenate Banking Committee, he co-authored the1968 Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in housing. The Act also created HUD'sOffice of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity as the primary enforcer of the law.[27] President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act into law on April 11, one week after the assassination ofMartin Luther King Jr. Dissatisfied with the weakened enforcement provisions that emerged from the legislative process, Brooke repeatedly proposed stronger provisions during his Senate career.[citation needed] In 1969, Congress enacted the "Brooke Amendment" to the federal publicly assisted housing program which limited the tenants' out-of-pocket rent expenditure to 25 percent of their income.[27] Additionally, Brooke voted in favor of the confirmation ofThurgood Marshall to theU.S. Supreme Court.[28]
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During the Nixon presidency, Brooke opposed repeated Administration attempts to close down theJob Corps and theOffice of Economic Opportunity and to weaken theEqual Employment Opportunity Commission—all foundational elements of PresidentLyndon B. Johnson'sGreat Society.[29]
In 1969, Brooke spoke atWellesley College's commencement against "coercive protest" and was understood by some students as calling protesters "elitene'er-do-wells"[30] Then student government presidentHillary Rodham departed from her planned speech to rebut Brooke's words, affirming the "indispensable task of criticizing and constructive protest," for which she was featured inLife magazine.[30][31][32][33]
On June 9, 1969, Brooke voted in favor of President Nixon's nomination ofWarren E. Burger asChief Justice of the United States following the retirement ofEarl Warren.[34] Brooke was a leader of the bipartisan coalition that defeated the Senate confirmation ofClement Haynsworth, President Nixon's nominee to theSupreme Court on November 21, 1969.[35] A few months later, he again organized sufficient Republican support to defeat Nixon's third Supreme Court nomineeHarrold Carswell on April 8, 1970.[36] The following month, Nixon nomineeHarry Blackmun (who later wrote theRoe v. Wade opinion) was confirmed on May 12, 1970, with Brooke voting in favor.[25][37] On December 6, 1971, Brooke voted in favor of Nixon's nomination ofLewis F. Powell Jr.,[38] while on December 10, Brooke voted against Nixon's nomination ofWilliam Rehnquist as Associate Justice.[39]
Despite Brooke's disagreements with Nixon, the president reportedly respected the senator's abilities; afterNixon's election he had offered to make Brooke a member of his cabinet, or appoint him asambassador to the UN.[27] The press discussed Brooke as a possible replacement forSpiro Agnew as Nixon's running mate in the1972 presidential election.[40] While Nixon retained Agnew, Brooke wasre-elected in 1972, defeating DemocratJohn J. Droney by a vote of 64%–35%. Edward Brooke was the first African American ever to have been re-elected to the United States Senate.
Before the first year of his second term ended, Brooke became the first Republican to call on President Nixon to resign,[27] on November 4, 1973, shortly after theWatergate-related "Saturday night massacre". He repeated the recommendation in a meeting with Nixon at the White House on November 13, 1973.[41] He had risen to become the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee and on two powerful Appropriations subcommittees, Labor,Health and Human Services (HHS) and Foreign Operations. From these positions, Brooke defended and strengthened the programs he supported; for example, he was a leader in enactment of theEqual Credit Opportunity Act, which ensured married women the right to establish credit in their own name.[42]
In 1974, with Indiana senatorBirch Bayh, Brooke led the fight to retainTitle IX, a 1972 amendment to theHigher 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 theVoting Rights Act at stake, Brooke faced Stennis in "extended debate" and won the Senate's support for the extension. On December 17, 1975, Brooke voted in favor of PresidentGerald Ford's nomination ofJohn Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court.[43] In 1976, he also took on the role of supporter ofwide-scale, legalized abortion. The Appropriations bill for HHS became the battleground over this issue because it fundsMedicaid. TheAnti-abortion movement fought, eventually successfully, to prohibit funding for abortions of low-income women insured by Medicaid. Brooke led the fight against restrictions in theSenate Appropriations Committee and in the House–Senate Conference until his defeat.[citation needed] The press again speculated on his possible candidacy for the Vice Presidency as Gerald Ford's running mate in1976, withTime calling him an "able legislator and a staunch party loyalist".[44]
In Massachusetts, Brooke's support among Catholics weakened due to his stance on abortion.[45] During the1978 re-election campaign, the state's bishops spoke in opposition to his leading role.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Edward Brooke | 1,213,473 | 60.68% | ||
| Democratic | Endicott Peabody | 774,761 | 38.74% | ||
| Socialist Labor | Lawrence Gilfedder | 6,790 | 0.34% | ||
| Prohibition | Mark R. Shaw | 4,833 | 0.24% | ||
| Others | 92 | 0.01 | |||
| Total votes | 1,999,949 | 100.00 | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Edward Brooke (incumbent) | 1,505,932 | 63.53% | ||
| Democratic | John J. Droney | 823,278 | 34.73% | ||
| Socialist Workers | Donald Gurewitz | 41,369 | 1.75% | ||
| Others | 97 | 0.00 | |||
| Total votes | 2,370,676 | 100.00 | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Paul Tsongas | 1,093,283 | 55.06% | ||
| Republican | Edward Brooke (incumbent) | 890,584 | 44.85% | ||
| Others | 1,833 | 0.09% | |||
| Total votes | 1,985,700 | 100.00 | |||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
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.[49] He also served as chairman of the board of theNational Low Income Housing Coalition.[50] In 1984 he was selected as chairman of theBoston Bank of Commerce,[49] and one year later was named to the board of directors ofGrumman.[12]
In 1992, a Brooke assistant stated in a plea agreement as part of an investigation into corruption at theDepartment 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.[51] The HUD investigation ended with no charges being brought against Brooke.[52]
In 1996, Brooke became the first chairman of theWorld Policy Council, athink tank ofAlpha 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 chairmanemeritus and was honorary chairman at theCentennial Convention of Alpha Phi Alpha held in Washington, D.C.[53]
Edward Brooke was a self-described moderate or liberal Republican, generally referred to asRockefeller Republicans. On social issues he was a liberal who supportedcivil rights,women's rights, andcivil liberties such as gay rights.[54] On economic issues he wasfiscally 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".[55]
During the2008 presidential election, Brooke indicated in aWBUR-FM interview that he favored Democratic nomineeBarack Obama.[56]
Brooke had an affair withbroadcast journalistBarbara Walters in the 1970s. Walters stated that the affair was ended to protect their careers from scandal.[65]
Brooke went through a divorce late in his second term. His finances were investigated by the Senate, andJohn Kerry, then a prosecutor inMiddlesex 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 toPaul Tsongas.[66][67][68]
In September 2002, Brooke was diagnosed withbreast cancer and assumed a national role in raising awareness ofthe disease among men.[69]
On January 3, 2015, Brooke died at his home inCoral Gables, Florida, at age 95. At the time of his death, he was the last living former U.S. senator born in the 1910s.[27][57][70][71] He is buried atArlington National Cemetery.[72]
And he introduced and passed the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which leveled the playing field for women seeking access to credit and loans.
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Massachusetts 1963–1967 | Succeeded by Ed Martin Acting |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by Marion Curran Boch | Republican nominee forSecretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1960 | Succeeded by Harris Reynolds |
| Preceded by George Michaels | Republican nominee forAttorney General of Massachusetts 1962, 1964 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromMassachusetts (Class 2) 1966,1972,1978 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | United States Senator (Class 2) from Massachusetts 1967–1979 Served alongside:Ted Kennedy | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theSenate Banking Committee 1977–1979 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Oldest living United States senator (current or former) 2013–2015 | Succeeded by |
| Class 1 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 2 | ||
