Edward William Brooke III

Senator Edward Brooke represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate from 1967 to 1979 (90th-95th Congresses). Before coming to the Senate, Brooke served as the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1966, he became the first African American popularly elected to the U.S. Senate. While he professed loyalty to the Republican Party, he was an independent thinker who acted according to his conscience. Brooke co-wrote the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which prohibited housing discrimination. He also became a prominent critic of Republican President Richard Nixon and was the first Senate Republican to call for Nixon’s resignation in light of the Watergate scandal. Brooke also typically adopted a liberal agenda concerning social issues. During his two terms in the Senate, Brooke backed affirmative action, minority business development, and public housing legislation. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded Brooke the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. In 2007, Brooke published his autobiography, Bridging the Divide: My Life. Brooke earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard University. After graduation, Brooke entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant and served overseas in World War II. His experience on the Massachusetts military base inspired him to earn an LL.B. in 1948 and an LL.M. in 1949 from Boston University.