BLAZING A TRAIL IN POLITICS, CIVIL RIGHTS AND CANCER DETECTION

Edward William Brooke, III, was born October 26, 1919, in Washington, DC. His father, Edward W. Brooke, Jr., was a long-time career attorney for the Veteran’s Administration. His mother was Helen Seldon Brooke.

As a child, Brooke attended public school in Washington, DC, growing up amid racial discrimination, segregation, and civil rights demonstrations in the nation’s capital.

In 1941, he graduated from Howard University with a B.S. in sociology, before commissioning as a captain in the U.S. Army. Brooke served in the 366th Combat Infantry Regiment (all African-Americans). He served for five years in the infantry in Italy and was discharged with honors, including a Bronze Star and a Distinguished Service Award.

Brooke married Remigia Ferrari-Scacco in 1947. The couple had two children, Remi Cynthia and Edwina Helene, before divorcing in 1978.

Brooke received and LLB from Boston University Law School in 1948 and an LLM in 1949, after serving as editor of the B.U. Law Review, and began practicing as an attorney in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

In 1960, Brooke ran unsuccessfully for Secretary of State of Massachusetts. However, the following year, he became chairman of the Finance Commission for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. A year later, he was elected Massachusetts’ first African-American Attorney General. During he tenure, he presided over the investigation of the notorious Boston Strangler. Brooke was re-elected in 1964.

Two years later, in 1966, the Republican Brooke won a seat in the U.S. Senate. Brooke was the first African-American ever elected to the U.S. Senate by a popular vote. Re-elected in 1972, he served two terms before losing the 1978 election to Democrat Paul Tsongas. Shortly before the 1978 election, Brooke’s reputation was rocked by scandalous charges of fiscal impropriety during his bitter divorce proceedings with his first wife.

During his Senate tenure (from 1976 to 1979), Brooke championed arms limits, civil rights, consumer rights, and urban housing issues. In 1972, when the Watergate scandal took place, Brooke had been the first senator to suggest the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Brooke married Anne Fleming in 1979. They had one son, Eric.

In 2000, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts named a courthouse in Boston after the retired Senator.

In September 2002, at age 82, Brooke was diagnosed with breast cancer. A non-drinker and non-smoker, living on his 150-plus-acre Virginia farm, he was astounded by the news. Brooke was one of 1,500 men who were found to have breast cancer in 2002 alone. Brooke underwent a radical mastectomy to remove the tumor.

Since his ordeal, Brooke has become an outspoken advocate for early detection of breast cancer in men.

Brooke received the Presidential Medal of Honor. On June 23, 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush conferred the honor on Brooke, as well as 10 others: Mormon Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church; Robert Bartler, a journalist; Doris Day, an award-winning actress; Vartan Gregorian, a renowned historian; Gilbert Grosvenor, chairman of the National Geographic Society; Estee Lauder, a cosmetics leader; Rita Moreno, a celebrated actress; Arnold Palmer, a professional golfer; Arnall Patz, an ophtalmic researcher; Norman Podhoretz, a well-known journalist; Walter Wriston, an economist and banker; and Pope John Paul II.

Brooke and his wife, Anne, currently reside in Miami, Florida.

He has written several books, including THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE: CRISIS IN OUR TWO-PARTY SYSTEM (1966), BIOGRAPHY OF A SENATOR (1972), and BRIDGING THE DIVIDE: MY LIFE (2007).

SOURCES:

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000871
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1077/is_10_58/ai_105853307
http://www.abanet.org/publiced/bh_brooke.html
http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=309
http://www.medaloffreedom.com/EdwardBrooke.htm
http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2003/06/20030611_b_main.asp