Bridges: Jack Brooks served 30 years in military, became iconic figure in Congress

The machineries of government can be used for good or ill.  Some politicians abuse their offices or use them strictly to destroy their political opponents while others try to uplift their communities and make life better for others. With his more than four decades in Congress, Jack Brooks became an iconic figure who instituted many changes for Southeast Texas.

Jack Bascom Brooks was born in Crowley, Louisiana, in the southern part of the state, in 1922.  His family moved to the Beaumont area in 1928. The family struggled in the midst of the Great Depression while Brooks attended Beaumont schools. He earned a scholarship to attend Lamar Junior College when he graduated high school in 1939, majoring in journalism. In 1941, he transferred to the University of Texas where he earned his bachelors degree in 1943.

The nation was in the midst of World War II when Brooks graduated.  He enlisted in the Marines in November 1942 as a private while still a student and was sent to the Pacific after graduation.  He saw action in some of the fiercest battles of the Pacific Theater, including Guadalcanal and Okinawa.  He was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant in 1946.  He would later return to the Marine Reserves and serve until his retirement as a colonel in 1972.

Brooks was part of the wave of veterans turning to public service after the war.  He was elected to represent Jefferson County in the Texas House of Representatives later in 1946.  While serving in the state legislature, he started attending law school at the University of Texas in order to better understand the lawmaking process and to become a better legislator.  He earned his law degree in 1949.  That same year, he successfully pushed through legislation making Lamar Junior College a four-year college as Lamar University.

He decided not to seek re-election in 1950, instead building a law practice and operating a farm he had bought near Beaumont.  In 1952, the ailing Congressman Jesse Combs announced he would not be seeking re-election to the seat he had held since 1945.  Brooks jumped into the race to succeed Combs and defeated an army of twelve other candidates to win the Democratic nomination.  He went on to win the general election with 79% of the vote and was unopposed for re-election in 1954, 1956, and 1958.

As a congressman, Brooks was an early protégé of Sam Rayburn, who ultimately became Speaker of the House. He was also a strong supporter of the oil industry and worked to bring federal projects to the Texas Gulf Coast. In 1963, he was part of the tragic motorcade that included President John F. Kennedy, Vice-President Lyndon Johnson, and a host of other Texas dignitaries in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated.  Brooks was aboard Air Force One later that day when Johnson was sworn in as president by Judge Sarah T. Hughes.

Brooks was a strong supporter of Johnson’s Great Society programs, helping write groundbreaking civil rights legislation, voting for the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid, and expanding federal aid for college students. During his years in Congress, e served on many committees and ultimately came to chair the House Judiciary Committee and the Committee on Government Operations.

As the Watergate Scandal unfolded during the presidency of Richard Nixon, Brooks became an outspoken investigator into the crimes Nixon had committed, including Nixon’s collusion in the break-ins of the offices of his political opponents and subsequent cover-ups.  It was Brooks who drew up the five articles of impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee voted on in July 1974, which led Nixon to refer to Brooks as his executioner.  The committee rejected two articles, one related to Nixon’s acceptance of bribes and related income tax evasion and the other for Nixon’s illegal bombing of Cambodia in 1970.  Instead, the three articles of impeachment dealt strictly with the events surrounding the break-in of Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex.  Nixon resigned rather than face the humiliation of impeachment.

In 1994, Steve Stockman faced off against Brooks in a rematch for the seat.  Though Brooks had defeated Stockman comfortably in 1992 with 56% of the vote, the unpopularity of the Clinton administration, coupled with the 1994 ban on semiautomatic weapons, cost Brooks.  He narrowly lost the race with 49% of the vote.  It was his only electoral defeat.  He had one of the longest tenures of service in Congress ever and the second-longest for any Texas Congressman, second only to Sam Rayburn.  After 42 years in Congress, Brooks moved into a quiet retirement.

Brooks became a respected figure in the region.  A statue of him was erected at Lamar University.  A park in Galveston was named for him.  In 2010, Jefferson County renamed the Southeast Texas Regional Airport near Port Arthur in honor of Brooks.  In 2012, he died just shy of his ninetieth birthday.

Ken Bridges is a writer, historian and native Texan. He holds a doctorate from the University of North Texas. Bridges can be reached by email at drkenbridges@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Bridges: Jack Brooks became iconic figure who instituted change