Overton Brooks
Thomas Overton Brooks | |
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Chairman of theHouse Science Committee | |
In office January 3, 1959 – September 16, 1961 | |
Speaker | Sam Rayburn |
Preceded by | Committee established |
Succeeded by | George P. Miller |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromLouisiana's4thdistrict | |
In office January 3, 1937 – September 16, 1961 | |
Preceded by | John N. Sandlin |
Succeeded by | Joe Waggonner |
Personal details | |
Born | Baton Rouge, Louisiana,U.S. | December 21, 1897
Died | September 16, 1961 Bethesda, Maryland,U.S. | (aged 63)
Resting place | Forest Park East Cemetery inShreveport,Louisiana |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Mary Fontaine "Mollie" Meriwether Brooks (married 1932-1961, his death) |
Relations | John H. Overton(uncle) Walter Hampden Overton(great-grandfather) |
Children | Laura Anne Brooks |
Parent(s) | Claude M. and Penelope Overton Brooks |
Residence(s) | Shreveport, Louisiana |
Alma mater | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge(LLB) |
Occupation | Attorney |
Military service | |
Branch/service | United States Army |
Years of service | World War I |
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/VA_Hospital%2C_Shreveport%2C_Louisiana.jpg)
Thomas Overton Brooks(December 21, 1897 – September 16, 1961)[1]was aDemocraticU.S. representativefrom theShreveport-basedFourth Congressional Districtof northwesternLouisiana,having served for a quarter century beginning on January 3, 1937.
Of a prominent family, Brooks was a nephew ofU.S. SenatorJohn Holmes Overtonand a great-grandson ofWalter Hampden Overton.At the time of his death, he was chairman of the House Science and Astronautics Committee.
Before politics
[edit]Brooks was born inBaton Rougeto Claude M. Brooks and the former Penelope Overton. He graduated frompublic schools.Brooks served overseas duringWorld War Ias an enlisted man in the Sixth Field Artillery, First Division, Regular Army, 1918–1919.
After the war, he obtained a degree in 1923 fromLouisiana State University Law Centerin Baton Rouge. He was admitted to the bar and began his practice in Shreveport inCaddo Parishin the northwestern corner of his state.
On June 1, 1932, Brooks married the former Mary Fontaine "Mollie" Meriwether, a daughter of Minor Meriwether, a planter andbankeroriginally fromHernando, Mississippi,and the former Anne Finley McNutt, both of whom died in Shreveport. Overton and Mollie Brooks had one child, Laura Anne Brooks (1936-1994), who like her mother died inHouston, Texas.[citation needed]
Political career
[edit]1940
[edit]Brooks faced a showdown with Henry Andrew O'Neal, a Shreveportinsurance agentoriginally fromLindeninCass County,Texas. In the primary election, state RepresentativeWellborn Jackof Caddo Parish andJ. Frank Colbert,the former mayor ofMinden,were eliminated from further consideration.[2]In the second round of balloting, Brooks received 19,375 votes (55.6 percent) to O'Neal's 15,450 (44.4 percent).[3]
In 1947–8, he served on theHerter Committee.[4]
1948
[edit]In 1948, Brooks defeated two intra-party rivalsHarvey Locke Careyof Minden, a former short-term U.S. attorney for theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana,and formerState SenatorLloyd Hendrick,aNatchitoches Parishnative residing in Shreveport.
1950
[edit]1952
[edit]He decriedinflatedhome prices and large federal withholding rates from paychecks so that many could "barely buy groceries."[5]May claimed that Brooks had given tacit support of a "Marxist" foreign policy: We cannot return sanity in foreign affairs by returning to Congress the same men who got us into this mess. "[6]
1956
[edit]Brooks was reelected to Congress twelve times. In 1956, he signed theSouthern Manifesto,a failed congressional attempt to blockdesegregationof public schools ordered by theUnited States Supreme Courtin the caseBrown v. Board of Education.For a time the publisher Ned Touchstone ofBossier Cityworked on Brooks' staff. Brooks also urged the strengthening national defense, the expanded production ofnatural gas,rural electrification,and "fair prices" for farm, dairy, and ranch products.[7]
1960, the last congressional race
[edit]In 1960, during a KKK rally led byRoy Davis,a cross was burnt in the front yard of Brooks' home leading to a police investigation and the arrest of Roy Davis.[8][9]
In Brooks' last election to Congress in 1960, he faced another Republican challenger, Fred Charles McClanahan Jr. (1918–2007), a contractor from Shreveport who was reared inHomerinClaiborne Parish.McClanahan flew sixty-eight combat missions inWorld War IIand received theDistinguished Flying Cross,theAir Medal,and thePurple Heart.His wife, Mary, an educator, was active in theLeague of Women Voters.George Despot,later a state Republican chairman, was his campaign manager. McClanahan called for atwo-party system,which he maintained would "bring us new recognition and respect in national affairs and stabilize state government with a constant watchdog..."[10]McClanahan, who endorsed theNixon-Lodgeticket,called for the United States "to lead the free world in resisting the spread ofcommunismand winning theCold Warin this hemisphere and in every country.... Our foreign aid program must be re-evaluated on the basis of our aims.... "[10]Like Brooks, McClanahan affirmed his support forstates' rightsandsegregation,having proclaimed "No right of the United States government to force integration in public schools."[10]
Brooks prevailed in his final race, 74-26 percent, though the Kennedy-Johnson ticket did not carry the Fourth Congressional District.
Committee service
[edit]Brooks served on theU.S. House Committee on Armed Servicesfrom 1947 to 1958, and he then became the first chairman of the newly formed House Space Committee (later Science and Astronautics), reportedly because his seniority entitled him to a more important post on Armed Services than he was considered capable of handling. He was reappointed in 1961. It was Brooks who proposed a civilian, rather than military, space program. On May 4, 1961, his committee sent a memo to then-Vice PresidentLyndon B. Johnsonon this subject.U.S. PresidentJohn F. Kennedy's speech which prompted the development of theApollo programwas delivered a few weeks later.[11]
The Overton Brooks Veterans Administration Medical Center at 510 East Stoner Street in Shreveport south ofInterstate 20and viewed from along the Clyde Fant Parkway is named in his honor.[12]
Twoconservativelegislative assistants to Representative Brooks,Ned TouchstoneandBilly McCormack,[13]went on to careers of their own in advocacyjournalismand the Christian ministry.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/Overton_Brooks_portrait.jpg/220px-Overton_Brooks_portrait.jpg)
1961 Rules Committee vote
[edit]Death and legacy
[edit]A few months after the roll call vote on enlargement of the House Rules Committee, Brooks died of aheart attackatBethesda Naval HospitalinBethesda, Maryland.[14]
Speaker Rayburn died exactly two months after Brooks.
Brooks was a member of theMasonic Lodge,theShriners,theBenevolent and Protective Order of Elks,American Legion,Veterans of Foreign Wars,and theKiwanis International.
Brooks is interred at Forest Park Cemetery East in Shreveport, the resting place of many Shreveportpoliticians.He wasEpiscopalian.
TheVeterans AdministrationHospital in Shreveport was renamed for Brooks in 1988.[15]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^"Overton Brooks dies",Shreveport Times,September 17, 1961, p. 1
- ^"Kennon Will Met Judge Drew in Runoff; Overton Brooks Leads Race",Minden Herald,September 13, 1940, p. 1
- ^"Kennon, Brooks Win Races: Kennon Defeats Drew in Court of Appeal Race; Overton Brooks Wins over Henry A. O'Neal in Congressional Race",Minden Herald,October 18, 1940, p. 1
- ^ "Final Report on Foreign Aid of the House Select Committee on Foreign Aid"(PDF).Marshall Foundation. May 1, 1948.RetrievedMay 30,2020.
- ^Minden Press,June 13, 1952, p. 12
- ^Minden Press(advertisement), June 27, 1952, p. 5
- ^Minden Herald,July 26, 1956, p. 2
- ^"Cross Burning". The Times of Shreveport. February 9, 1961.
- ^"US Attorney Studies Cross Burning Here". The Times of Shreveport. February 11, 1961.
- ^abcFred McClanahan advertisement,Minden Press,Minden, Louisiana,October 17, 1960, p. 5
- ^Launius, Roger D.(July 2004) [Originally published July 1994].Apollo: A Retrospective Analysis(PDF).Monographs in Aerospace History. Vol. 3. Washington, D.C.:NASAHistory Office. pp. 54–76.RetrievedJune 15,2022.
- ^"Overton Brooks VA Medical Center".switchboard.RetrievedJune 15,2012.
- ^"Billy McCormack".mccormackmissiongroup.RetrievedJune 10,2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^James C. Gardner,Jim Gardner and Shreveport, Vol. II(Shreveport: Ritz Publications, 2006), pp. 30–31
- ^"History".29 September 2021.
- http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000884
- Ken Hechler,The Endless Space Frontier. A History of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics, 1959–1978(Univelt, 1982)ISBN0-87703-157-6(hardback),ISBN0-87703-158-4(paperback)
- "Overton Brooks,"A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography,Vol. 1 (1988)
- 1897 births
- 1961 deaths
- American anti-communists
- Louisiana State University Law Center alumni
- Louisiana lawyers
- United States Army personnel of World War I
- United States Army soldiers
- Politicians from Shreveport, Louisiana
- Politicians from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Military personnel from Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
- 20th-century American legislators
- Burials in Louisiana
- 20th-century American lawyers
- 20th-century American Episcopalians
- Signatories of the Southern Manifesto