Overton Brooks

For other persons named Tom or Thomas Brooks, seeThomas Brooks (disambiguation).

Thomas Overton Brooks
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	(1897-12-21)December 21, 1897 Baton Rouge, Louisiana,U.S.
Died	September 16, 1961(1961-09-16)(aged 63) Bethesda, Maryland,U.S.
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

The Veterans Administration Hospital inShreveport,Louisiana,is named for Overton Brooks; photo taken from Clyde Fant Parkway (2012)

Thomas Overton Brooks(December 21, 1897 – September 16, 1961)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

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.

Political career

1940

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.In the second round of balloting, Brooks received 19,375 votes (55.6 percent) to O'Neal's 15,450 (44.4 percent).

In 1947–8, he served on theHerter Committee.

1948

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.

1952

He decriedinflatedhome prices and large federal withholding rates from paychecks so that many could "barely buy groceries."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. "

1956

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.

1960, the last congressional race

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.

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..."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.... "Like Brooks, McClanahan affirmed his support forstates' rightsandsegregation,having proclaimed "No right of the United States government to force integration in public schools."

Brooks prevailed in his final race, 74-26 percent, though the Kennedy-Johnson ticket did not carry the Fourth Congressional District.

Committee service

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.

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.

Twoconservativelegislative assistants to Representative Brooks,Ned TouchstoneandBilly McCormack,went on to careers of their own in advocacyjournalismand the Christian ministry.

Portrait of Brooks in the Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Death and legacy

A few months after the roll call vote on enlargement of the House Rules Committee, Brooks died of aheart attackatBethesda Naval HospitalinBethesda, Maryland.

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.

See also

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99)

References

• 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)