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{"id":1678,"date":"2019-07-14T09:45:20","date_gmt":"2019-07-14T09:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1678"},"modified":"2019-07-14T10:30:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-14T10:30:43","slug":"texas-reads-brooks-bio-reflects-different-era-national-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1678&lang=ar","title":{"rendered":"Texas Reads: Brooks bio reflects a different era in national politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glenn Dromgoole’s “Texas Reads” looks at The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c<\/span><\/strong>He\u2019s tough and methodical. He holds people\u2019s feet to the fire. He doesn\u2019t really care if he\u2019s liked.\u201d That was one congressional insider\u2019s view of U.S. Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Beaumont), the powerful Government Operations Committee chair who was a dominant force in the House of Representatives for more than forty years. Another view: \u201cHe abuses people. He\u2019d rather make a foe than a friend. He likes to think he\u2019s outspoken, but in fact he\u2019s just rude.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Texas Monthly <\/span><\/em>magazine, in an article about the Texas congressional delegation in 1977, noted, \u201cPeople either love Jack Brooks or they hate him. No one is neutral.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Writers Timothy and Brendan McNulty have written a generally positive, but certainly frank, biography of the late congressman who was defeated in 1994 and died in 2012. Their book might well boast the most provocative title of the year\u2014<\/span>The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century<\/span><\/em><\/a> (New South Books, $32.95 hardcover).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Brooks was strongly partisan, but he was also pragmatic and able to work with Republicans to get bills passed. His mentors included longtime Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn and President Lyndon Johnson. \u201cTo many, both Democrat and Republican,\u201d the authors write, \u201cthe irascible Texan was known openly as \u2018the meanest man in Congress.\u2019 They meant it as a compliment, but not everyone who used it did.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A few years before his death, Brooks reflected on how the spirit in Congress has changed, which he blamed on Republican Newt Gingrich, who became Speaker in 1994 after forcing out Texas Democrat Jim Wright. \u201c(Newt) created an atmosphere of animosity between Democrats and Republicans in Congress. When I left, I had a lot of Republican friends. I voted Democratic and they voted Republican, but we cooperated. We understood each other. And that\u2019s the way legislation is passed, with compromises and agreements between opposing parties. And now, they just don\u2019t get along at all.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The authors trace Brooks\u2019s early life and career from service in the Pacific in World War II to the Texas state legislature and then his election to Congress in 1952. Most of the book, as the title indicates, deals with his forty-two-year congressional career. The stories are told in brief, easy-to-read segments that introduce different issues, developments, and personalities without interrupting the book\u2019s flow. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The authors start with Jack Brooks, at age forty, riding in the fateful presidential motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, eleven cars back of the one carrying President Kennedy. Brooks can be seen later that day in the photo of President Johnson taking the oath of office aboard Air Force One. Brooks would go on to be one of Johnson\u2019s key confidants.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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