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Abstract
This essay is an exploration of the political rise of politician Edward W. Brooke and his impact on the Republican Party and the black community throughout the 1960s. I argue that Brooke's role in American political and social life reflected the convergence of civil rights and American conservatism, specifically as it related to the struggle for racial equality and the path of the Republican Party; within the article, I explore the ways in which Brooke attempted to prove that liberal ideas about race were not incompatible with the conservatism of the GOP; the black Republican also argued that once coupled, such ideas could be used to create innovative solutions to the needs of the nation's citizens. Ultimately I conclude that Brooke represented a centrist vision in the battle for the identity and direction of the modern GOP. Along with other black Republicans of the era, Brooke envisioned and fought for an alternative path for the GOP and for the nation—one that could provide African Americans in the 1960s and 1970s with an attractive and viable alternative to the modern liberalism of the Democratic Party. Brooke's challenge was dual in nature: repair the soul of the Republican Party while growing the confidence of African American voters. Indeed, Ed Brooke's involvement in the GOP and civil rights broadens our scholarly understanding of the diversity of black politics and 20th-century American history.
Notes
Source: Minorities Division, Republican National Committee, Election Report: Republicans and the Black Vote 1966, No Date [1967]; Folder Republican Party—RNC—Correspondence, 1967, CLT Papers.
Source: Minorities Division, Republican National Committee, Election Report: Republicans and the Black Vote 1966, No Date [1967]; Folder Republican Party—RNC—Correspondence, 1967, CLT Papers.
The Mississippi Legislature appointed two black senators: Hiram Rhodes (1870–1871) and Blanche Kelso Bruce (1875–1881). Additionally, Brooke's political triumph was all the more remarkable given that fewer than 150 black officials had been elected to national public office at the time. See Poppy Cannon White, “Poppy's Notes: History and Brooke,” New York Amsterdam News, November 26, 1966; Judson L. Jeffries, “U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke and Governor L. Douglas Wilder Tell Political Scientists How Blacks Can Win High-Profile Statewide Office,” PS: Political Science and Politics 32, no. 3 (September 1999): 583; Edward W. Brooke, Bridging the Divide: My Life (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2007), 140–146.
Politics and the Backlash,” Christian Science Monitor, November 12, 1966.
Miscellaneous Headline Clippings, Unknown Newspaper Sources, Box 625, Folder Press-Clippings, Edward William Brooke Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress (hereinafter referred to as EWB Papers).
W. E. Barnett, “Tribute to Sen. Brooke,” Los Angeles Times, January 15, 1967.
“Edward Brooke Editorial,” Life Magazine, October 28, 1966, Box 214, Folder Brooke for President, EWB Papers.
James P. Murphy to Edward Brooke, Letter, November 16, 1972, Box 214, Folder Brooke for President, EWB Paper.
For more information about the National Negro Republican Assembly (NNRA) and the 1964 presidential election, see Leah M. Wright, “Conscience of a Black Conservative: The 1964 Election and the Rise of the National Negro Republican Assembly,” Federal History, January 2009, 32–45.
In our quest to understand black politics, scholars have tended to emphasize the antagonistic relationship that exists between African Americans and the Republican Party. On one hand, in tracking the course of black politics, scholars trace a straight line of history that begins with Goldwater's opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is strengthened by Nixon's “Southern Strategy,” and is cemented by the coded racial language of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush (with their attacks on “welfare queens” and not-so-subtle ads, such as the infamous Willie Horton commercial of 1988). Within this framework, the outcome is treated as an inevitability: the relationship between African Americans and the modern Republican Party had no choice but to deteriorate. The scholarship on 20th-century American conservatism often supports this thesis by offering an analysis that is concerned solely with white racism, and it treats African Americans as objects of conservative anger. Thus historians of modern conservatism have tended to privilege the presence of white racists in the party, treating their eventual surge in power as an inevitable outcome. These two strands of the historiography are, of course, mutually reinforcing. Republican conservatism is equated with white racism, and as a result, African Americans are by default equated with Democratic liberalism. Simply put: white conservatives are racist, therefore black voters must be liberal. The historiographies complement one another by placing African Americans and the civil rights movement outside the arena of the modern American conservative movement; they tell us that African Americans should not be conservatives. In the event that African Americans are conservatives, the scholarship treats them as outliers or pariahs.
“The First,” Time, January 25, 1963.
Outside of GOP politics, Brooke was active in a number of civil rights groups. For example, he served as the president of the Boston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and as vice president of the local Urban League. “Massachusetts GOP Choice: Nation's Eyes on Candidacy of Brooke for Secretary of State,” Pittsburgh Courier, September 24, 1960. See also “Maturity,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 1962.
Brooke won the election by more than 250,000 votes. In doing so, he became the first African American in the nation to be elected to a state attorney general position. It also made him the highest ranking elected official at the time. “Political Maturity,” Pittsburgh Courier, November 24, 1962.
Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 55–57, 108.
Born into a middle-class black family in Washington, D.C., in 1919, Brooke was raised in a racially segregated environment that was insulated from the harsh realities of the Deep South. This segregation was no less real; however, it was “subtler” in that Brooke rarely interacted with the white community and was also protected from most (if not all) of the blunt realities of racial violence. However, his experience as a soldier in World War II quickly exposed him to a tangible system of inequality, racism, and violence; Brooke began to rethink his “veneration” of Franklin Roosevelt after the president signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing Japanese internment, seemed “reluctant to act” on Nazi persecution of Jewish people, and failed to desegregate the armed forces. The war also played a critical role in Brooke's understanding of racial issues, especially interracial marriage; he met his first wife while on assignment in Italy. He reasoned that “race had not mattered during our courtship in Italy,” and therefore it should not have mattered in the United States. Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 4–5, 21–38, 43–48, 278.
Ibid., 55, 108.
Of note, in 1950 Brooke cross-filed for candidacy with both majority political parties. Democrats rejected his appeal, whereas the GOP accepted him as a candidate. He was also inspired by the action and presence of party moderates like Joseph W. Martin and Leverett Saltonstall. When he declared GOP affiliation in 1952, Brooke stated that his decision was based on “loyalty, leadership, admiration, and potential.” Bridging the Divide, 55–57, 108; The Challenge of Change, 55–61; “Malden Elects First Colored City Officer,” The Afro-American, November 24, 1945.
Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 55–58.
Ibid., 65–67.
In his memoirs, Brooke suggests that the “tragic result” of Goldwater conservatism “was to deny opportunity to black Americans at a time when the majority of Americans wanted progress and social justice.” Ibid., 107–108. See also “Noisy, But Not Numerous,” Baltimore Afro-American, November 10, 1964.
“The Figures,” Time, November 13, 1964.
“It was a great victory but a bittersweet one,” Brooke later recalled, “when I surveyed the ruins of our state and national party that the Goldwater candidacy had brought.” In a 2008 interview, Brooke also described the Goldwater defeat as disastrous on all levels. “Governors, local politicians, right down to city councils, and down to the towns,” he sadly stated. “The entire Republican Party was devastated by the election of 1964.” Author conducted interview with Ed Brooke, August 2008; Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 109.
EWB, Untitled Interview on Goldwater and 1964 Election, 1965, Box 607, Folder Writings, EWB Papers.
Brooke added that the party's failures created a false binary that “projected an image of a choice between good and evil, black and white, war and peace.” Edward Brooke, Address to the National Press Club, April 28, 1965, Box 607, Folder Writings 1965–78, Speeches and Writings File, 1961–1980, EWB Papers.
EWB, Unknown Interview on Goldwater and 1964 Election, 1965; Edward W. Brooke, “The Republican Crisis,” The Washingtonian, April 1966, both in Box 607, EWB Papers. See also “Edward Brooke is Making History,” St. Petersburg Times, February 22, 1966.
See, for example, Evans Tyree Young to EWB, Letter, November 16, 1964; Charles A. Wilson to EWB, Letter, November 9, 1964; E. A. Shmied to EWB, Letter, November 12, 1964; John C. Love to John Lindsay, Letter, November 9, 1964, all in Box 619, Folder “Press,” Public Response, EWB Papers.
“News at a Glance” New Pittsburgh Courier (National Edition), November 21, 1964; Russell Freeburg, “Negro Leader Scores G.O.P. Race Policy,” Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1965; “Edward Brooke Counsels: ‘GOP Must be Peoples’ Party,” New Pittsburgh Courier (National Edition), March 6, 1965; “Part of Checks, Balances System: Brooke Tells Press Club GOP Needs Off-Year Meet to Unify Role as Critic,” New Pittsburgh Courier, May 29, 1965. See also EWB Appearance on Meet the Press, November 1964, Box 619, Folder “Meet the Press,” Public Response to Brooke Appearance, EWB Papers; Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 55–61.
“Edward Brooke Counsels: ‘GOP Must be Peoples’ Party,” New Pittsburgh Courier, March 6, 1965.
Russell Freeburg, “Negro Leader Scores G.O.P. Race Policy,” Chicago Tribune, February 21, 1965; EWB, Unknown Interview on Goldwater and 1964 Election, 1965, Box 607, EWB Papers.
“Happens to Be a Negro,” Time, February 1967.
For example, Brooke stonily explained during a 1965 press appearance: “I am not a civil rights leader, and I don't profess to be. I recognize … King, James Farmer, Roy Wilkins, Whitney Young, and … others as the civil rights leaders. This is their work—their profession.” His biggest grievance was with “militant white civil rights people” who insisted he should “be in the streets, leading marches.” For an interview with Brooke discussing race-neutral politics, see Jeffries, “U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke and Governor L. Douglas Wilder”; Chuck Stone, “Non-Negro Politics,” in Black Political Power in America (New York: Dell, 1968); “Edward Brooke is Making His History,” St. Petersburg Times, February 22, 1966.
John Henry Cutler, Ed Brooke: Biography of a Senator (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1972), 113–120.
Brooke also noted that it was equally important for young people of color to see “black faces in positions of power” during the 1960s. In closing, he suggested that “black pragmatic politics” was the unwritten rule for many black candidates from both political parties (Doug Wilder, interviewed with Brooke, agreed). See Jeffries, “Brooke,” PS.
Brooke reasoned that his decision was fair, given that state law prohibited children from being kept out of schools. Addressing complaints of discrimination, the attorney general stated, “I'm here to rule on the law.” Fictor Lasky, “Brooke's Ideas May Come As a Shock to Liberals,” Virgin Island Daily News, December 14, 1966.
EWB, Unknown Interview on Goldwater and 1964 Election, 1965, Box 607, Folder Writings, EWB Papers. See also “A Negro Leader's Advice to Republicans,” U.S. News & World Report, February 1, 1965.
Even Goldwater conservatives recognized Brooke's potential for recruiting black voters and rebuilding a positive party image. Speaking with a group of disgruntled Goldwater supporters in February 1965, former RNC Chair Dean Burch begged the conservatives to pay special attention to the Massachusetts attorney general. Brooke, he argued, had the potential to solve the “Negro vote” problem; Burch further reasoned that such a strategy aligned with a new strategy of Republican “tolerance,” since “no party can fly without a left, middle, and right wing.” Leslie Carpenter, “Washington Beat,” Washington Post, March 13, 1965; “Work to Get Negro Vote, Burch Urges,” Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1965.
One also gets the sense that Nixon sensed the political opportunity to make inroads with African Americans given that the constituency was poised to swell with the successful passage of the Voting Rights bill of 1965. Joseph A. Loftus. “G.O.P. is divided on Negro Voters,” New York Times, February 25, 1965.
Seeking a broad audience, party officials distributed copies to local radio stations across the country, which broadcast the show as a Republican sponsored public service announcement. “Brooke Enlisted in GOP Image Rebuilding Effort,” Los Angeles Sentinel, March 18, 1965; “GOP Begins Drive for Negro Vote,” New York Amsterdam News, March 13, 1965.
“Ed Brooke Boosted for Veep,” New Pittsburgh Courier, March 20, 1965.
RNC PR Division to Ripon Society, Letter, Copy of EWB's Speech to National Press Club, and Ripon Report for ‘64 Recovery, No Date [May 1965], Office File, Misc., Roger Woodworth, Speeches and Speech Materials, Misc. Attorney General, EWB Papers.
Lillian S. Calhoun, “Confetti,” Chicago Daily Defender, April 13, 1965.
“Says Republican Party Wants Negroes to Return,” The Call, April 23, 1965, Folder, RNC Correspondence 1966, CLT Papers.
There are dozens of anonymous clippings from newspaper and magazine book reviews on The Challenge of Change. For reference, please see Box 607, Folders: The Challenge of Change (Boston 1966), Book File[s], [Editor] Critique[s] by John S. Bottomly, and Draft Chapters, EWB Papers. See also Wendell H. Woodman, Challenge of Change, book review, The News-Tribune, April 7, 1966; Little, Brown editor notes on The Challenge of Change, November 4, 1965.
Edward W. Brooke, The Challenge of Change: Crisis in Our Two Party System (Boston: Little, Brown, 1966), 23, 37, 41–47.
Ibid., 77. For a discussion of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and historical “Republicanism,” see 77–121, 243–255.
This is different from Barry Goldwater's interpretation of “progressive conservatism.” For Goldwater's interpretation, see Leah M. Wright, “The Loneliness of the Black Conservative: Black Republicans and the Grand Old Party, 1964–1981” (Ph.D. dissertation, 2009), chap. 1. Additionally, Brooke argued that Goldwater's interpretation of conservatism indicated a disregard for the citizens of the nation, such as African Americans, the elderly, youth, and farmers; it conveyed an alienating message that things like civil rights, urban renewal, and social security were “un-American.” Ibid., 243–258.
Ibid., 159.
Jacob Javits, Congressional Record reprint of Negroes and Open Society, August 2, 1966, 654 Folder Articles about EWB, 1962–1967, EWB Papers.
“Edward Brooke Sounds Off,” Jet, August 18, 1966. See also Simeon Booker, “‘I'm a Soul Brother': Senator Edward Brooke,” Ebony, April 1967.
The party displayed particular enthusiasm over John Lindsay's mayoral win in New York City, where the candidate garnered 43 percent of the black vote. To compare, Barry Goldwater received approximately 8 percent in 1964. John Herbers, “G.O.P Aide ‘Starts From Scratch,‘” New York Times, May 31, 1966.
Of note, the report findings indicated that an excellent opportunity existed among the “new Negro middle class.” “GOP Probing Switch in N.Y. Negro Votes,” Washington Post, November 18, 1965; Paul Hope “12 Negroes Named,” Washington Star, February 25, 1966. See also editor's notes on Challenge, Box 607, EWB Papers.
Twelve black Republicans sat on the council, including Clarence L. Townes, special assistant to the Virginia Republican state committee chair; William O. Walker, publisher and editor of the Cleveland Call & Post; Joseph Bell, vice chair of the Michigan Republican state central committee; J. Earl Dearing, a Louisville attorney; James L. Flourney, a member of the California Republican state committee and a local NNRA official; George Fowler, of the New York chapter of the NNRA; Elaine Jenkins, vice chair of the District of Columbia Republican Committee; Stephen Maxwell, an attorney from St. Paul, Minnesota; William Robinson, a former Republican state legislator from Illinois; and Q. V. Williamson, an Atlanta city council alderman. See Republican National Committee, “Bliss Names Negro Advisory Committee,” Press Release, February 25, 1966, Box 51, Negro Vote, LBJ Presidential Papers; Carl T. Rowan, “The GOP's Uphill Fight for the Negro Vote,” The Sunday Star, March 6, 1966; “Winning Negro Support for the GOP,” New York Herald Tribune, February 27, 1966.
Townes's speech was quite lengthy, and it contained dozens of recommendations for party success. Perhaps what is most striking is that they reflect the RNC's official move away from the increasing militancy of the NNRA and toward his embrace of black pragmatic politics. His philosophy on this, is in fact, quite similar to Brooke's aforementioned rationales about pushing a specific agenda. See Clarence L. Townes, Speech to the Negro Advisory Committee, Folder Republican Party, RNC, Speeches by Townes, 1966–1969, CLT Papers; phone interview with Clarence L. Townes, July 21, 2008.
Townes, Speech to NAC, March 1966, CLT Papers.
“Washington Beat,” Washington Post [January 1966]. EWB Papers.
For more information about the local background politics surrounding Brooke's decision to run, see Brooke, “Running for Senate” in Bridging the Divide.
“Memo from Washington,” Milwaukee Sentinel, March 7, 1966.
“Brooke Announcement Sets of National Repercussions,” New York Amsterdam News, January 29, 1966.
Townes claimed that he joined the Republican Party as a positive alternative to the “Byrd machine of the Democratic Party, which he described as an “anti-black, anti-integration, anti-school” establishment. For a detailed analysis of the “Byrd Machine,” see James W. Ely Jr., The Crisis of Conservative Virginia: The Byrd Organization and the Politics of Massive Resistance (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1976). Clarence L. Townes Jr., Statement on Virginia House of Delegates, April 5, 1965, CLT Papers; interview with Townes, July 2008.
“Virginia Contest Adds Dimension,” New York Times, June 20, 1965.
For example, a public opinion study done of the Brooke campaign found that in September 1965, the official was enormously well known and had a general approval rating of 80 percent. John F. Becker and Eugene E. Heaton Jr., “The Election of Senator Edward W. Brooke,” Public Opinion Quarterly 31, no. 3 (Autumn 1967).
Ed Brooke's files at the Library of Congress contain thousands of these references to the politician's 1966 senatorial campaign. Even Barry Goldwater was moved to donate to Brooke's senatorial campaign. As the Arizona official wrote in a succinct February 1966 missive: “I believe your election to the U.S. Senate would be good for the country and for the party.” In reply, Brooke (clearly surprised) wrote, “In view of my position in 1964 and my objections to your policies, your offer speaks for the bigness of Barry Goldwater, the man. I hope some day to be as big.” Brooke received thousands of endorsements over the course of his campaign, not only from Republican figures like Nelson Rockefeller, John Lindsay, George Romney, Thurston Morton, and Jacob Javits, but also from newspapers, magazines, constituents, and celebrities. Likewise the delegates to the Massachusetts Republican Convention delivered their rousing support for the candidate, providing him with nearly 1,300 more votes than the nearest contender. Please see: Boxes 613, 625, 639, 644 (Folder Ripon Society, 1965–72), 654, 415 (Folder Blacks Misc. 1967–76), EWB Papers; Vera Glaser, “Goldwater Offers Money to Put Brooke in Senate,” Virgin Island Daily News, February 15, 1966; “Goldwater Aids Brooke, Who Didn't Support Him,” New York Times, June 25, 1966; “Brooke Wins Endorsement,” St. Petersburg Times, June 26, 1966; John Fenton, “Brooke Is Endorsed by Senate by Massachusetts Republicans,” New York Times, June 26, 1966.
See “The Black Man Leading a G.O.P. March on Washington,” and “Edward Brooke is the best vote-getter Massachusetts Republicans have produced in years. He hopes to be the first Negro U.S. senator in a century—and to help remodel his party,” Unknown sources, [1966], Box 654, Folder Articles About Edward W. Brooke, 1962–67, EWB Papers; “Seeks Saltonstall Seat,” Newark Sunday News, February 2, 1966.
Interview with EWB, August 26, 2008. See also Brooke, Bridging the Divide.
“A Negro for All the People,” The Age, January 16, 1967.
“Innocent Victim?” No Source, No Date [October 1966], Box 654, Folder Articles 1962–67, EWB Papers.
Of “White Backlash,” Relman Morin wrote: “It is the term for white reaction to recent Negro riots and disturbances in a number of major cities, to the Negro militants’ cry, ‘Black power!'; to proposed open housing laws, to the many-sided aspects of the struggle over civil rights, North and South.” See Relman Morin, “White Backlash—How Important is It?” The Freelance Star, November 5, 1966; Joseph Alsop, “Matter of Fact,” Washington Post, November 7, 1966.
“A Negro for All the People.”.
For example, a RNC survey from July 1966 indicated that 44 percent of voters considered civil rights a “major concern.” By October, the figure was at 58 percent.
Richard Harwood, “White Backlash Reported as Failing to Materialize,” The Spokesman-Review, November 8, 1966; Morin, “White Backlash.”
Among the Massachusetts public, 20 percent felt that Brooke had done “too little” to aid civil rights, while 50 percent suggested that he had done “just the right amount.” In January 1966, 80 percent of the Massachusetts public was aware that Brooke was black; by November 1966, the figure reached near 100 percent. With regard to the federal government, 50 percent of respondents indicated that it was “too liberal on civil rights.” Finally, on the spectrum of “racial attitudes and prejudice,” 15 percent of voters fell into the “most prejudiced” category, 63 percent were considered “less prejudiced,” and 22 percent were “least prejudiced.” Brooke received near-perfect approval ratings among the “least” group and managed to break 50 percent approval in the other groups. Becker and Heaton, “Brooke,” POQ.
Lloyd Shearer, “Polls … Pollsters—and How They Work,” St. Petersburg Times, April 28, 1968.
Tim Taylor, “Brooke Assails Rights Violence,” No Source, No Date [1966], Folder Campaign Clippings, Press, EWB Papers.
David B. Wilson, “Brooke Sets Senate Goals” [1966], EWB Campaign, EWB Papers. “Happens to Be a Negro.” See also Becker and Heaton, “Brooke,” POQ; Jerome Sadow, News from Brooke for U.S. Senator Committee, Press Release, November 6–7, 1966, Box 654, Folder Articles 1962–67, EWB Papers.
Edward Brooke, Issues and Answers, Transcript, September 4, 1966, Box 46, File Television and Radio Programs, EWB Papers; Becker and Heaton, “Brooke,” POQ.
“6 Negro Congressmen Sure of Election,” Chicago Defender, November 5, 1966.
White backlash did, in fact, help a number of candidates during the 1966 midterm elections. However, as Hardwood suggested, it was not an “overriding issue.” For example, the Congressional Quarterly reported that approximately 70 percent of candidates threatened by white backlash ended up winning their races. Richard Harwood, “White Backlash Reported as Failing to Materialize,” Spokesman-Review, November 8, 1966.
The Republican Party earned a net gain of 3 seats in the Senate and 47 in the House. The party also gained 8 net governorships. “Republican Resurgence,” Time, November 18, 1966. See also “The Individualist Voters,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 11, 1966. Gene Grove, “New Team for the GOP: Bliss & Townes,” Tuesday Magazine, February 1967, Folder Republican Party—RNC—Correspondence, 1967, CLT Papers.
Between the end of 1966 and 1967, Brooke would appear on the cover of dozens of magazines including Newsweek, Sepia, Ebony, and Jet.
“A Party for All,” Time, November 18, 1966.
Ibid.
While black voters in Massachusetts comprised only 2–3 percent of the state electorate in 1966, their overwhelming support for Brooke was striking given the 1964 struggles of the party. Grove, “New Team for the GOP.”
“Entering Quietly,” Time, January 20, 1967; “A Negro for All the People”; “Teens in Jeans Vie with Matrons in Mink to Greet Brooke,” Jet, February 2, 1967; “Happens to Be a Negro.”
Brooke generated a particular brand of reverence from the black electorate. Underscoring this point, many black voters went so far as to change their political affiliation to Republican in a show of support, claiming they were inspired by Brooke's genuine loyalty to “certain goals and ideals, not to the party.” Likewise, a January 1967 Gallup Poll found that Brooke was one of the “most admired” figures, black or white, in the nation. He was joined by seven other African Americans: Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife Coretta Scott King, Ralph Bunche, comedian/civil rights activist Dick Gregory, athlete/actor Jim Brown, and singers Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson. See Booker, “I'm a Soul Brother”; Kenneth J. Cooper, “First Black U.S. Senator Elected by Popular Vote Tells His Story,” The Crisis 1, no. 114 (January/February 2008).
Minorities Division, RNC, “Election Analysis: 1968 and the Black American Voter,” January 1969, Folder—Election Analysis, 1968, Black Vote, CLT Papers; “Gallup Poll Cites 8 Negroes Among ‘Most Admired,” Jet, January 19, 1967.
Grove, “New Team for the GOP.” See also Simeon Booker, “What Republican Victory Means to the Negro,” Ebony, February 1967; “Negro ‘Frontlash’ Held More Sophisticated and Selective Than White Backlash,” New York Times, November 10, 1966.
Grove, “New Team for the GOP”; Neil Sanders, “Frustrated with the Great Society,” New Orleans States—Item, [1967]; Sal Perrotta, “Swing to GOP by Negro Voters Seen in ‘68 Election,” Los Angeles Herald Examiner, February 9, 1967. All in Folder Republican Party—RNC—Correspondence, 1967, CLT Papers; Roy Reed, “Negro Vote Held Vital in Key Contests,” New York Times, November 27, 1966.
Minorities Division Report Black Vote 1966 [1967], CLT Papers.
Interestingly, Ebony identified Louisville, Kentucky, as the “New Negro GOP Capital” based on the 1966 election returns. Overall, approximately 52 percent of African Americans voted for Republican candidates during the election. See Booker, “Republican Victory,” Ebony, February 1967; “The Drive is On to Woo Negro Voters in 1968,” Ocala Star-Banner, June 21, 1967; Minorities Division, Republican National Committee, New Directions ‘68, CLT Papers. See also William T. Peacock, “Parties Woo Negro Voters,” The Free-Lance Star, June 21, 1967.
Self-identified Republican moderates/liberals included Ed Brooke, George Romney, Charles Percy, Mark Hatfield, and Nelson Rockefeller. Even Ronald Reagan, a self-identified Goldwater conservative, had a moment during this period where he was forced to reconcile his ideological underpinnings with this idea of progressive conservatism, at the hands of the California chapter of the NNRA. For more information, see Wright, “Conscience of a Black Conservative,” Federal History; “Republican Resurgence,” Time, November 18, 1966; “Negro ‘Frontlash'”; “Who's for Whom,” Time, October 28, 1966; “Some Random Post-Mortem Thoughts,” Eugene Register-Guard, November 10, 1966. David S. Broder, “Negroes Gained Despite ‘Backlash,‘” Washington Post, November 11, 1967; “Negroes Widen Political Power,” Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 1967, both in Box 387, Folder Negro Politics, Office Files of Fred Panzer, Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library (hereafter referred to as Panzer Files).
Booker, “Republican Victory.”
Grove, “New Team for the GOP.” For specific examples of GOP alternatives to the Great Society, see “Negroes Nearing Majority in Major North Cities,” Congressional Weekly, August 26, 1966; RNC Research Division, Memo on Big City Negro Populations, August 31, 1966, both in Folder: Republican Party—RNC Correspondence, Publication, Notes, 1968–1970, CLT Papers.
“Republicans Improve the Black Vote,” The St. Louis Sentinel, March 16, 1968. Gilda Manning to Clarence Townes, Letter on Minorities, July 12, 1967; Taylor to Ray Bliss, Letter on Negro Communities, July 17, 1967; RNC, Office Memorandum on Kansas City, [July 1967]; all in Folder Republican Party Fieldwork 1967; Republican NNC Women's Division, Brochure on Community Involvement [1968–1969], Folder RNC Notes, 1968–1970, both folders in CLT Papers.
“Black Voters Increase Support,” The St. Louis Sentinel, March 16, 1968, Folder Fieldwork 1967, CLT Papers.
Minorities Division, RNC, New Directions '68.
Booker, “Republican Victory”; Minorities Division, RNC, Memo on Negro Outreach and Self-Help Programs, No Date [1967], Folder Fieldwork, 1967, CLT Papers. See also “Townes Tells of Plan to Woo Negro Votes,” Richmond News Leader, January 25, 1967; “Towns [sic] Predicts Big Increase in Negro GOP Vote,” Miami Times, February 24, 1967; John V. Colt, “Victory Hint in G.O.P. Depth,” Kansas City Times, April 7, 1967.
Booker, “Republican Victory.”
“National News,” St. Petersburg Times, January 14, 1967; Ex-SCLC Aide Now with GOP Minorities Division,” Jet, January 19, 1967; George Tagge, “Politics Photograph,” Miami Times, January 20, 1967; “Warner Gets G.O.P. Race Expert's Aide,” Chicago Tribune, January 21, 1967; Betty Granger Reed, “Conversation Piece,” New Courier, January 28, 1967.
Booker, “Republican Victory.”
Ibid.
In 1979, the NAACP highlighted Brooke's record including the “Brooke Amendment” (ceiling on rents charged to public housing tenants; 1968) and Fair Housing Act (coauthored with Walter Mondale; 1968). The group also applauded Brooke for opposing Richard Nixon's attempts to appoint conservative judges to the United States Supreme Court (1969, 1970), and for being among the first to call for Nixon to step down during the Watergate scandal. Finally, the NAACP noted that between 1974 and 1978, Brooke had led the fight “against efforts to cut back civil right progress in housing, education, affirmative action, human services, community development and voting rights.” See NAACP, “Emergency Resolutions on Senator Edward W. Brooke,” The Crisis, April 1979; NAACP Hits All Bias,” Afro-American, March 23, 1968; “President Signs New Civil Rights Measure,” Rome News-Tribune, April 12, 1968.
Brooke, Bridging the Divide, 179–180; John Chamberlain, “Trouble-Makers in Nixon,” The Evening Independent, July 1, 1967; John Herbers, “G.O.P. Moderates Consider Revolt,” New York Times, January 29, 1967; “GOP Club Provides Administration Idea,” Rome News-Tribune, April 17, 1968.
Ronald W. Walters, Black Presidential Politics in America: A Strategic Approach (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1988), 45–47.
See Shirley Chisholm, “Chisholm Urges President Nixon to Nominate Brooke,” Press Release, October 12, 1973; Charles B. Rangel, “Rangel Urges President Ford to Name Brooke as Vice-President,” Press Release, August 13, 1974, both in Box 637, Folder Brooke for Vice President, 1971–76, EWB Papers. Interview with Ed Brooke, August 2008.
Bayard Rustin, Stokely Carmichael, and Charles Hamilton also addressed notions of coalition building (though providing different approaches). See Black Power and Bayard Rustin, “From Protest to Politics: The Future of the Civil Rights Movement,” Commentary, 1965. See also Harold Cruse, “Part I: Black Politics Series,” Black World/Negro Digest, October 1974.
It is important to note that the CBC later distanced itself from the Gary Convention and produced a “Black Bill of Rights” that it claimed was “more attuned to the ‘political circumstances’ of 1972.” This was due, in large part, the CBC's insistence that parts of the black agenda produced at the Gary Convention were “too militant.” See Alex Poinsett, “Black Politics at the Crossroads,” Ebony, October 1972.
EWB Speech “Politics: Its Future Effect on Black America,” speech to 65th Annual National Urban League Conference (opening plenary session); Ralph Neas to Ken Colburn, Memo, November 26, 1975, Subject File, Black Elected Officials—Third National Institute 1975, EWB Papers.
Paul Hathaway, “Elected Negro Hones Skills,” Washington Evening Star, October 10, 1967. See also Paul Hathaway, “Revolt of Negro Democrats is Hinted,” Washington Evening Star, October 2, 1967. Box 387, Folder Negro Politics, Panzer Files.
Author interview with Ed Brooke, August 2008.
The temporary chairman called the convention to order. R. W. Apple Jr., “G.O.P. Names Ford Convention Head,” New York Times, June 5, 1968; “Nixon Considering Negro on Ticket,” St. Petersburg Times, August 5, 1968. See also “Negro Vote Eyed, Moderates Talk Possibility of Brooke for Vice President,” Spokane Daily Chronicle, April 1, 1968.
Booker, “Republican Victory.”
Clarence Mitchell Jr. was the director of the Washington, D.C., Bureau of the NAACP. Clarence Mitchell to Edward W. Brooke, Letter, October 19, 1973, General Correspondence, Clarence Mitchell, EWB Papers.
Charles L. Sanders, “King, Senator Brooke's Views Clash in Geneva,” Jet, June 15, 1967; “U.S. Moves Toward Peace in Vietnam War: Brooke,” Jet, February 23, 1967; “Senate's Leaders Differ Over Sentiment of War,” The Spokesman-Review, January 10, 1967; “First One is the Toughest,” The Bulletin, March 23, 1967; “Brooke Reverses Stand on Vietnam,” St. Petersburg Times, March 24, 1967; “That Feeling,” St. Petersburg Times, March 25, 1967.
For example, see “Letters to the Editor: Elephants ‘R’ in Season,” Time, November 18, 1966; Drew Pearson, “Romney Seen as No. 1 Candidate,” The Free-Lance Star, November 12, 1966; Mary McGrory, “Romney Is Now on Center Stage,” The Evening Independent, November 17, 1966; “Move to Block Romney Denied by Goldwater,” Rome News-Tribune, November 14, 1966; Russell Kirk, “Nixon Was a Victor,” Ocala Star-Banner, November 14, 1966; Neil Sheehan, “Romney Says Republican Gains Assure Party's Victory in 1968,” New York Times, November 14, 1966; “The Future of Goldwater,” Spokesman-Review, February 10, 1967.
As one political observer noted, “The recurring talk by Sen. Everett Dirksen … Gerald Ford and others about a nationwide conspiracy behind the riots indicates more of a concern with finding scapegoats than solutions.” Ford and Dirksen also took a stern view of the open housing provisions of the 1966 and 1968 Civil Rights bills, decisions which shocked and angered Ed Brooke, who was actively engaged in advocating for the former and getting the latter passed. For example, Ford, for example, voted in favor of striking the open housing provision from the bill and rejected the compromise put together by Congressman Mathias of Maryland. It is also worth noting that Brooke, a “law and order man,” was a member of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (Kerner Commission); Brooke as expressed disappointment that such racial crises repeatedly brought out the “reactionary vigilantes” in his party, who failed to provide long-term socioeconomic remedies. See “Commission Asks Massive Program Against Crime,” The Bulletin, February 20, 1967; Mary McGrory, “Average Rioter a Dropout from Society,” The Evening Independent, August 9, 1967; “What Can Be Done, or Not,” The Spokesman-Review, August 6, 1967; “Calm Comes to Boston After 3 Riots,” The Evening Independent, June 5, 1967; “Closer in Philadelphia,” The Freelance Star, July 20, 1967; “Rioting Feared in Poor March,” SPT, May 8, 1968. See also all of Box 464, Folders: National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders; Analysis of City Disturbances, 1967, EWB Papers. William McGaffin, “GOP and Rights Bill,” New York Post, August 11, 1966; Joseph Kraft, “Insight and Outlook: Republicans and the Negro,” Washington Post, August 8, 1966; Max Lerner, “Negroes’ Trap,” SPT, March 7, 1968; “Ghetto Housing Bill Advanced,” SPT, April 26, 1968.
Additionally, dozens of scholars have tackled the serious problems that existed between the GOP and black voters through the late 1960s and into the 1970s. For more, see Dean J. Kotlowski, Nixon's Civil Rights: Politics, Principle, and Policy (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001).
Scholar Christopher Bailey details the split over Brooke's 1978 campaign, including “cannibalization of the Republican Party by fellow Republicans.” Bailey rightly highlights the growing schism within the GOP; though Brooke ultimately won the primary nomination, the infighting between party factions deeply hurt his campaign. However, Brooke's campaign was also hurt by a public and contentious divorce; the NAACP labeled the media frenzy an “unseemly spectacle of a local and national media … intent on converting … family matters into public issues.” In the end, liberal Democrat Paul Tsongas defeated Brooke in the 1978 race. See Christopher J. Bailey, The Republican Party in the U.S. Senate, 1974–1984 (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988), 57–59. See also NAACP, “Emergency Resolutions on Senator Edward W. Brooke,” The Crisis, April 1979.
NAACP, “Emergency Resolutions.”