Smith W. Brookhart

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Smith Wildman Brookhart (February 2, 1869 – November 15, 1944), was a member of the United States Senate.

Brookhart, a Republican first took office as a United States Senator, representing Iowa, on November 7, 1922 to complete the term of William S. Kenyon, who resigned from office. In his first attempt at election to a full term, Brookhart appeared to have defeated the Democratic candidate, Daniel F. Steck, in the 1924 election by a small margin, with Brookhart getting 447,594 votes to Steck's 446,840. Brookhart took office on March 4, 1925 and served until April 12, 1926 when the Senate voted by a margin of 45 to 41 to replace him with Steck, who served out the remainder of the term. On other occasions the Senate has settled election disputes before a Senator took office, but this is the only time the results were overturned after the Senator was seated.

Brookhart successfully ran for Iowa's other Senate seat in 1926, defeating in the Republican primary Senator Albert B. Cummins. There was known as a “fervent dry.” In a futile effort to stop the growing sentiment for the repeal of Prohibition, Brookhart began a nation-wide tour, during which time he debated Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia, Clarence Darrow, and other prominent “wets” or supporters of Prohibition.

Brookhart favored dramatically increasing Prohibition enforcement appropriations by 240 million dollars. This was a very unpopular position because of widespread unemployment and underemployment during the Great Depression. Those favoring repeal argued that legalizing alcoholic beverages would stimulate the economy and provide desperately-needed tax revenue. National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S. He served a full six year term, but was unsuccessful in seeking to be renominated in the Republican 1932 primary, which he lost to Henry Field, a Shenandoah, Iowa nurseryman.

Brookhart was president of the National Rifle Association from 1921 to 1925. He served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish American War and World War I, where he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.