Smith W. Brookhart

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Smith Wildman Brookhart (February 2, 1869 – November 15, 1944), was twice elected as a Republican to represent Iowa in the United States Senate. He was considered an "insurgent" within the Republican Party; his criticisms of the Harding and Coolidge Administrations and of business interests alienated others within the Republican caucus, leading to his ouster from the Senate over an election challenge. He was also a strong supporter of Prohibition and its enforcement, so as public support for prohibition waned, so too did his political career.


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[edit] Personal background

Brookhart was born in a cabin on a farm in Scotland County, Missouri, the son of Abraham C. and Cynthia Wildman Brookhart.[1] He was educated in country schools. In 1889 Brookhart graduated from the Southern Iowa Normal School, in Bloomfield, Iowa. For five years he taught in country schools and high school, meanwhile studying law in offices in Bloomfield, Iowa, and Keosauqua, Iowa.[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1892 and began practice in Washington, Iowa.[1]

He served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish American War and World War I, where he reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

[edit] Senate service (1922-1926)

He first took office as a United States Senator, representing Iowa, on December 2, 1922.[2] He had defeated future Governor and U.S. Senator Clyde L. Herring in a special election that was required because Senator William S. Kenyon resigned before the completion of his term, to accept an appointment as federal judge. As Time Magazine would later write, "his pugnacious cowhide radicalism nettled patrician Senators."[3]

Two years later, in the 1924 election, he made his first attempt to win a full term. Brookhart appeared to have defeated the Democratic candidate, Daniel F. Steck, by a small margin, with Brookhart getting 447,594 votes to Steck's 446,840. Brookhart thus took office on March 4, 1925. However, he served only until April 12, 1926 when the the Senate voted by a margin of 45 to 41 to replace him with Steck, who then served out the remainder of the term. Because the Senate was then firmly in Republican control, his ouster was possible only because over a dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to unseat Brookhart.[4] 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 was president of the National Rifle Association from 1921 to 1925.

[edit] Senate service (1927-1932)

Brookhart successfully ran for Iowa's other Senate seat in 1926, after defeating in the Republican primary Senator Albert B. Cummins and Democrat Claude R. Porter in the general election.

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. He then ran in the 1932 general election as a "progressive" candidate, but received fewer than 33,000 votes out of over 890,000 cast.

[edit] Prohibition politics

Brookhart was what was known as a “fervent dry.” In a futile effort to stop the growing sentiment for the repeal of Prohibition, Brookhart began a nationwide tour, during which time he debated Congressman Fiorello LaGuardia, Clarence Darrow, and other prominent “wets” or opponents 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.[5]

[edit] After his defeat

After his 1932 defeat, Brookhart was a special advisor to the federal government on Soviet trade, until he resigned in 1935 and returned to Iowa.[3] In this role, he was an early advocate for U.S. recognition of the Soviet Union.[1]

Upon his return to Iowa, Brookhart made a final attempt to return to the Senate. He joined an already-crowded field of candidates for the Republican nomination for Senate in 1936, but finished a distant second to incumbent L. J. Dickinson.[6] He then announced a plan to unite diverse progressive elements under a new banner, declined an opportunity to run for the Senate under a Farmer-Labor Party nomination, and endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt's re-election.[7]

After the 1936 election, Brookhart opened a law office in Washington, D. C., and remained there until 1943, when he went to Arizona for his health.[1] He passed away in Prescott, Arizona, on November 15, 1944.[1]

[edit] Further reading

Smith Wildman Brookhart, Iowa's Renegade Republican, by George William McDaniell (Iowa State University Press, Ames, Iowa (1995))

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Ex-Sen. Brookhart Dies in Arizona; Iowa Rites Planned," Mason City Globe-Gazette, 1944-11-16, at 1.
  2. ^ "Brookhart Sworn as Junior Senator," Waterloo Evening Courier, 1922-12-02, at p. 3.
  3. ^ a b "Again, Brookhart," Time Magazine, 1936-04-20.
  4. ^ "Brookhart says he is glad it is all over," Oelwein Daily Register, 1926-04-13 at 1.
  5. ^ National Prohibition of Alcohol in the U.S.
  6. ^ "Dickinson and Herring Nomination Winners," Waterloo Daily Courier, 1936-06-02 at 1.
  7. ^ 'Brookhart will back Roosevelt," Mason City Globe-Gazette, 1936-08-17.
v • d • e
United States Senators from Iowa
Class 2: Jones • Grimes • Howell • Wright • Kirkwood • McDill • J. Wilson • Gear • Dolliver • Young • Kenyon • Rawson • Brookhart • Steck • Dickinson • Herring • G. Wilson • Gillette • Martin • Miller • Clark • Jepsen • Harkin
Class 3: Dodge • Harlan • Kirkwood • Harlan • Allison • Cummins • Stewart • Brookhart • Murphy • Gillette • Hickenlooper • Hughes • Culver • Grassley
 United States Senate