A lifelong Democrat, Brooks was elected in 1946 to represent Jefferson County in the Texas House of Representatives. After his election, he sponsored a bill that would turn Lamar Junior College into a four-year university. The bill initially failed, but passed the following year. The institution is today known as Lamar University.
The 2nd was redistricted as the 9th district in 1966, after the Supreme Court ruled in Wesberry v. Sanders that congressional district populations had to be equal or close to equal in population.
One of Brooks's signature bills required competitive bidding for federal computing contracts. Initially conceived in the mid-1960s and enacted into law in 1972, the Brooks Act was the primary rule for all federal computer acquisitions for three decades, and is often cited as being a catalyst for technological advances.[13]
As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Brooks participated in the 1973–74 impeachment process against Richard Nixon. In mid-July 1974 he drafted and distributed to all members of the committee a strongly-worded set of articles of impeachment. Uncompromising though they were, the Brooks proposals provided others on the committee with an opportunity to meld their thoughts together and to further develop, thus serving as the foundation for the articles of impeachment that the committee subsequently adopted.[14] Because of the part he played in the president's downfall, Nixon later called Brooks his "executioner".[12]
Brooks was chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Government Operations from 1975 through 1988, and of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary from 1989 until 1995.[1] He also served on the Select Committee on Congressional Operations, the Joint Committee on Congressional Operations, and the Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security.[15] In 1979, he became the senior member of the Texas congressional delegation, a position which he maintained for fifteen years.[1][15]
In 1988, Brooks's influence was made prominent by his unusual involvement in trade policy. He introduced a spending bill amendment that banned Japanese companies from U.S. public works projects for one year. He said he was motivated by continuing signs that the Japanese government "intended to blatantly discriminate against U.S. firms in awarding public works contracts". House Majority Leader Tom Foley of Washington, who opposed the amendment, said Brooks "is one of the most powerful and effective chairmen in Congress."[16]
Brooks won re-election in the 1992 election, comfortably defeating his Republican opponent Steve Stockman. However, two years later, in 1994, the 21-term incumbent unexpectedly lost to Stockman, becoming the most senior representative ever to be unseated in a general election,[19] a distinction Brooks still holds as of 2024. His tenure had extended across the administrations of 10 U.S. presidents,[12] and he was on the verge of becoming the dean of the U.S. House had he won a 22nd term.[4]
Personal life and death
In 1960, Brooks married Charlotte Collins. They had three children: Jeb, Kate, and Kimberly.[2][4]
Brooks died at Baptist Hospital in Beaumont on December 4, 2012, at age 89.[2][4]
In 1989, a statue of Brooks was placed in the quadrangle at Lamar University in Beaumont.
In 2001, NASA presented its Distinguished Service Medal to Brooks at a ceremony in the John Gray Center of Lamar University. NASA Admin. Daniel Goldin cited Brooks's long-standing support of the U.S. space program and his role in "strengthening the agency during its formative years". Goldin said "Congressman Brooks took it upon himself to personally deliver support to one of the agency's key programs: the design, development, and on-orbit assembly of the International Space Station."[15]
In 2002, Brooks was named Post Newsweek Tech Media's "Civilian executive of the last twenty years" by Government Computer News.[15]
^ abcdefgh"Congressman Jack Brooks (D-Texas)". Congressional & Political History Collections. Austin, Texas: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
^ abcd"Jack Brooks (biography)"(PDF). Department of Political Science, College of Arts and Sciences. Beaumont Texas: Lamar University. 2005. Archived from the original(PDF) on April 14, 2008.
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