Review of The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century

By: Timothy McNulty and Brendan McNulty

Published by: NewSouth Books, 2019, 556 pages; Montgomery, AL

Reviewed by Jo Freeman

This is an authorized biography. Rep. Jack Brooks (D. TX), who served 42 years in the House of Representatives, wanted his story told. He spent many hours giving interviews before he died in 2012. His staff and family spent many more hours doing even more interviews.

The two McNultys tell the story of "one of the most influential congressmen you’ve never heard of" — the long-time chair of the Government Operations and Judiciary Committees who was a close friend of fellow Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson. Brooks was called many names, among them "the meanest man in Congress." The authors don’t say if that was the working title of their book before Brooks died, but it certainly commands attention.

Like many politicians, he joined the military in World War II and then ran for public office when it ended. Always ambitious, he served in the state legislature while attending law school at the University of Texas. His goal was the US House of Representatives, to which he was elected in 1952. Most years, his challengers, if any, were in the Democratic primary because Texas was a one-party state. Over four decades Texas went from blue to red. Brooks was finally defeated in 1994 by a Republican (whom he had beaten only two years earlier).

Although not its intent, this book is a fine description of how the political boys clubs worked. There were many boys’ clubs in Congress. The inner sanctum was known as the Board of Education. Most weekday evenings "Mr. Sam," as Speaker Rayburn (D. TX) was called, invited a few Representatives to have a drink with him in a small Capitol room he used as a private office. There, they talked strategy and politics while imbibing. Liquor was the lubricant. The Board particularly flourished during Prohibition. During Brooks’ years it was men only as well as invitation only. There, the Speaker and party leaders tutored newer Members in the nuances of the House and decided which doors to open for whom.

With Mr. Sam as his mentor, Brooks moved up the hierarchy rather quickly, becoming a subcommittee chairman after only two years in the House. This post was in the Government Operations Committee, which wasn’t the Committee he wanted when first sworn in. Sometimes being a protégé means doing what you are told, even if it’s not what you want, or what you think you want. Eventually he chaired the full Committee. In 1955 Mr. Sam appointed Brooks to the Judiciary Committee, which he did want. He would become its chairman in 1989.

For most of Brooks’ early years, Congress was heavily influenced by the "Texas gang," led by Speaker Rayburn and Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Baines Johnson. Other Texans were part of their coterie. Brooks became the "gang leader" after Mr. Sam died in 1961 and LBJ became President in 1963. He was often asked to corral Texas Reps and get them to vote the way President Johnson wanted. In turn he and his wife (he married in December 1960 at age 38) regularly dined with the Johnsons.

During these years Brooks used his subcommittee to investigate public expenditures, rooting out inefficiency and cronyism. While he certainly brought special projects and money to his district, he also protected the government and consumers in general from special interests. For example, he used government buying power to compel electric companies to increase the efficiency of light bulbs and computer manufacturers to adhere to common standards so new data processing machines could read each others data.

Brooks got his way through manipulation, not domination. He was a team player. He did what his leadership wanted him to do even when he wasn’t happy about it (though he might try to find a way around their preferences). He also made enemies among some powerful interest groups who eventually found an opponent who could defeat him.

Brooks’ 1994 defeat was timely. The Republicans captured Congress for the first time since 1955. If Brooks had kept his seat, he would have lost his Chairmanship and had to work with Newt Gingrich (R. GA), the new Republican Speaker, whom he despised. He also despised the polarization and personal enmity which developed in the House during the 1990s.

This book is more than a biography. It gives you an inside look at how Congress operates, at least during the latter half of the 20th Century. You should get course credit in Political Science just for reading it.

Jo is tweaking her new book Tell It Like It Is: Living History in the Southern Civil Rights Movement, 1965-66

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Review of The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century

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