Resisting labels, Edward Brooke broke barriers and embraced bipartisanship – Part 2

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• GWEN IFILL:

  For more on the man and his time, we're joined by Adrian Walker, a columnist with The Boston Globe.

  Adrian Walker, one of the things that he said so often during interviews, Ed Brooke, was that he got a little tired of being called a first.

• ADRIAN WALKER, The Boston Globe:

  Yes, he did.

  He wanted to be known for his service, for the things he had accomplished in office, rather than just being known as the black — first black senator since Reconstruction.

• GWEN IFILL:

  But why? Why not? Why wouldn't he embrace that?

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  You know, I think he didn't embrace it because he didn't view race as a central part of his political persona.

  He saw himself as a person who transcended it, a man for all Massachusetts and a man who crossed over barriers.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Adrian, we're joined now by "NewsHour" regular, presidential historian Richard Norton Smith, who, among many of his other accomplishments, worked as a speechwriter for Ed Brooke for a time in his Senate.

  What's your sense about that? Why is it that Ed Brooke, for all he accomplished, didn't really want to be remembered as a first anything?

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH, Presidential Historian:

  Well, I think he was always uncomfortable with labels, whatever they were, because labels, after all, are inherently limiting.

  And he knew enough history to realize that at some point today, when we reached this point in his story, historians and others would be making assessments, based not on the symbolism, important as it was, of being the first, but rather they would be assessing what he did.

• GWEN IFILL:

  I think we just lost Richard. I will take that question back to Adrian.

  One of the things that he did, one of the things happened for Ed Brooke is he was offered three different Cabinet posts, yet he turned them down. Was it just because he just preferred politics?

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  He loved being a man of the Senate. I think he really loved it. He loved the bipartisan nature of the Senate of the day. He loved trying to reach across the aisle. He loved crafting legislation, and I think he was very happy where he was.

  And I think he expected to be a senator for a long time, which didn't exactly come to pass.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Hopefully, we will join Richard Norton Smith again. We have a little bit of a weather problem in Grand Rapids, which is making the connection difficult.

  But I want to stick with you for now, Adrian Walker.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  Sure.

• GWEN IFILL:

  One of the interesting things to me about Ed Brooke is he was very aware of what followed in his path. He was proud and sent a signed book to Barack Obama, talking about how he was proud of him carrying the torch for him. And Barack Obama said he knew he had paved the way.

  But — but Ed Brooke said he wasn't a civil rights leader.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  He did say wasn't a civil rights leader. He said it many times.

  He really didn't want to be known as the sort of first black senator, as a sort of civil rights leader. He wanted to be thought of as just a senator, a person who had transcended those boundaries and had overcome them.

• GWEN IFILL:

  I think we may have Richard back.

  I want to ask you about this idea. He described himself often as a creative moderate. Maybe that's why he resisted those kinds of labels.

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  Yes, you know, he was an amazingly constructive force.

  You know, you mentioned earlier housing was one of his preeminent interests in the Senate. You don't join the Housing Committee if you want to be invited onto Sunday morning talk shows. That's not a subject — important as it is and as much time as he put into it, it wasn't something that would produce political dividends.

  He was also, from the very beginning, very much a man who was willing to buck his own party. Richard Nixon is a classic example. Senator Brooke opposed both Nixon Supreme Court nominees Haynsworth and Carswell successfully.

  And yet, by all odds — and, as you said, he was the first leading Republican to call for Nixon's resignation, and yet he seemed to have retained Nixon's respect. And that tells you something about the way that people on both sides of the aisle viewed Brooke, who was a senator's senator.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Adrian Walker…Go ahead.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  I'm sorry.

• GWEN IFILL:

  No, go ahead.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  He was a moderate in a way that you really don't see in the Senate anymore. He was a really moderate Republican who really prided himself on being able to work across the aisle and who really wasn't afraid of bucking the party leadership at many turns.

• GWEN IFILL:

  And he was elected in Massachusetts at a time when the black population was something like 2 percent.

  Does that mean he was what people later said that Barack Obama should have been or could have been, which is the transcendent, breakthrough candidate?

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  In a way, he was, yes. I mean, he got elected in a state with hardly any black voters. He was elected by white people, absolutely.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Richard Norton Smith, was — his brand of bipartisanship, could it survive today?

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  No. It's vanished, along with his kind of Republicanism.

  In 1968, he joined forces with Walter Mondale, Democrat from Minnesota, and together they offered the Fair Housing Act. That was the last of the great civil rights bills. Can you imagine that happening today?

  But what you said earlier about — there was something special about Ed Brooke. Brooke was one of that rare breed of politicians who made people feel good about voting for them. Forget his ideology, forget his voting record. And you have got to go back to the 1960s.

  Barry Goldwater lost Massachusetts to Lyndon Johnson by a million votes. The same day, Ed Brooke carried it by 700,000 votes. He had an appeal that transcended race, that very much was in the great Massachusetts tradition, for better or not. We think we invented America. We are the home of Webster and Sumner and…

  (LAUGHTER)

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  … and the Kennedys.

  And Ed Brooke is very much in that pantheon, if you will.

• GWEN IFILL:

  So, Adrian Walker, how would you say Ed Brooke should be remembered?

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  Ed Brooke will be remembered in Massachusetts, as I wrote this morning, as a person who enlarged our sense of possibility and who made it clear that African-American politicians could achieve things that had previously been thought unattainable.

  I think he will remembered nationally for his efforts to cross, to transcend boundaries, to cross — to reach across the aisle, and as a moderate Republican of the kind that really doesn't exist anymore.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Do you agree with that, Richard?

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  Yes, and the civility.

  He was a classy guy.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  Yes.

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  And I have to say, on a personal note, he was a wonderful teacher.

  I started writing speeches for him. And I had a lot to learn. And he was the best teacher. He had the innate quality that great teachers have of showing you how you could do better without ruining your delicate ego.

  He also was the definition of charisma. You want to see someone walk into a room and own it, connect instantly with people, he had it.

• GWEN IFILL:

  Well, Richard Norton Smith and Adrian Walker, Boston Globe columnist, thank you very much for taking us there.

• ADRIAN WALKER:

  Thank you very much.

• RICHARD NORTON SMITH:

  Thank you.