The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century By Timothy J. McNulty and Brendan McNulty

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“Jack Brooks proved … a master legislator, canny operator and giant of the House … his principled leadership and political courage, richly chronicled in this first biography on his life, leave an extraordinary legacy.” —Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

“From the Great Society to Watergate to the Iran-Contra scandal to the Clinton crime bill, Congressman Jack Brooks was a larger-than-life figure in our nation’s political history. The Meanest Man in Congress tells his remarkable story.” —Former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe

At a time of deep and damaging division, when selfless service is in short supply and government comes to an historic standstill, polarized by partisanship, it’s uplifting to be inspired by an effective, tireless public servant who always—even when he knew his career was at stake—put country first.

A brilliant, tenacious, cigar-chomping negotiator, Jack Brooks was a lion of state and national politics, one of our most influential and powerful U.S. congressmen (for Texas’ Ninth Congressional District); respected, admired, and feared by both sides of the aisle, renown for consistently working in the nation’s—and his district’s—best interests. A Southerner and a Democrat, he let neither come before his deeply felt love of country. Indefatigable and zealous, he was “a workhorse, not a show horse,” as his son Jeb Brooks says.

Jack Brooks was “mean” only to those trying to cheat Americans. He:

  • Convinced LBJ to be sworn in at Dallas Love Field to signal the seamless transition of power
  • Served ten presidents, committed to bipartisan accomplishments for 42 years
  • Was a child of the Depression and a WWII Marine who served on Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Okinawa, and on the Chinese Mainland preparing for the invasion of Japan
  • Was one of few Deep South congressmen refusing to sign “The Southern Manifesto” that denied funding to any program that might benefit African Americans, despite the political peril
  • Successfully challenged IBM and created the incentives that launched the U.S. digital age
  • Rescued and reinvigorated NASA’s International Space Station program, saving it by one vote
  • Was one of the rare Congress members to chair two major standing committees, the House Judiciary Committee and the House Government Operations Committee
  • Deftly engineered major national reforms that saved the public billions of dollars
  • Voted his conscience on Clinton’s crime bill, including its ban on assault weapons, even as a lifelong NRA member, knowing it would cost him his congressional seat

Standing on principle is knowing it’s going to cost you and doing it anyway. Jack Brooks had the political courage to put his beliefs first and his personal success second. This is what we need and what is sadly lacking from our leaders today—the political courage to put the nation first.

Now, THE MEANEST MAN IN CONGRESS: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century (NewSouth Books; April 2019) chronicles the life of this remarkable citizen and generous, diligent, and unflagging public servant. Meticulously researched, it covers the irascible lawmaker and details the epic sweep of U.S. history during the latter half of the 20th century, from the Great Depression, the John F. Kennedy assassination, and Civil Rights legislation to Watergate, Iran-Contra, and the debate over gun rights under Clinton.

THE MEANEST MAN IN CONGRESS by Brendan F. McNulty and Timothy J. McNulty is a fascinating and compelling history of a great American and the country he loved.