Bill Brock
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William Emerson Brock III (November 23, 1930 – March 25, 2021) was an American
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
politician who served in both chambers of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
from 1963 to 1977 and later in the
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from 1981 to 1987. He was the grandson of William Emerson Brock Sr., a Democratic U.S. senator who represented Tennessee from 1929 to 1931.


Early life and career

Brock was a native of
Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
, where his family owned a well-known candy company. He was the son of Myra (Kruesi) and William Emerson Brock, Jr. Brock was a 1949 graduate of McCallie School and a 1953 graduate of
Washington and Lee University , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...
in
Lexington, Virginia Lexington is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 7,320. It is the county seat of Rockbridge County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines ...
, in 1953 and subsequently served in the
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until 1956. He then worked in his family's candy business. Brock had been reared as a Democrat, but became a Republican in the 1950s. In 1962, he was elected to Congress from
Tennessee's 3rd congressional district The 3rd congressional district of Tennessee is a congressional district in East Tennessee. It has been represented by Republican Chuck Fleischmann since January 2011. Current boundaries The district comprises two halves, joined together through ...
, based in Chattanooga. The 3rd had long been the only Democratic outpost in traditionally heavily Republican
East Tennessee East Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. Geographically and socioculturally distinct, it comprises approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee. East Tennessee consists of 33 count ...
; indeed, Brock's victory ended 40 years of Democratic control in the district. Underlining this district's conservative bent, Brock was reelected in 1964 by over nine points amid
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
's 44-state landslide. He was again re-elected in 1966 and 1968. During Brock's tenure in the House, he voted in favor of the
Civil Rights Act of 1968 The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...
, but voted against the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
and the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the civil rights movement ...
.


United States Senator

Brock served four terms in the House and then won the Republican nomination to face three term incumbent U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr. in 1970, defeating
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singer
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in the primary. Brock's campaign was successfully able to make an issue of Gore's friendship with the
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and Gore's voting record, which was somewhat
liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
by Southern standards, and defeated him. While in the Senate, Brock was a darling of the conservative movement but was less popular at home; his personality was somewhat distant by the standards of most politicians. As a freshman U.S. senator he accomplished a great deal even as a minority Republican. He was the original author of the Congressional Budget Act (S. 3984, 92nd Congress and S. 40, 93rd Congress) and as ranking minority of Committee on Government Operations, Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditures led the crafting of the Congressional Budget Bill. He sponsored credit legislation (Title V - Equal Credit Opportunity, H.R. 11211, 93rd Congress), memorialized by a
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exhibit, that provides woman's access to credit, including credit cards, by requiring financial institutions and other firms engaged in the extension of credit to make credit equally available to all and not to discriminate on the "basis of sex or marital status". He was co-chair of the Stevenson/Brock Committee (S. Res. 109, Temporary Select Committee to Study the Senate Committee System) with Senator Adlai Stevenson III, which sponsored establishment of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee as well as workload, scheduling, and staffing reforms and importantly reorganization of committee jurisdictions. As a member of Senate Finance Committee he promoted upgrading unemployment benefits, review of cash and non-cash benefits for low income, analysis of negative income tax experiments, transparency of markups, amendments to tax code, and introduced the first Senate tax indexing bill. Brock was a member of Paperwork Commission which according to Science's "Commission on Paperwork" editorial (September 23, 1977) issued 25 reports and 750 recommendations for cutting paperwork saving $3.5 million annually. And he drafted a 1975 resolution providing personal committee staffing for junior members (S. Res 60). In all these, he worked closely with a broad coalition of Democrats and Republicans to bring those with widely ranging views together. This was appreciated by professional committee staff and members. His efforts contributed greatly to Congress' "Era of Cooperation" between 1971 and 1977, during which major reforms were accomplished including the Clean Water Act of 1972, Endangered Species Act of 1973, Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, all of which passed without opposition votes in the Senate. He was considered vulnerable in the 1976 election cycle and several prominent Democrats ran in the 1976 Democratic Senate primary for the right to challenge him. The most prominent and best-known name, at least initially, was probably 1970
gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
nominee
John Jay Hooker John Jay Hooker, Jr. (August 24, 1930 – January 24, 2016) was an American attorney, entrepreneur, political gadfly and perennial candidate from Nashville, Tennessee, who was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Tennessee in 1970 and 1998 ...
; somewhat surprisingly to most observers, the winner of the primary was
Jim Sasser James Ralph Sasser (born September 30, 1936) is an American politician, diplomat, and attorney. A Democrat, Sasser served three terms as a United States senator from Tennessee from 1977 to 1995, and was Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. ...
, who had managed Albert Gore Sr's 1970 reelection campaign. Sasser was able to exploit lingering resentment of the
Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
, which had concluded only about two years earlier. However his most effective campaign strategy was to emphasize how the affluent Brock, through skillful use of the tax code by his accountants, had been able to pay less than $2,000 in
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
es the previous year; an amount considerably less than that paid by many Tennesseans of far more modest means. Sasser was also aided by the popularity of Democratic Presidential candidate
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
in Tennessee as the former Georgia Governor would win the state by a double-digit margin. Although he started with a 30-point lead in polls over Sasser, Brock would lose his re-election bid by a 47%–52% margin. Prior to his Senate re-election run, Brock was among those considered to replace
Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...
as President
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's running mate in the 1976 election.


Post Senate career

After leaving the Senate, Brock became the new chairman of the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
, a position he held from 1977 to 1981. Upon the election of
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
as U.S. president, Brock was appointed U.S. Trade Representative, a position he maintained until 1985, when he was made
Secretary of Labor The United States Secretary of Labor is a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and as the head of the United States Department of Labor, controls the department, and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all ot ...
. Brock resigned his cabinet post in late 1987 to serve as the campaign manager for Senator Bob Dole's presidential campaign. Dole, the runner up to Vice President
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, was seen as a micro-manager who needed a strong personality like Brock to guide his campaign. Brock's late start in the Fall of 1987 left little time to help find an avenue to cut into Bush's substantial lead in national polls. Additionally, many viewed Brock as an imperious and inadequate manager who badly misspent campaign funds- largely on national headquarters staff- leaving Dole without adequate money for a
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media buy. Dole and Brock had a public falling out, and Brock publicly fired two of Dole's favored consultants, ordering them off of the campaign plane. Dole dropped out of the race in late March 1988 after losing key primaries in New Hampshire, the South, and Illinois. Brock became a consultant in the Washington, D.C., area. By this point, he had become a legal resident of
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. In 1994 he won the Republican U.S. Senate primary in Maryland over future convict
Ruthann Aron Ruthann Aron (née Greenzweig; born October 24, 1942), now known as Ruth Ann Green, is an American felon, former politician, and former real estate developer who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the 1994 United States Senate e ...
, but was soundly defeated (41%–59%) in the
general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
by Democratic incumbent
Paul Sarbanes Paul Spyros Sarbanes (; February 3, 1933 – December 6, 2020) was an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party from Maryland, he served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1977 a ...
. In 1990, Brock was awarded the
New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to approximately 3,000 people. Background The New Zea ...
. Brock was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of
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.


Personal life

Brock married Laura Handly in 1957. They had four children and remained married until her death from cancer in 1985. He later married Sandra Schubert. Brock died from pneumonia in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...
, on March 25, 2021, at age 90.


References


External links

*
USDOL biography

e-archive biography

William Emerson Brock III Papers
, University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, Bill 1930 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American politicians American Presbyterians Businesspeople in confectionery Candidates in the 1994 United States elections Deaths from pneumonia in Florida Maryland Republicans Military personnel from Tennessee Politicians from Annapolis, Maryland Politicians from Chattanooga, Tennessee Presbyterians from Tennessee Reagan administration cabinet members Republican National Committee chairs Republican Party United States senators from Tennessee Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee United States Navy sailors United States Secretaries of Labor United States Trade Representatives Washington and Lee University alumni