Edward Brooke

"I am running for the United States Senate simply because I want to be a senator," says Massachusetts attorney general Edward Brooke. "I am not trying to get elected for the Republican Party or the Negro cause, even though these ends are fine."

In a state with a Negro population of less than two per cent and a 2-1 Democratic edge in voter registrations, it seems logical that Brooke, a Negro Republican, must base his campaign on personal credentials. He has achieved an impressive record as attorney general, and in 1964 Massachusetts voters demonstrated their confidence in his ability by re-electing him with a 797,000 plurality, the largest vote ever rolled up by any Republican in the state.

Nevertheless, it is not personal merit which will probably earn Brooke a ticket to Washington. Paradoxically, his appeal is based upon the two elements which should be against him--his minority party affiliations and his color--and he makes the most of both opportunities. In his recently published book The Challenge of Change, he warns against the dangerous trend towards a one-party system. As attorney general and a former chairman of the crime commission, Brooke can attest authoritatively to what he calls "the climate of corruption springing from one-party government." He also harps on Democratic complacency, committee control, and lack of debate. "I am often chided by people who say I enjoy prosecuting wrongdoers because I am only getting rid of Democrats," quips Brooke, "and my answer has been that there is no one here but Democrats."

An even greater political advantage for Brooke than the two-party crisis is the racial precedent which he would set. Now occupying the highest elective office held by a Negro in the country, Brooke as a United States senator would soothe the consciences of the majorities which re-elected an anti-bussing school board on more local and personal issues. The presence of a Republican Negro in the Senate would also help to remove the Goldwater stigma from the national party, which is still suffering from the civil rights issue. Brooke rejected Goldwater in the 1964 campaign, as well as in his book.

He guards his personal image against any controversy which might alienate voters. In Brooke, the people of Massachusetts can elect a Negro without sacrificing their own white viewpoint. He is not vehement enough on civil rights to raise any white reaction, as his failure to take a stand on a new state law withholding state aid from cities with racially imbalanced schools indicates. He is a Negro, yes, but local Negro leaders generally regard him as an Uncle Tom, and he plays the role well. He serves as president of the Opera Company of Boston and as chancellor of Old North Church. A softvoiced and articulate speaker, he only vaguely looks like a Negro. Brooke and the voters, in short, blend colors nicely together.

Nor will Brooke offend the Democratic consensus opinion with his political views. Reprimanding his own party for its spirit of negativism, he says that the "central error of contemporary Republicanism is the tendency to regard massive Federal Government as an adversary." In The Challenge of Change Brooke presents poverty, civil rights, and urban renewal as three of America's most pressing problems and then offers general approaches that just extend the present Administration programs. Among his few concrete proposals is a suggestion to increase the total amount of foreign aid in order to devote more capital to industrial and agricultural development.

He proposes a higher minimum wage and an extension of the existing minimum to cover workers unprotected by minimum to cover workers unprotected by minimum wage legislation. Brooke suggests that the benefits of Medicare be extended to needy younger people, and he cautiously states that a negative income tax "ought to be seriously considered" as a means of raising income of the disadvantaged to an established minimum level.

Although these programs are nothing new to Northern liberals, it would be unfair to say that Brooke has no positive ideas to contribute. He proposes a national training corps staffed by thousands of professional teachers and a foreign business corps of American businessmen. While he follows Democratic lines closely, he justifies his preference for Republicanism on old adage that the "Republican Party offers a permanent cure rather than temporary relief."

Past experience has taught Brooke to avoid definite positions which could jeopardize his wide appeal. After two unsuccessful campaigns for election to the lower house of the state legislature and another defeat for the Massachusetts secretary of state, Brooke twice won election as attorney general against weak opposition. In the current race for the Senate, with polls giving him as much as a 55 per cent majority over Democratic hopefuls John Collins and Endicott Peabody, Brooke will again be content to sit safely on his consensus policies, successful public record, and personal image. "With my law background, I believe in thinking issues out through research and then publishing a statement, rather than jumping into debate," explains Brooke, who would risk his clear lead by discussing specific issues.

When asked about Vietnam in a survey last year, for instance, Brooke refused to reply until he knew more about the situation. Now, dutifully prepared, he states that "the President is doing everything possible in the interest of the United States and Vietnamese people, although our emphasis should be on political objectives, not military objectives." He adds that the Vietnamese people should have local elections and a referendum in November 1966 and national elections a year later. It is a neat little package, spoon-fed to Brooke by several Harvard professors.

"Somehow we must come to grips with the ideas of academicians, journalists," Brooke says," and the majority of Americans who speak and vote against us." Eager for the approval of intellectuals, he is now so familiar with Harvard surroundings that he greets the gardners and cooks as old chums on arriving at the Faculty Club. He is certainly receptive to professor's ideas--it is the dearth of his own positive thinking that is bothersome.