EDWARD W. BROOKE III - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 12/03/1971 - HFSID 189722

EDWARD W. BROOKE III
He signs a typed letter to a Republican organizer saying he's too busy with Massachusetts politics to campaign in New Jersey unless President Nixon personally requests his help.
Typed Letter Signed: "Ed" as US Senator, 1 page, 8x10½. Washington, D.C. 1971 December 3. On Senate letterhead to Ernest W. Major, Assistant to the Chairman, Republican National Committee, Washington, D.C. In full: "Your thoughtful and well argued memo is persuasive indeed, but given my own intensive Republican fence-mending chores in Massachusetts during the 'Lincoln Day Season', I honestly don't see how I can work the Mercer County affair into my schedule. Please give me a rain check for New Jersey Ernie. I know how vital it is to keep Cliff Case in the Senate and I want to up New Jersey's Republican membership in the House as well. And, needless to say, if the President needs my help there I will answer the call. Cordially". Edward W. Brooke III (1919-2015) was Attorney General of Massachusetts for two terms (1963-1967) before being elected to two terms in the US Senate (1967-1979). Brooke, the first African American to serve in the US Senate since Reconstruction, is also the last Republican elected to that office from Massachusetts. This letter is revealing. Brooke, a liberal Republican, had broken with President Nixon on many issues, and had led a bipartisan coalition which blocked two of the President's Supreme Court nominees. So if the President needed his help - and Brooke could have been very helpful with some key voting blocs in New Jersey - the Senator wanted to be sure Nixon knew about it, and even asked for it personally. On November 4, 1973, Brooke became the first Republican Senator to call for the President's resignation. Brooke, a combat veteran of World War II, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush in 2004. Mailing fold crosses signature. Otherwise, fine condition.