Former Senator Edward Brooke Awarded Congressional Gold Medal
BROOKE
New Bedford Standard-Times
Ayesha Aleem
Boston University Washington News Service
Oct. 29, 2009
WASHINGTON – Edward Brooke is familiar with being in the minority. He has now joined another exclusive group when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor Congress may bestow.
The former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, who served from 1967 to1979, received the award at the Capitol Wednesday.
Ninety-year old Brooke, a Republican, was the first African-American to be elected by popular vote to the Senate. President Barack Obama, who presented Brooke with the medal, became only the third when he was elected to the Senate from Illinois in 2004.
As a senator, Brooke championed the causes of low-income housing and a woman’s right to an abortion.
Brooke served as Massachusetts attorney general before being elected to the Senate.
After serving two terms in the Senate, Brooke was defeated by Paul Tsongas, whose widow, Rep. Niki Tsongas, currently represents the 5th Congressional District. There has been no Republican senator from Massachusetts since Brooke left office.
In 2008, Rep. Barney Frank pushed to award the Gold Medal to Brooke. “As I work in the housing area, I find myself frequently trying to preserve some of the pioneering efforts on behalf of affordable housing that Ed Brooke created,” Frank said in a statement at the time. “Sen. Brooke was a leader in a number of areas.”
The Gold Medal is one of two of the highest civilian awards in the United States, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. American citizenship is not a requirement. The award has only been bestowed 150 times since 1776. George Washington was its first recipient. Other winners include Thomas A. Edison, Walt Disney and Winston Churchill.
