Smith W. Brookhart was an American county attorney, progressive politician, president of the National Rifle Association, and U.S. senator.
Background
Smith Wildman was born on February 2, 1869 in Scotland County, Missouri, United States; the son of Abram Colar and Cynthia (Wildman) Brookhart. The Brookhart family moved several times before settling in Van Buren County, Iowa, United States.
Education
Smith was educated in country schools. Brookhart graduated from Bloomfield High School, and then attended Southern Iowa Normal School, both in Bloomfield, Iowa, United States, where he graduated in 1889, with an emphasis in scientific courses.
Career
Smith taught in a number of rural schools and in his spare time read law. He came into contact with another Bloomfield resident, James B. Weaver, a leader of the Greenback and Populist movements. Brookhart did not support the Populists, but he adopted many of their ideas.
In 1892 Brookhart passed the bar, and moved to Washington, Iowa, to practice law. A lifelong prohibitionist, he took up that cause when the legislature passed a series of liquor laws that left enforcement to local officials. In 1894 he successfully ran for county attorney and was reelected in 1896 and 1898.
When the Spanish-American War began in April 1898, Brookhart joined the local Company D, Iowa National Guard, and the company was called into service in Jacksonville, Florida. During his years in the National Guard, he developed a lifelong interest in rifle shooting and in time would become an instructor. During World War I, he wrote the army’s first rifle-shooting manual. He served on the board, and during the early 1920s as president, of the National Rifle Association.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the dominant economic and political force in Iowa was the railroad. Convinced that the railroads’ rate structure discriminated against farmers, Brookhart began a lifelong campaign to regulate the railroads. This led him into the progressive wing of the Republican Party, joining its leader in Iowa, Governor and then U.S. Senator Albert B. Cummins.
Brookhart supported Cummins and the various progressive causes, but he broke with Cummins in 1920 when he thought Cummins had deserted progressivism. That year he unsuccessfully challenged Cummins for the Republican senatorial nomination. His challenge of the leader of the Iowa Republican Party united many in the party against him in subsequent elections. When the agricultural depression began in late 1920, Brookhart took up the farmers’ cause. In 1922 Iowa Senator William S. Kenyon was appointed to the bench, and Brookhart successfully ran for the remaining two years of Kenyon’s term. His platform attacked Wall Street and the Federal Reserve Board and demanded relief for farmers.
A longtime supporter of farmer cooperatives, in 1923 he journeyed to Europe and Russia to study farm programs there. He noted that although there had been inexcusable excesses in the Russian Revolution, there was now a stable government, and he called for U.S. recognition of the Soviet Union. His apparent support of the Communist-led country gave more ammunition to his political opponents at home.
Brookhart ran for a full Senate term, in 1924. Despite opposition from his own party, he defeated Democrat Daniel Steck by 755 votes. However, Steck and a combination of Republicans and Democrats successfully challenged the electoral results. In April 1926 the U.S. Senate ruled that Brookhart had not been elected and seated Steck. Undeterred, Brookhart returned to Iowa, defeated Cummins in the June 1926 primary, and was elected to succeed Cummins in the fall general election.
As a senator, Brookhart allied himself with the progressive bloc, whose members included Senators Robert M. La Follette of Wisconsin, George W. Norris of Nebraska, and William E. Borah of Idaho. He chaired the 1924 Select Committee to Investigate Attorney General Harry Daugherty. But his principal concern was to obtain relief for farmers. He advocated laws to allow farmers to take their economic destiny into their own hands and form cooperatives. Although he introduced such a plan several times, the plan never passed, and he eventually supported the McNary-Haugen Bill. He championed small businesses. To protect independent businesses, he drafted anti-chain store legislation. He also introduced legislation to protect independent movie theater owners. Long an advocate of government ownership of the railroads, he also thought that other utilities should be run by the government. As calls increased for repeal of the 18th Amendment, Brookhart fought relaxation of liquor laws and called for stronger enforcement of the laws already in force.
Brookhart ran for reelection to the Senate, in 1932. Although he had advocated relief for farmers, since 1920. He had been unable to obtain any relief legislation for farmers. As a result, he was defeated in the 1932 senatorial primary by Henry Field of Shenandoah.
Brookhart supported Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936. In return, he was appointed special adviser for Russian trade in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. His move to support a Democrat and work in the New Deal was a logical step from his earlier progressivism.
Brookhart left the Agricultural Adjustment Administration after a year and spent his last years practicing law in Washington, D.C., until his health failed. He died in a veterans’ hospital in Arizona, on November 15, 1944.
Smith was a member of S. W. & J. L. Brookhart, farmers, Farmers’ Union, Farm Bureau, American Legion, Spanish-American War Veterans, National Rifle Association Knights of Pythias. Club: Commercial.
Connections
On June 22, 1897, Smith married Jennie Hearne. They had four sons and two daughters, Charles Edward Brookhart, John Roberts Brookhart, Samuel Colar Brookhart, Smith W. Brookhart Jr., Florence Hearne Brookhart Yount, and Edith A. Brookhart Millard.
Father:
Abram Colar Brookhart
Mother:
Cynthia (Wildman) Brookhart
Spouse:
Jennie Hearne
Son:
Charles E. Brookhart
Son:
John R. Brookhart
Son:
Smith W. Brookhart
Daughter:
Florence H. Brookhart
Daughter:
Edith A. Brookhart
Son:
Joseph W. Teacher Brookhart
References
The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa
Iowa has been blessed with citizens of strong character who have made invaluable contributions to the state and to the nation. In the 1930s alone, such towering figures as John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Hoover hugely influenced the nation’s affairs.