Maryland Delegate Marc Korman, former Majority Leader of the Maryland House of Delegates and current Chair of the Environment and Transportation Committee, posted a review of author John W. Frece's biography Self-Destruction: The rise, fall, and redemption of U.S. Senator Daniel B. Brewster on Facebook. Delegate Korman's original review can be seen here on his Facebook page, and the full text is posted below:
"If someone had asked me about Daniel Brewster a few weeks ago the only two factoids I really would have known were that he was LBJ's stand-in for the Maryland Presidential Primary in 1964 and that Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi both worked in his office. John W. Frece's new biography, Self-Destruction: The rise, fall, and redemption of U.S. Senator Daniel B. Brewster fills in my mammoth gaps and I highly recommend it to all of the Maryland politicos out there.
Brewster was a Baltimore County child of privilege growing up with trust funds, great schools, large estates, and horses. He volunteered for World War II and served heroically, including in the Battle of Okinawa where tens of thousands were killed on both sides. Like many contemporaries, he returned to the states and entered the law and politics. His legal practice receives scant attention but Brewster dove into Democratic politics and won a Delegate seat in 1950 and joined the Judiciary Committee. After two terms he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives--beating Fife Symington, cousin of Missouri Stu Symington who endorsed Brewster. After two terms in the House, he beat Montgomery County's Blair Lee III in the 1962 Democratic Primary for Senate and defeated a former Republican U.S. House member in the general (incumbent John Marshall Butler declined to run).
Brewster was the young, good looking golden boy of Maryland Democratic politics which fit in well with the Kennedy era. Of course, that period ended early and ugly and Brewster became a major backer--sometimes apologist--for LBJ. In 1964, LBJ declined to enter primaries in favor of running favorite son candidates who would throw their delegates to LBJ at the convention. That included the Democratic Governors of Wisconsin and Indiana and Brewster in Maryland. George Wallace was running a racist primary challenge and was extremely competitive in Maryland--and would continue to be in subsequent elections. Frece really traces a change in Brewster to this surprisingly competitive race where the Brewster (and LBJ) progressive record on civil rights was held in low esteem by many Maryland voters. Brewster won just 53% of the vote and barely won his home county.
Brewster went on defending LBJ on civil rights and then the Vietnam War, neither of which were popular in Maryland. He lost re-election to his friend Congressman Mac Mathias in part because of the war issue but Frece would probably say due to alcohol. Brewster had always been a drinker but it seemed to become debilitating during his time in the Senate, causing him to miss important political events. It also may have contributed to his divorce from his wife and then quick marriage to a childhood love, creating significant turbulence for a 1960s politician. But Brewster's problems were just beginning as the U.S. Attorney for Maryland began prosecuting Brewster for corruption and launching a six year legal battle that included Supreme Court consideration. Frece's view is that Brewster did not do anything wrong but his aide Jack Sullivan did--and tried to pin the blame on Brewster. Over various legal proceedings the charges were reduced and he eventually pleaded no contest. Mathias actually contributed to an effort to have President Carter pardon Brewster but nothing came of it.
Brewster was a broken man and divorced again before finally going to rehab, where sobriety mostly seems to have stuck and he met his third wife and had more children. The remainder of his life was devoted to horses in Baltimore County and occasional forays into public service for various causes. His son lost a 1994 Congressional race to Bob Ehrlich but Brewster continued to lend his fading clout to other candidates, including Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith. He died in 2007. The book serves as a cautionary tale, not just for alcoholism and the taint of corruption, but also for how politicians interact with and treat their families. Brewster was not home most nights as his political star rose and the impact on his family is evident from the book.
Frece also co-wrote the memoirs of Harry Hughes and Joseph Tydings, two books I also recommend to the Maryland political class."
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