Bill Brock, former Tennessee US Senator, dies at 90
Former Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bill Brock, a Republican who went on to serve as national party chairman, U.S. Trade Representative and Secretary of Labor, died Thursday at age 90.
Brock died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after a brief bout with pneumonia unrelated to COVID-19, according to a longtime friend.
A Chattanooga native who later moved to Annapolis, Maryland, Brock in recent years opposed the ascension of Donald Trump as a candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, occasionally speaking out publicly to bemoan a lack of civility in the current era of politics.
He served in both chambers of Congress, entering the House in 1963 from Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District and serving four terms. Brock’s election gave way to the rise of the GOP in the Volunteer State, a party that in the following decades would compete as equal contenders with Democrats before Republicans ultimately became dominate.
Brock, raised a Democrat, ran as a Republican for the congressional seat that had belonged to Democrats for four decades, a decision his family said was indicative of his skepticism of any one political party wielding too much control.
“A lot of people used to ask me, ‘What do you think Bill is best known for?’” said Dennis Whitfield, a friend of Brock for more than four decades who worked under him at the RNC and when he was U.S. Trade Representative and labor secretary.
“Bill was not a guy who liked confrontation. He always tried to look at ways you might work out differences.”
Brock was elected statewide in 1970, beating incumbent U.S. Sen. Albert Gore Sr. four years after Howard Baker became the first Tennessee Republican to enter the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction.
The Chattanooga Republican served only one term in the Senate, losing reelection in 1976 to Jim Sasser in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Tennessee also went to Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter that year.
“He was somebody that I greatly respected and he always did what was right, no matter the political cost,” said Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy Mcnally, Roak Ridge, who worked in East Tennessee on Brock’s failed 1976 campaign.
Mcnally credited Brock with helping support the subsequent success of Republicans in other Tennessee offices.
“I think he and Howard Baker really brought the Republican Party to where it is today,” Mcnally said. “And leaders like that really energized the party. They also had a great impact on the national scene.”
After losing the Senate election, Brock was immediately elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, a position he held from 1977 to 1981.
While Republicans reeled from the fallout of the Watergate scandal, Brock helped the RNC escape from debt and pushed for the GOP to win in local races, “rebuilding the party from the ground up,” Whitfield said.
As chair of the RNC, one of Brock’s closest friends became John Coyle White of Texas, chairman of the Democratic National Committee at the same time.
“He always felt you could have some pretty stiff disagreements, but always have a beer afterward,” Whitfield said.
After serving as chairman of the RNC, Brock was appointed by President Ronald Reagan as U.S. Trade Representative. He spearheaded the United States’ first trade agreement negotiations, beginning with Israel and later discussions with Canada and Mexico.
In 1985, Brock was named Secretary of Labor.
After leaving government in 1989, Brock eventually started the Brock Group, a Washington, D.C., trade consulting firm.
Brock moved to Maryland, where in 1994 he again ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate.
Zach Wamp, who decades later would also represent Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District, described Brock as a sort of “father of the Republican Party” in the state.
“Winfield Dunn became governor and Howard Baker became senator and all these things happened because Bill Brock broke the ice,” Wamp said.
Former U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, who retired in January, issued a statement to The Tennessean mourning Brock’s passing.
“Bill Brock was a true political pioneer who helped build the Tennessee Republican Party from scratch and then went on to become one of our nation’s most distinguished public servants,” said Alexander, who also served as Tennessee governor. “Honey and I express to Sandy and Bill’s entire family our sympathy and our great respect for his life.”
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who now holds Brock’s former seat, on Thursday called him “a dedicated public servant and patriot” who will be missed. U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty also remarked on Brock’s death.
“Bill loved his country, and fought for her during his entire career in public service,” Hagerty said.
Brock was the grandson of William Emerson Brock Sr, owner of a successful candy manufacturing company who briefly served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate after the Tennessee governor appointed him to fill a two-year vacancy in 1929.
He went on to work for the family candy company after serving two years in the Navy.
Brock in September told the Chattanooga Times Free Press his vote for president in the November election would be a “tough call,” describing nowpresident Joe Biden as “a very decent human being.”
In December 2015, Brock penned a column in The Washington Post lamenting the “inexcusably divisive, even abusive, language of recent years,” specifically citing Trump.
He is survived by his wife, Sandra Schubert Brock — with whom Brock traveled extensively — and six children and step-children, along with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Brock and his wife spent part of their winters each year in West Palm Beach, according to Whitfield.
“His family and friends will remember him for his gentle, loving spirit and his abiding commitment to his Father, his family, and his country,” reads Brock’s obituary, a copy of which was provided to The Tennessean. “He was a statesman of the highest caliber, leading by example, with kindness and humility.”