30 HISTORY oi It i I ( OMMITTEE ON S( I! N< E AND TECHNOLOGY 



propulsion, scientific manpower and education, missile development, 

 chemical warfare, agriculture, space law, communications satellites, 

 inventions, weather, and biomedical experiments — to mention just a 

 tew of the areas covered. 



The 61-year-old chairman of the new Committee on Science and 

 Astronautics was a tall and courtly gentleman, hard-driving, highly 

 ambitious, proud, demanding, controversial, and determined to leave 

 a record of activity and accomplishments for the committee. A 6-footer, 

 Brooks was not flashy in appearance, dressed conservatively, and 

 although he had a readv laugh he was serious minded. His graying 

 blond hair was combed in a semipompadour. His left eye was slightly 

 out of focus, and when he peered out from behind his horn-rimmed 

 glasses it sometimes seemed he wasn't looking directly at you. 



Born into a family of public servants, Brooks was the nephew of 

 U.S. Senator John H. Overton, of Louisiana, and another uncle, Win- 

 ston Overton, served on the Louisiana Supreme Court. Brooks was 

 born in Baton Rouge in 1897 and served overseas as an artilleryman 

 in the 1st Division in World War I. After only 30 days of training he 

 was thrust into combat in France with the 1st Division, astride a 

 horse pulling a caisson. Never having ridden a horse before, Brooks 

 recalled: "I fell off three times." He earned a law degree at Louisiana 

 State University, practiced law in Shreveport, and served as U.S. 

 Commissioner for a 10-year period. In the Roosevelt landslide of 1936, 

 Brooks was iirst elected to the House of Representatives from the 

 Shreveport district in northwestern Louisiana. 



Assigned to the old Military Affairs Committee which merged 

 into the Armed Services Committee, by 1949 Brooks had risen to No. 2 

 in seniority. He chafed at the fact he could not get the attention and 

 publicitv which Chairman Vinson was receiving. He dreamed of the 

 day when he could run the Armed Services Committee with the same 

 awesome power exercised by Chairman Vinson. 



The story goes that while Lyndon Johnson was a member of the 

 old House Naval Affairs Committee when Vinson was chairman, 

 Johnson wanted to ask a c[uestion about the Corpus Christi Naval Base 

 during testimony by a Navy admiral. His glasses perched on the end 

 of his nose, Chairman Vinson peered down toward the end of the 

 rostrum and growled: 



"And how long have you been a member of this committee?" 

 "Six years, Mr. Chairman," Johnson answered. 

 "Well, then, if you've been here for 6 years, I guess you're en- 

 titled to one question," Chairman Vinson barked. 



