Brougham gained fame in 1820 as chief attorney for Queen Caroline, also known as Henry Peter Brougham 1778–1868 ❖ 1778 Born, Edinburgh, Scotland 1775–83 American Revolution 1802 Helped c
Trang 1In order to determine whether an individual
is acting as a broker in a transaction, the type of services that are performed must be examined
Types of Brokers
There are several kinds of brokers, each of whom deals in specific types of transactions
A bill-and-note broker negotiates the buying and selling of bills of exchange and promissory notes
A commercial or merchandise broker is an individual who works with buyers and sellers by negotiating between them in the buying and selling of goods, without having personal custody of the property This broker offers services on a commission basis to manufac-turers as a sales representative for their product
Such a broker has no control or possession of
the product that is sent directly to the buyer; the broker merely acts as a middleperson in all transactions
An insurance broker acts as an intermediary between the insurer and the insured and is distinguishable from an insurance agent While
an insurance agent is employed by, and represents, a particular insurance company, an insurance broker is a representative of the insured only An insurance agent is bound by company rules and responsibilities, whereas an insurance broker’s only duty is to aid a client This kind of broker owes no obligation to any company
REAL ESTATE brokers or agents are hired to transact the buying and selling,LEASE, or rental
of real property on a commission basis They can also be involved with the purchase and sale
of lands and the acquisition of mortgages for others They may also counsel and advise people who wish to buy or sell real estate
Stockbrokers buy and sell shares in corpora-tions and deal in corporation stock and in other securities A stockbroker’s functions are gener-ally broader than those of other brokers As more than a mere negotiator, a stockbroker makes a purchase in his or her own name and ordinarily pays the purchase price A stockbro-ker is often responsible for the possession of the securities with which he or she deals
Converse-ly, an ordinary broker neither has title to, nor possession of, property that is being purchased
or sold As stockbrokers serve in a greater capacity, their responsibilities also extend be-yond those of ordinary brokers
Regulation and Conduct of Business
The business or occupation of a broker may be regulated by the state under itsPOLICE POWER A
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONhas the power to regulate brokers who function within its boundaries if authority to do so is granted by the state
In order for brokers to engage in business, they are generally required to acquire a license and pay a fee Brokers who conduct business without a license can be fined by state licensing authorities In some states, it is illegal for any person other than a licensed broker to be paid for services concerning real estate transactions Laws exist that impose a license tax on brokers Within the meaning of such laws, any individual who regularly works as a middleper-son or negotiates business transactions for the
A broker, such as this
man buying and
selling stocks on the
New York Stock
Exchange trading
floor, acts as an
intermediary in the
contracting of any
type of bargain.
AP IMAGES
138 BROKER
Trang 2benefit of others is ordinarily considered a
broker It has been held by a federal court that
a statute requiring brokers to obtain a license
was only applicable to those people regularly
employed as brokers An individual only casually
involved in brokerage through the arrangement
of only a few sales would not be considered to
be engaged in the business of brokerage
Revocation of License The state’s concerns
regarding brokers extend beyond initial
licens-ing to the establishment of conditions for the
maintenance of a license The state may provide
for the revocation or suspension of brokers’
licenses for reasonable grounds
The power to revoke a license may be vested
in a specially designated commission that exists
primarily to hear complaints about the
FRAUDU-LENT practices of brokers Such proceedings are
ordinarily informal, and technical court rules
generally are not observed
During a hearing, the commission is
pre-sented with evidence relating to the broker’s
con-duct and must consider whether such concon-duct
warrants denial of the privilege to engage freely
in business
Grounds for revocation of a license are
generally based uponFRAUD, dishonesty,
incom-petence, orBAD FAITHin dealing with the public
A real estate broker’s license may be revoked or
suspended because ofMISREPRESENTATIONused to
effect a purchase or sale Generally, the conduct
of a broker in negotiating a real estate
transac-tion on behalf of his or her principal is subject
to strict fraud and deceit standards, equal to
those imposed on his or her principal It has
been held by some courts that the failure of a
broker to disclose material facts within his or
her knowledge will create LIABILITY Within the
meaning of fraud is the pretense of knowledge
on the part of the broker while executing a real
estate transaction where no knowledge actually
exists—for example, while selling a house a
broker states that there are no concealed defects
in the house, although he or she does not
actually know if such defects exist
A real estate broker’s license may be
suspended or revoked if duties are performed
unlawfully The U.S home real estate bubble
that broke in 2007 revealed that unscrupulous
MORTGAGEbrokers throughout the United States
had created sham transactions or had
encour-aged people to apply for mortgages they could
not afford State and federal authorities have
prosecuted a number of brokers for their unlawful actions, and some states have tight-ened regulations for brokers In addition, a broker’s license can be revoked or suspended if
a broker is guilty of racial discrimination in the selling and leasing of property
Stockbrokers may be liable for various unethical activities, such as CHURNING, which is the unnecessary trading of stocks to gain additional commissions ACONSUMER PROTECTION
organization, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), was established by Con-gress to aid customers of securities concerns that go out of business
Bonds State regulations usually require that brokers, especially those engaged in the real estate business, deliver a bond to insure faithful performance of their duties The liability of the
SURETYguaranteeing such a bond extends only to transactions that arise during the normal course
of the broker’s business and that are intended to
be included in the bond
Commissions A broker is ordinarily compen-sated for services by the payment of a commis-sion, based upon a portion of the value of the property in a particular transaction
Generally, a commission is earned when negotiations between a buyer and seller are completed, and an agreement is reached It is customary for a broker to deduct and reserve the amount of commission from funds obtained
by him or her for a client The ordinary basis for the calculation of a percentage commission is the total sale price of whatever is sold
In order for a broker to be entitled to a commission, a sale must be completed for which the broker has been employed The broker’s right to a commission is not dependent upon the finalization of the transaction unless otherwise agreed upon by the broker and by his
or her client
The compensation of a broker is based upon procurement of a client who is willing and able
to purchase The specific terms of the transac-tion must be satisfactory to the broker’s client
Of paramount importance is the prospective buyer’s ability to provide the required funds at the suitable time A broker who has properly performed his or her duties should not be denied a commission due to a failure by the parties to consummate the deal
BROKER 139
Trang 3In the absence of any agreement to be employed by a client, a broker is not to be compensated for voluntary services Similarly, compensation is not due a broker when a sale is made by an owner after the broker-client relationship has been terminated A common type of termination is the expiration of a real estate listing This rule against the payment of a commission is absolute—regardless of whether the sale is made to an individual whom the broker initially produced—provided the broker was given ample opportunity to complete the transaction and failed to do so Once a broker has earned his or her commission, a client may not terminate the relationship and complete the transaction himself or herself in order to avoid paying the broker
Any fraudulent misrepresentations or evi-dence of bad faith on the part of the broker will defeat his or her right to a commission Mere
NEGLIGENCE in the execution of duties, in the absence of bad faith, does not automatically defeat a broker’s right to compensation
FURTHER READINGS Hazen, Thomas Lee 2003 Broker-Dealer Regulation in a Nutshell St Paul, Minn.: West.
Waller, Mark L 1999 Selecting and Working with a Broker.
College Station: Texas Agricultural Extension Center.
CROSS REFERENCES Contracts; Fraud; Insured; Insurer; License; Principal;
Securities.
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION Founded in 1927, the Brookings Institution is a nonpartisan (generally ideologically centrist) organization dedicated to research, education, and publication in the fields of economics,
foreign policy, and government It states as its principal purposes:“to aid in the development
of sound public policies and to promote public understanding of issues of national importance.”
The Brookings Institution is one of the oldest think tanks in Washington, D.C Its main purpose is to conduct research into areas that can affect and be affected by PUBLIC POLICY Brookings maintains a 55,000-volume library that is organized into the following divisions: Advanced Study, Economic Studies, Foreign Policy Studies, Governmental Studies (which includes some legal studies), Foreign Policy Studies, Governmental Studies, Publications, and a Social Science Computation Center The institution publishes the Brookings Bulletin (quarterly), the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (twice a year), and an Annual Report It also publishes its extensive research in books and reprints
vBROUGHAM, HENRY PETER Henry Peter Brougham, also known as Baron Brougham and Vaux, achieved prominence as a lawyer and statesman
Brougham was born September 18, 1778,
in Edinburgh, Scotland In 1802 Brougham was instrumental in the creation of the publication the Edinburgh Review He subse-quently relocated to London and was admitted
to the English bar in 1808 He became a member of Parliament in 1810, where he voiced his opposition to SLAVERY and trade restrictions
Brougham gained fame in 1820 as chief attorney for Queen Caroline, also known as
Henry Peter Brougham 1778–1868
❖
1778 Born,
Edinburgh, Scotland
1775–83
American Revolution
1802 Helped create the
Edinburgh Review
1808 Admitted to English bar 1820 Served as
chief attorney for Queen Caroline
1810 Became a member of Parliament
1825 Helped establish the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge
1828 Helped found the University of London
1830 Received great seal, elevated to peerage as Baron Brougham and Vaux 1830–34 Served as
lord chancellor
1860 Became chancellor
of Edinburgh University
1861–65 U.S Civil War
1868 Died, Cannes, France
1871 Life and
Times of Lord Brougham, an
autobiography, published posthumously
1800
1825
ALTHOUGH THE
PEOPLE MUST BE THE
SOURCE OF THEIR
OWN IMPROVEMENT,
THEY MAY BE AIDED
IN THEIR EFFORTS TO
INSTRUCT
THEMSELVES
—H ENRY B ROUGHAM
140 BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
Trang 4Caroline of Brunswick Caroline had married
George, Prince of Wales, in 1795, and after giving
birth to a daughter, they separated, and Caroline
lived alone In 1806, she was accused of giving
birth to an illegitimate child, but was found
innocent by an inquiry commission George
became king in 1820, and Caroline demanded
her place as his queen Caroline was sued for
DIVORCE on grounds of ADULTERY, and the case
was taken to the House of Lords; Brougham
served as her attorney, and the charges were
eventually dropped
A leader in the field of educational reform, Brougham participated in the establishment of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowl-edge in 1825, and of the University of London
in 1828 From 1830 to 1834, Brougham served
as Lord Chancellor and drafted numerous legal reforms and helped to institute the central criminal court He died May 7, 1868, in Cannes, France
vBROWN, ADDISON Addison Brown gained prominence as aJURIST, botanist, and author
He was born February 21, 1830, in West Newbury, Massachusetts In 1855, Brown was admitted to the New York bar From 1881 to
1901, he performed the duties of district judge for the Southern District of New York
A respected name in the field of botany, Brown acted as one of the founders of the New York Botanical Garden in 1891 From 1896 to
1898, Brown co-authored three volumes of botanical research with Nathaniel L Britton
The series was titled Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions Brown died April 9, 1913, in New York City
vBROWN, HENRY BILLINGS Henry Billings Brown was an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1890 to 1906
Born to a wealthy family on March 2, 1836,
at South Lee, Massachusetts, Brown attended private schools as a child His father, a pros-perous merchant and manufacturer, saw to it that Brown attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1856 After graduation, Brown traveled in Europe for a year, then returned to study law at Yale and Harvard In 1859 he moved to Detroit and in 1860 he was admitted
to the Wayne County bar in Michigan
Henry Peter Brougham.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Addison Brown 1830–1913
❖
❖
1830 Born, West
Newbury, Mass.
1855 Admitted to New York bar
◆
1861–65 U.S Civil War
1881 Appointed by President Garfield to district judgeship for the Southern District
of New York
1891 Helped found the New York Botanical Garden
1901 Retired from bench
1898 Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States,
Canada, and the British Possessions published
1913 Died, New York City
1914–18 World War I
THE UNDERLYING FALLACY OF THE PLAINTIFF’S ARGUMENT[RESTS] IN THE ASSUMPTION THAT THE ENFORCED SEPARATION OF THE TWO RACES STAMPS THE COLORED RACE WITH A BADGE OF INFERIORITY
—H ENRY B ROWN
Trang 5Brown was appointed deputy U.S marshal
in 1861 Detroit at that time was a bustling Great Lakes port, and he became involved in the many commercial and maritime legal disputes that arose Two years later, he was named assistant U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan He held this post until May 1868 when he was appointed to fill a short-term vacancy on the Wayne CountyCIRCUIT COURT
Recognized as the leading authority on admiralty law and maritime law, Brown lec-tured on the subjects at the University of Michigan Law School, and compiled and published Brown’s Admiralty Reports In 1890 President Benjamin H Harrison appointed him
to the U.S Supreme Court As a Court member, Brown gained a reputation as a moderate but was a staunch defender of property rights He was reluctant to extend constitutional protec-tion in CRIMINAL PROCEDURE and civil liberties disputes, and concurred with the majority in
LOCHNER V.NEW YORK, 198 U.S 45, 25 S Ct 539,
49 L Ed 937 (1905), which struck down a statute calling for maximum work hours for bakers Lochner was consistent with Brown’s unwillingness to allow governmental interfer-ence with contractual freedom
Brown also concurred in the so-called Insular cases, which held that residents of U.S territories such as Puerto Rico are not entitled
to constitutional protections However, he departed somewhat from his usual strict adher-ence to judicial precedadher-ence when he voted to uphold the federal INCOME TAX in POLLOCK V
FARMERS’LOAN&TRUST CO., 158 U.S 601, 15 S Ct
912, 39 L Ed 1108 (1895)
Brown is perhaps best remembered as the author of the Court’s opinion in PLESSY V
FERGUSON, 163 U.S 537, 16 S Ct 1138, 41 L
Ed 256, the 1896 decision upholding state-mandated racialSEGREGATION in railway cars as long as the accommodations were equal The
“separate-but-equal” doctrine pronounced in Plessy became the constitutional foundation for JIM CROW LAWS and racial discrimination, particularly in the South Later opinion con-demned the Plessy decision, and indeed Brown
Henry Billings Brown.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
1850
Henry Billings Brown 1836–1913
❖
❖
◆
◆
◆
◆
◆
◆
◆
1836 Born, South Lee, Mass.
1856 Graduated from Yale University
1861–65 U.S Civil War
1863–68 Served as assistant U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
1875 Brown's Admiralty
Reports published
1870 Fifteenth Amendment ratified, gave male U.S citizens
of all races the right to vote
1890 Nominated
to U.S.
Supreme Court by President Harrison
1896 Authored the Court's opinion in
Plessy v.
Ferguson
1906 Retired from the Court
1913 Died, New York City
1920 Nineteenth Amendment ratified, gave women the right to vote 1914–18 World War I
142 BROWN, HENRY BILLINGS
Trang 6has often been criticized for his role in it;
however, the decision must be viewed in the
historical context in which it was written Also,
the language in Plessy, requiring equality of
treatment, later became the basis of legal
challenges to segregation laws
Failing eyesight forced Brown to retire from
the bench in 1906 He died in 1913
FURTHER READINGS
Hall, Kermit L 2005 Oxford Companion to the Supreme
Court of the United States 2d ed New York: Oxford
Univ Press.
“Henry Billings Brown (1836–1913).” History of the Sixth
Circuit Available online at http://www.ca6.uscourts.
gov/lib_hist/Courts/supreme/judges/brown/hbb-bio.
html; website home page: http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov
(accessed Augsut 27, 2009).
Schwartz, Bernard 1995 A History of the Supreme Court.
2d ed New York: Oxford Univ Press.
CROSS REFERENCES
Labor Law; Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas;
Equal Protection.
vBROWN, JOHN
JOHN BROWN was a charismatic, stubborn
aboli-tionist who failed at numerous business and
commercial enterprises, yet succeeded in
con-vincing men to join him in a cause for which
they were willing to die His abolitionist beliefs
translated into violent actions in Kansas and
HarpersFERRY, Virginia Convicted ofMURDERand
TREASON for his raid on military facilities at
Harpers Ferry, Brown was hanged for his crimes
Nevertheless, he galvanized the abolitionist
cause, becoming a martyr in the fight against
SLAVERY
Brown was born in Torrington, Connecti-cut, on May 9, 1800, to Owen and Ruth Brown
His father, a strict Calvinist, despised slavery
When Brown was five years old, the family moved to Hudson, Ohio, a locale that was steeped in anti-slavery sentiment Brown’s fervor for the anti-slavery movement never waned and grew more vehement as he got older
In 1820 Brown married Dianthe Lusk, and six years later they moved to Pennsylvania where he started a tannery Lusk died in 1832, leaving Brown with five children In 1833 he
John Brown.
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINIS-TRATION
John Brown 1800–1859
◆
◆ ◆ ◆
◆
◆
◆
❖
1800 Born,
Torrington, Conn.
1820 Married Dianthe Lusk and moved to Pennsylvania
1820 Missouri Compromise enacted, limiting slavery
1842 Filed for bankruptcy after failed business ventures
1848 Free Soil Party founded opposing slavery in territories
1847 Met Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass
1849 Moved to North Elba, New York;
participated in Underground Railroad
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act passed
1861–65 U.S Civil War
1865 Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery
1857 Supreme Court issues Dred Scott decision; Missouri Compromise unconstitutional
1855 Moved to "Bleeding Kansas"; commits acts of violence against pro-slavery settlers
1859 October 16 raid against federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia; convicted of murder, conspiracy and treason; died on December 2
1858 Freed 11 slaves and brought them to Canada 1857–59 Lectured to anti-slavery groups in New England
IBELIEVE TO HAVE INTERFERED ASI
HAVE DONE
IN BEHALF OFHIS DESPISED POOR,WAS NOT WRONG,BUT RIGHT NOW,IF IT BE DEEMED NECESSARY THATISHOULD FORFEIT MY LIFE FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE ENDS OF JUSTICE
ISUBMIT:SO LET
IT BE DONE
—J OHN B ROWN BROWN, JOHN 143
Trang 7married 16-year-old Mary Ann Day who bore him seven more children Brown and his growing family moved around the country while he tried his hand at a number of occupations, including tanner, farmer, cattle broker, and wool merchant
In 1835 Brown’s attempts to support his family and to repay money he had borrowed led
to a disastrous “get rich quick” scheme He convinced family members and friends to loan him money that he used to buy property where
a canal was to be built His timing proved unfortunate In the wake of the Panic of 1837, plans for the proposed canal were changed and the properties bought up by Brown and his associates were rendered nearly worthless
Brown made numerous other attempts to reach financialSOLVENCY, but ultimately was forced to declareBANKRUPTCYin 1842
Throughout his life Brown remained com-mitted to the anti-slavery cause Brown met the great abolitionist leader FREDERICK DOUGLASS in
1847 and impressed Douglass with his sympathy for African Americans—both slaves and free-men In 1849, Brown moved his family to the black community of North Elba, New York
Brown proposed to show the residents of North Elba how to farm and to act as a mentor to them
Brown was a participant in the Underground Railroad, an informal network of ex-slaves and sympathetic whites that helped slaves escape their masters and travel north to freedom In
1851, he proposed the establishment of the League of Gileadites, an organization that would
be used to protect escaped slaves
In 1854 Congress passed the KANSAS
-NEBRASKA ACT, which called for the residents of the new territories to decide the issue of slavery
by popular vote The area became known as
“bloody Kansas” as competing groups fought violent skirmishes aimed at securing the territories for their side Many pro-slavery residents of Missouri moved across the border
in hopes of securing a victory at the election
Five of Brown’s sons had moved to Kansas and they entreated their father to join them In
1855 Brown moved to Kansas and began to plan for the armed conflict he felt was inevitable In
1856, in response to escalating incidents includ-ing the sackinclud-ing of the anti-slavery town of Lawrence, Kansas, and the near-fatal beating
of U.S Senator CHARLES SUMNER who was attacked on the Senate floor by a pro-slavery
congressman, Brown led a small band of men to Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas, where they killed five pro-slavery settlers This violent action by Brown was hailed by a number of anti-slavery groups and universally reviled by pro-slavery forces
In December 1858 Brown and a small group
of followers staged a raid on two pro-slavery homesteads in Missouri where they succeeded
in confiscating property and freeing 11 slaves Brown and his group then traveled more than a thousand miles to deliver the former slaves to a boat that would carry them to freedom in Canada
Although many abolitionists were opposed
to violence, others had begun to adopt Brown’s view that armed conflict was necessary in order
to achieve the ABOLITION of slavery Between
1857 and 1859, Brown crisscrossed New England, giving rousing speeches to anti-slavery groups and raising money for the abolitionist cause Among those who gave money were the Secret Six, a group of wealthy benefactors from Boston who helped Brown by funding the army
he sought to lead in order to further conduct his war against slavery
On October 16, 1859, the 59-year-old Brown led his Provisional Army, consisting of five black men and 21 whites (three of them his sons) in a nighttime raid on the town of Harpers Ferry, Virginia Brown and his men cut telegraph wires, took several HOSTAGES
and gained control of the federal armory and arsenal Brown’s plan was to arm slaves with
WEAPONSfrom the arsenal, thus enabling them to fight for their freedom However, he and his group found themselves pinned down by a group of local citizens and nearbyMILITIAgroups who killed a number of his men including two
of his sons
On the morning of October 18, a contingent
of U.S marines led by Colonel Robert E Lee joined the battle Brown refused a chance to surrender and 36 hours after the raid had started, Brown and his remaining companions were captured Brown was taken to Charles Town, Virginia, (now West Virginia) to be tried In a trial that lasted for nearly a month, Brown was charged with murder, CONSPIRACY, and treason against the state He was found guilty of all three charges Before hearing his sentence, Brown gave a brief but passionate statement to the court:
144 BROWN, JOHN
Trang 8I believe to have interfered as I have
done in behalf of His despised poor, was
not wrong, but right Now, if it be deemed
necessary that I should forfeit my life to the
furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle
my blood further with the blood of my
children, and with the blood of millions in
this slave country whose rights are
disre-garded by wicked, cruel, and unjust
enact-ments, I submit: so let it be done
Brown was hanged in Charles Town on
December 2, 1859 On the day of his execution,
guns were fired and bells tolled in many
northern cities Brown was hailed as a martyr
of the abolitionist movement, which concluded
that a peaceful solution could not be found In
April 1861 Confederate forces fired on Fort
Sumter, an action that marked the beginning of
the Civil War In 1865 Congress passed the
THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT, which abolished slavery
throughout the United States
FURTHER READINGS
DeVillers, David 2000 The John Brown Slavery Revolt Trial:
A Headline Court Case Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow.
“John Brown’s Holy War.” PBS: The American Experience.
Available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/
brown/index.html; website home page: http://www
.pbs.org (accessed July 9, 2009).
Lubet, Steven 2001 “John Brown’s Trial.” Alabama Law
Review 52 (winter).
Oates, Stephen B 1984 To Purge This Land with Blood.
Amherst: Univ of Massachusetts Press.
Peterson, Merrill D 2002 John Brown: The Legend Revisited.
Charlottesville: Univ of Virginia Press.
CROSS REFERENCE
Abolition.
vBROWN, JOSEPH EMERSON
Joseph Emerson Brown was born April 15,
1821, in Pickens District, South Carolina He
was a graduate of the Yale Law School class of
1846, and was admitted to the Georgia bar
In 1849 Brown entered politics and served in the Georgia Senate In 1852 he was a presidential elector and in 1855 he served as a circuit judge
Brown became governor of Georgia in 1857 and, for the next eight years, voiced his opposi-tion to Jefferson Davis, president of the CONFED-ERACY, concerning involuntary service in the
ARMED SERVICESand the elimination of the WRIT
ofHABEAS CORPUS He was a strong supporter of states’ rights and often spoke out against the authority of a centralized government In 1865
he was imprisoned but was released by President
ANDREW JOHNSONshortly afterwards
From 1868 to 1870 Brown again served in the judiciary, presiding as chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
Joseph Emerson Brown.
GETTY IMAGES
1825
Joseph Emerson Brown 1821–1894
◆
◆◆
◆
◆
◆
1894 Died, Atlanta, Georgia
1880–91 Represented Georgia
in the U.S
Senate
1868–70 Served as chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court
1865 Civil War ended; briefly imprisoned along with most of Southern leadership
1861 Civil War began; Jefferson Davis became president of Confederacy
1855 Became circuit judge
1846 Graduated from Yale Law School
1848 Elected to Georgia state Senate
1852 Served as presidential elector
1856 Elected Governor of Georgia;
became staunch states' rights advocate
1821 Born, Pickens District, S.C.
Trang 9Brown entered federal government service
in 1880, representing Georgia in the U.S Senate for an eleven-year period, retiring in 1891 He died November 30, 1894, in Atlanta
The career ofRONALD HARMON BROWNis a portrait
of a consummate Washington, D.C., insider As
an African American attorney, Brown broke several color barriers during his rapid rise in
politics from the 1970s to the early 1990s He first entered the public eye as aCIVIL RIGHTSleader for theNATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE Soon his reputation for persuasiveness and ingenuity led to a variety
of assignments: political strategist to Senator
EDWARD M.KENNEDY(D-Mass.) andJESSE JACKSON, chief counsel of the U.S SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, and lobbyist for foreign governments
In the 1980s Brown became the first black chairman of the Democratic National Commit-tee (DNC) He sCommit-teered the DEMOCRATIC PARTY
toward a more centrist position, thus helping prepare the way for President Bill Clinton’s election in 1992 Clinton picked him to head the
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Although Brown had some notable successes in reviving the lifeless
BUREAUCRACY, allegations of corruption damaged his tenure
Born on August 1, 1941, in Washington, D.C., Brown was raised in the company of successful role models His parents, William Brown and Gloria Brown-Carter, were both graduates of Howard University, and they moved the family to Harlem, where William managed the Hotel Theresa Brown grew up in the hotel, surrounded by famous black enter-tainers and celebrities: it was a stopover for them after playing Harlem’s Apollo Theater As
a young man, he attended Middlebury College, where he was the school’s first black fraternity pledge He married Alma Arrington in 1962, and then served in the Army from 1963 to 1967, attaining the rank of captain Leaving the service, he joined the National Urban League
as aWELFARE caseworker Brown did not toil in the trenches for long His skill at negotiation stood out, and, after adding a law degree from St John’s University, he became the
Ronald Harmon Brown 1941–1996
❖
❖
1939–45 World War II
1941 Born, Washington, D.C.
1950–53 Korean War
◆
1961–73 Vietnam War
1962 Graduated from Middlebury College
1963–67 Served in U.S Army
1968–79 Served as counsel, later on the executive committee of National Urban League
1979–80 Served as deputy campaign manager of Senator Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign
1981–88 Served
as chief counsel
on Democratic National Committee
◆
1988 Ran Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign
1989–92 Became first African-American chairman of the Democratic National Committee
◆
1993 Appointed secretary
of the Department of Commerce
1996 Died, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Ron Brown.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
WE’RE COMPETING
EVERYWHERE FOR
CONTRACTS BECAUSE
THAT MEANS JOBS
AND A STRONG
ECONOMY,AND WE
INTEND TO WIN
—R ONALD B ROWN
146 BROWN, RONALD HARMON
Trang 10organization’s Washington, D.C., vice president
and assumed the role of spokesman
The give-and-take of politics suited Brown
“What I love most,” he said, “is changing minds.”
In 1979 Brown’s association with the Democratic
party got a boost when Senator Kennedy named
Brown his deputy campaign manager in an
unsuccessful run at the presidency The job
marked the beginning of a stellar ascent through
party politics Kennedy chose Brown as chief
counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee—and
that position led to a stint as chief counsel of the
DNC, the party’s steering council By the
mid-1980s, Brown was an insider, well-known and
highly regarded in the nation’s capital
Politics offers alluring choices to its
best-connected practitioners, liberal and
conserva-tive, and Brown’s next career move was
perfectly in step with the ethos of Washington,
D.C Brown became a lobbyist He joined the
Washington, D.C., firm of Patton, Boggs, and
Blow, known for its high-profile clients The
attorney had no shortage of these: the
busi-nesses he represented included the financial
giant American Express and twenty-one
differ-ent Japanese electronics firms Yet what gained
him notoriety was his representation of foreign
nations He worked for the interests of Zaire,
Guatemala, and Haiti, and the last two
affilia-tions, in particular, hurt him While he lobbied
on behalf of Haitian strongman Jean-Claude
(“Baby Doc”) Duvalier, Haitian citizens suffered
political repression and saw their national
treasury pillaged Guatemalans were tortured
and murdered Later, when Brown prepared to
assume the high position of secretary of
COMMERCE, critics would be quick to recall that
he had supported dictators
Democrats wanted Brown back, and he left
LOBBYINGto become chairman of the DNC The
job demanded much: Democrats, after all, had
failed to capture the White House since 1976
He had to unify a party that had lost three
consecutive presidential elections, seen massive
defections of its traditional voters, and suffered
from an identity crisis that split its moderate
and left-wing members He also had to soothe
fears that he was too closely allied with one of
the party’s most liberal leaders, Jesse Jackson
“My chairmanship won’t be about race,” he told
critics “It will be about the races we win over
the next four years.” As it happened, Brown was
everything the ailing party hoped for He helped
orchestrate a shift to the center in the Demo-crats’ national agenda—abandoning traditional bullishness on TAXATION and welfare, for in-stance, and asserting a pro-business outlook— which paved the way for the centrist candidacy
of Clinton And as a party boss, he was decisive
Once Clinton emerged as the front-runner, Brown curtailed the primary process; he even secured Jackson’s endorsement “This party was ready,” Mickey Kantor, Clinton’s campaign manager, said after the election, “and it was because of Ron Brown the best chairman we’ve ever had.”
As a reward, Clinton nominated Brown for theCABINETrole of secretary of the Department
of Commerce Originally conceived as a regula-tory agency, Commerce had seen better days;
by the 1990s both liberal and conservative critics considered it to be an ineffective bureaucracy tied up in red tape Despite his credentials and the reform-minded talk of the Clinton administration, Brown’s nomination faced some fears and objections Business worried about his being too tough on it with new regulations Some critics, such as the Center for Public Integrity, worried about the opposite This nonpartisan watchdog group argued that Brown was too well connected to avoid potential conflicts of interest: he would have to regulate industries and foreign countries that he had once represented, seemingly in contradiction to Clinton’s promise to clamp down on the selling of influence by political appointees The group’s December 1992 report, The Torturer’s Lobby, hammered Brown for representing repressive governments Brown called the Center’s charges an attempt at implying “guilt by association.” The Senate confirmed him with little difficulty
As commerce secretary, Brown won praise for breathing new life into the department He revived its export programs, winning lucrative multibillion-dollar contracts for U.S aircraft andTELECOMMUNICATIONSfirms He also presided over a $900 million annual budget for promot-ing high technology in small and medium-sized business, nearly double the amount spent during the administration of George H W
Bush The New Republic called him “the most formidable Commerce secretary since Herbert Hoover” (May 1, 1995) Business fears about his being too liberal proved to be wrong; he was utterly pro-business, even to the point of attracting criticism for helping McDonnell