[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 134 (Tuesday, September 11, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S11406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEATH OF SENATOR DANIEL BREWSTER

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to the life and 
legacy of Senator Daniel Baugh Brewster. I was a great admirer of 
Senator Brewster, and I hold the Brewster seat in the U.S. Senate.
  Senator Brewster was a true patriot. He was a hero at the age of 19 
when he volunteered for the Marine Corps and was sent to the front 
lines of the war in the Pacific. There he served bravely--leading the 
1944 assault on Guam and the 1945 assault on Okinawa. He bore the 
wounds of war like so many of our heroic veterans. He was wounded seven 
times and had a permanent scar on his forehead from a bullet that 
lifted his helmet and grazed his scalp while battling for Sugar Loaf 
Hill on Okinawa. For his bravery, he was awarded a Purple Heart, two 
Gold Stars, and two Bronze Stars.
  As with many World War II veterans, Senator Brewster came back a 
changed man. He was disappointed when some of his neighbors in Green 
Spring Valley voiced outrage at him for inviting African-American 
friends he had served with during the war to his home. This experience 
further fueled both his desire to run for office and his lifetime 
commitment to civil rights.
  Senator Brewster graduated from University of Maryland School of Law 
in 1949, and was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1950. 
After serving two terms, Senator Brewster ran for and was elected to 
represent Maryland's Second District in Congress in 1958. In 1962, Mr. 
Brewster was elected to the Senate. He was just 39 years old.
  In the Senate, Brewster was a champion for civil rights. He 
cosponsored the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and served as the 
stand-in candidate for President Lyndon Johnson's 1964 Presidential 
primary campaign in Maryland against segregationist candidate George 
Wallace of Alabama. The contest was seen as a crucial battle in the 
fight for civil rights. Despite threats to his family, he campaigned 
vigorously and won the primary for President Johnson.
  Senator Brewster served as a member of the Senate Armed Services 
Committee at the time the war in Vietnam was escalating. Publicly, he 
took a hawkish position on the war, but privately he expressed concerns 
about the war and shared those concerns with President Johnson.
  After leaving the Senate, Senator Brewster devoted his time to his 
family, farming, and volunteering. He was an original director and 
former president of the Maryland State Fair and chaired the Governor's 
Commission on Alcoholism and the Governor's Commission on AIDS.
  Senator Brewster's congressional legacy lives on today as two of his 
Senate interns from Maryland, Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, 
went on to prestigious political careers of their own.
  I offer my heartfelt condolences to Senator Brewster's family and to 
his friends and to all those whose lives he touched. Senator Brewster's 
family is in my thoughts and prayers.

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