US Congress(CORAL GABLES, Fla.) — Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be elected to the U.S. Senate, died Saturday of natural causes in Coral Gables, Florida. He was 95.
Although two blacks had served in the Senate during the 19th century, they had been both appointed to their seats by the Mississippi state legislature.
Brooke, a lifelong Republican, was elected junior senator from Massachusetts in 1966 and served two terms. Considered a liberal Republican, Brooke later acknowledged that he was neither approached by conservative members of his party nor Southern Democratic senators.
A World War II Army veteran, Brooke earned a law degree from Boston University and opened his own practice. He ran unsuccessfully for public office several times before being elected Massachusetts state attorney general in 1962.
Since Brooke left the Senate in 1979, only two other blacks have been elected to the chamber: Carol Moseley Braun from California in 1992 and Barack Obama from Illinois in 2004, both Democrats.
Married twice, Brooke had three children.
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