William Emerson Brock III was an American Republican politician who served in both chambers of the United States Congress from 1963 to 1977 and later in the United States Cabinet from 1981 to 1987.
19 Facts About Bill Brock
2.
Bill Brock was the grandson of William Emerson Brock Sr.
3.
Bill Brock was a native of Chattanooga, where his family owned a well-known candy company.
4.
Bill Brock was the son of Myra and William Emerson Brock Jr.
5.
Bill Brock was a 1949 graduate of McCallie School and a 1953 graduate of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, in 1953 and subsequently served in the US Navy until 1956.
6.
Bill Brock had been reared as a Democrat, but became a Republican in the 1950s.
7.
The 3rd had long been the only Democratic outpost in traditionally heavily Republican East Tennessee; indeed, Bill Brock's victory ended 40 years of Democratic control in the district.
8.
Underlining this district's conservative bent, Bill Brock was reelected in 1964 by over nine points amid Lyndon Johnson's 44-state landslide.
9.
Bill Brock served four terms in the House and then won the Republican nomination to face three-term incumbent US Sen.
10.
Bill Brock's campaign was successfully able to make an issue of Gore's friendship with the Kennedy family and Gore's voting record, which was somewhat liberal by Southern standards, and defeated him.
11.
Bill Brock was a member of Paperwork Commission which according to Science's "Commission on Paperwork" editorial issued 25 reports and 750 recommendations for cutting paperwork saving $3.5 million annually.
12.
Bill Brock's efforts contributed greatly to Congress' "Era of Cooperation" between 1971 and 1977, during which major reforms were accomplished including the Clean Water Act of 1972, Endangered Species Act of 1973, Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, and Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, all of which passed without opposition votes in the Senate.
13.
Bill Brock was considered vulnerable in the 1976 election cycle and several prominent Democrats ran in the 1976 Democratic Senate primary for the right to challenge him.
14.
Bill Brock resigned his cabinet post in late 1987 to serve as the campaign manager for Senator Bob Dole's presidential campaign.
15.
Bill Brock's late start in the Fall of 1987 left little time to help find an avenue to cut into Bush's substantial lead in national polls.
16.
Dole and Bill Brock had a public falling out, and Bill Brock publicly fired two of Dole's favored consultants, ordering them off of the campaign plane.
17.
In 1990, Bill Brock was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal.
18.
Bill Brock was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.
19.
Bill Brock died from pneumonia in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on March 25,2021, at age 90.