Bill Brock - An icon from an era long gone in TN
I don't remember Senator Bill Brock in office. Indeed, he was in office when I was born in July of 1973. He beat Senator Al Gore Sr. in 1970, and, in the aftermath of Watergate, lost to Jim Sasser in the wacky Carter election year of 1976. Politics is somewhat luck. Brock was skilled, but got somewhat lucky in 1970. And just as equally unlucky in 1976. The aftermath was far from dismal for Brock. According to Wikipedia, Brock went on to become chair of the Republican National Committee after his 1976 defeat. After that, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the posts of Trade Representative and Secretary of Labor. Not bad. Not bad at all. But Tennessee, once a bastion of "ticket splitter" politics, is now safe and sound in Republican hands for all practical purposes statewide. As I read Brock's history in The Tennessean , I could not help but think of Howard Baker and other Tennessee politicians who steered the ship tenaciously from their own party perspective but ...