Our Mr. Brooks

Ralph G. Brooks started a political trend in Southwest Nebraska, in 1958. He became the first of four men with McCook ties to be elected to the highest office in the state, when he was chosen to be the 32nd governor of the State of Nebraska.

Ralph Brooks was born in 1898 near Eustis, where his father had taken out a homestead and a timber claim. The family moved around some, and after attending school at Elm Creek and Kearney, Ralph graduated from high school at Sargent.

Like so many young men of the day who were not interested in farming, Ralph taught school for four years after high school, in schools in Cherry and Custer Counties. But Ralph Brooks was not content to be a country school teacher. Early on he discovered that he had a passion for "learning." His favorite quote, and the one which shaped his life was from Abraham Lincoln, "I will study and get ready, and my chance will come!"

In high school Brooks excelled at geometry, history, Latin and English. But it was for his skill as an orator, as a member of the debate team, that he is most remembered.

After four years, Brooks felt he had saved enough money to attend Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, where again he took honors as a member of the debate team. After graduation, in 1925, he decided to pursue a law degree at the University of Nebraska. He attended the NU College of Law for two years and one summer session and was admitted to the Nebraska State Bar Association., but never did practice law -- teaching was a stronger interest.

Brooks served continuously as superintendent at various schools -- in Cedar Rapids, Hartington, Wymore, Audubon, Iowa and McCook, from 1926 until 1958, when he was elected to be governor.

He developed the reputation as an innovator in the schools he served, and was viewed as something of a savior in at least one of the towns.

It was 1934, and the country was in the depths of the Great Depression, when he accepted the School Superintendent's job at Wymore. The CB&Q Railroad had just announced that it was moving its shops to Havelock (Lincoln), and 2,500 people had moved from tiny Wymore in just one week. Homes were being offered for sale for cents on the dollar, and there were still no takers. People were unable to pay their taxes, and the school district was $34,000 in debt.

Brooks took on the role of community spokesman. He argued (successfully) for the continuation of the branch lines of the railroad, which partially softened the devastation caused by the removal of the railroad shops. He was one of the organizers of "The Greater Nebraska Club," which promoted the state generally, and especially rural Nebraska.

At the same time, Brooks was elected District Director of the Lions Club, and visited all of the Lions Clubs north of the Platte River, further promoting Nebraska. In the summer of 1934, Ralph and Darlene (his second wife) joined a motor caravan of Lions members to the Lions International Convention in Mexico City (over an international highway that was still under construction and river crossings had to be made via ferry)

All of Brooks' activities enabled him to continue honing his oratory skills, and no doubt laid the groundwork for his future forays into the political arena.

In 1942, Ralph Brooks, a Democrat, opposed Carl Curtis, of Minden, in the race to become Congressman from Nebraska's 1st District. At that time, the 1st District comprised the bottom two tiers of Counties, from the Missouri River on the East, to the Colorado State line on the west. Carl Curtis was a rather "undynamic" politician and Brooks made the mistake that so many made after him -- that Curtis would be an easy victim. Ralph Brooks lost that election -- decisively.

If Brooks was discouraged by his first political defeat, it was not for long. By nature, Ralph Brooks was an optimistic, and confident man (some claimed that he was confident to a fault. Brooks often said that if he ever wrote an autobiography it would be entitled, "Hanged, Burned, and Buried," because each of those things had happened to him -- in effigy, at the schools he had served, but those acts had never caused him to lose a job, or to leave before he chose the time).

Through the '40s he continued in his position as school superintendent and at the same time carried on his promotion work for the State of Nebraska in his role as Committeeman for the Greater Nebraska Club. That organization had adopted "The Brooks Plan of Promotion and Development for the State of Nebraska," and this was the message that Brooks carried throughout the state. It was once noted that Brooks' optimistic message was heard, personally, by more people in the state than any other. It is certainly the central theme that he used during his 1958 campaign for Governor.

Ralph Brooks was a writer, and his stories were published by many newspapers and periodicals in Nebraska. During the time he was in Wymore he had a regular column in the "Wymore Arbor" newspaper. He wrote two mystery plays, "The Midnight Marauder" and "The House of Laughing Horrors." These plays were performed by students at Wymore and Hartington, to appreciative audiences.

In 1957, Brooks wrote and produced the pageant, "This Is Our Town" during the celebration for McCook's 75th Birthday celebration. The production involved scores of townspeople in various capacities and was wholeheartedly appreciated by McCook.

By the 1950s, Brooks had become the Superintendent of the McCook Schools, and the President of McCook Junior College. He was also a member of the McCook Rotary Club. The Rotarians of that day were proud of the accomplishments and ambitions of their fellow Rotarian, but at the same time were determined to keep him from getting carried away by his own oratory. A case in point: At one meeting Ralph Brooks announced his candidacy for Governor of Nebraska, and then proceeded to deliver his first campaign speech. Since the speech was composed to a certain extent of material from his Greater Nebraska speeches, most of the members had heard large portions before -- some many times. As Brooks launched into his oration members cheered wildly to encourage him -- then by some pre-arranged signal, they began to drop pencils and other small objects to the floor, which by themselves provided only a small distraction to the speaker, but taken as a whole they began to irk Ralph Brooks -- more than a little.

Finally, after Brooks had delivered a few icy stares at his detractors, he surprised the group by jumping up on a table, shaking his fist at the audience, and announcing that he was going to deliver his speech and those members might as well just sit and take it. He would not be detracted. And he wasn't. When he finished he received a rousing cheer from the members and, while not the entire support of the Club, he received a great round of encouragement.

Ralph Brooks won his race for Governor, but had barely settled into his new office when he began to plan for another race -- for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He had announced his plans and had begun to put together his political team when he was stricken with a fatal heat attack. He died while in office, in September 1960.

In speaking of her husband's bid for the Senate -- after his death, Darlene Brooks quoted Robert Browning, "But a man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what is heaven for?" He was 62 years old.

Source: Gazette Centennial 1882-1982, "Trails West" by Ray and Rutledge