PUBLIC LAW 110–260—JULY 1, 2008 122 STAT. 2433 

Public Law 110–260 

110th Congress 

An Act 

To award a congressional gold medal to Edward William Brooke III in recognition 

of his unprecedented and enduring service to our Nation. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 

the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Edward William Brooke III 

Congressional Gold Medal Act’’. 

SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

The Congress finds as follows: 

(1) Edward William Brooke III was the first African American elected by popular vote to the United States Senate and 

served with distinction for 2 terms from January 3, 1967, 

to January 3, 1979. 

(2) In 1960, Senator Brooke began his public career when 

Governor John Volpe appointed him chairman of the Boston 

Finance Commission, where the young lawyer established an 

outstanding record of confronting and eliminating graft and 

corruption and proposed groundbreaking legislation for consumer protection and against housing discrimination and air 

pollution. 

(3) At a time when few African Americans held State 

or Federal office, Senator Brooke became an exceptional pioneer, beginning in 1962, when he made national and State 

history by being elected Attorney General of Massachusetts, 

the first African American in the Nation to serve as a State 

Attorney General, the second highest office in the State, and 

the only Republican to win statewide in the election that year, 

at a time when there were fewer than 1,000 African American 

officials in our nation. 

(4) He won office as a Republican in a state that was 

strongly Democratic. 

(5) As Massachusetts Attorney General, Senator Brooke 

became known for his fearless and honest execution of the 

laws of his State and for his vigorous prosecution of organized 

crime. 

(6) The pioneering accomplishments of Edward William 

Brooke III in public service were achieved although he was 

raised in Washington, DC at a time when the Nation’s capital 

was a city where schools, public accommodations, and other 

institutions were segregated, and when the District of Columbia 

did not have its own self-governing institutions or elected officials. 

Edward William 

Brooke III 

Congressional 

Gold Medal Act. 

31 USC 5111 

note. 

July 1, 2008 

[S. 682] 


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122 STAT. 2434 PUBLIC LAW 110–260—JULY 1, 2008 

(7) Senator Brooke graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar 

High School and went on to graduate from Howard University 

in 1941. 

(8) Senator Brooke’s enduring advocacy for self-government 

and congressional voting rights for the citizens of Washington, 

DC has roots in his life and personal experience as a native 

Washingtonian. 

(9) Senator Brooke served for 5 years in the United States 

Army in the segregated 366th Infantry Regiment during World 

War II in the European theater of operations, attaining the 

rank of captain and receiving a Bronze Star Medal for ‘‘heroic 

or meritorious achievement or service’’ and the Distinguished 

Service Award. 

(10) After the war, Senator Brooke attended Boston University School of Law, where he served as editor of the school’s 

Law Review, graduating with an LL.B. in 1948 and an LL.M. 

in 1949, and made Massachusetts his home. 

(11) During his career in Congress, Senator Brooke was 

a leader on some of the most critical issues of his time, including 

the war in Vietnam, the struggle for civil rights, the shameful 

system of apartheid in South Africa, the Cold War, and United 

States’ relations with the People’s Republic of China. 

(12) President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Senator 

Brooke to the President’s Commission on Civil Disorders in 

1967, where his work on discrimination in housing would serve 

as the basis for the 1968 Civil Rights Act. 

(13) Senator Brooke continued to champion open housing 

when he left the Senate and became the head of the National 

Low-Income Housing Coalition. 

(14) Senator Brooke has been recognized with many high 

honors, among them the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 

2004, an honor that recognizes ‘‘an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United 

States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors’’; the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit from 

the Government of Italy; a State courthouse dedicated in his 

honor by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, making him 

the first African American to have a State courthouse named 

in his honor; the NAACP Spingarn Medal; and the Charles 

Evans Hughes award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. 

(15) Senator Brooke’s biography, Bridging The Divide: My 

Life, was published in 2006, and he is the author of The 

Challenge of Change: Crisis in Our Two-Party System, published in 1966. 

(16) Senator Brooke became a racial pioneer, but race was 

never at the center of his political campaigns. 

(17) He demonstrated to all that with commitment, determination, and strength of character, even the barriers once 

thought insurmountable can be overcome. 

(18) He has devoted his life to the service of others, and 

made enormous contributions to our society today. 

(19) The life and accomplishments of Senator Brooke is 

inspiring proof, as he says, that ‘‘people can be elected on 

the basis of their qualifications and not their race’’. 


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PUBLIC LAW 110–260—JULY 1, 2008 122 STAT. 2435 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 682: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 

Vol. 153 (2007): Mar. 29, considered and passed Senate. 

Vol. 154 (2008): June 10, considered and passed House. 

Æ 

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

(a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the House 

of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate 

shall make appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on 

behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design to 

Edward William Brooke III in recognition of his unprecedented 

and enduring service to our Nation. 

(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the presentation 

referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (hereafter 

in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal 

with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined 

by the Secretary. 

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the 

gold medal struck pursuant to section 3 under such regulations 

as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the 

cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, 

and overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal. 

SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

(a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck pursuant to this 

Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, 

United States Code. 

(b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of section 5134 of title 

31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall 

be considered to be numismatic items. 

SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE. 

(a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is authorized 

to be charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise 

Fund, such amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs 

of the medals struck pursuant to this Act. 

(b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the sale of 

duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund. 

Approved July 1, 2008. 


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