Edward William Brooke III Congressional Gold Medal Act
PL 110-260 (S.682), enacted 07/01/2008

122 STAT. 2433 
PUBLIC LAW 110–260—JULY 1, 2008 
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 Amer-
ican 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 con-
sumer 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 pio-
neer, 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 offi-
cials. 
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 Univer-
sity 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 con-
tribution to the security or national interests of the United 
States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or pri-
vate 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 Chris-
tians 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, pub-
lished 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, deter-
mination, 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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122 STAT. 2435 
PUBLIC LAW 110–260—JULY 1, 2008 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S. 682: 
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD: 
Vol. 153 (2007): Mar. 29, considered and passed Senate. 
Vol. 154 (2008): June 10, considered and passed House. 
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 depos-
ited into the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund. 
Approved July 1, 2008. 
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