G. Bradford Cook

__NOTOC__ 
G. Bradford Cook was a lawyer who served as the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) during a time in the 1970s when the Chicago Board Options Exchange was approved by the SEC and began trading.
Cook was the youngest person to be nominated as chairman of the SEC.
Cook passed away at the age of 77 in August of 2014.
== Background ==
Cook grew up and went to grade school in Lincoln, NE, but in the ninth grade at the behest of his father he went away to school to the Phillips Exeter Academy, in Exeter, New Hampshire. He graduated from there in 1955, then returned home and attended the University of Nebraska for undergraduate study. He had never been to the west coast and applied to attend the Stanford University School of Law, but decided to stay home and attend law school at the University of Nebraska, anticipating a potential political career. 
However, after two years of law school he visited Chicago looking for a job there, interviewing with the senior partner at Winston & Strawn. The two connected over fishing and hunting, as Cook had worked as a ranger in the Olympic National Park between his junior and senior years in college. He would be offered a job to start the next day, but would have to delay his start as he had already accepted a job for the summer. He eventually began in June after graduating from law school and officially started as a lawyer in the fall of 1962 after passing the bar exam.
Cook was active in Republican politics, as was his father, who was the principal fund-raiser in Nebraska for Nixon's presidential campaigns of 1968 and 1972. A friend of Cook's father's tried to recruit him to the Nixon administration, but Cook was not interested in the job that was proposed. He was interested in a job at the SEC. When Phil Loomis moved from SEC general counsel to commissioner, Cook contacted his father's friend, Peter Flanagan and inquired about the open general counsel job. Cook was set up with an interview with the personnel department. 
He met with the SEC Chairman William Casey, who took him to lunch and offered him the position of general counsel. After returning to Chicago, Cook accepted the position and started at the SEC in the fall of 1971.
The first issue Cook dealt with at the SEC as general counsel was the issue of jurisdiction over commissions, whether the SEC or the anti-trust department was responsible for them. During a Congressional hearing on Cook's second day on the job, SEC Chairman Casey responded to a question Cook's answer was that the SEC had jurisdiction. Congress would pass a bill in the mid-1970s to eliminate fixed-commissions in the securities industry. 
In the summer of 1972, Casey separated enforcement from regulation, creating the Division of Market Regulation. Casey selected Cook for the job of director of the new division, though he was allowed to stay on as general counsel as well. 
After Richard Nixon was re-elected in 1972, Cook asked Casey what his intentions were. Casey said he was going to move on. Cook decided he would try for the chairman's job after Casey left. 
In February of 1973, Cook received a cryptic phone call from someone at the White House saying he was going to be designated as the SEC Chairman. He later received word that his nomination was put on hold. He asked some friends to find out why. They said another SEC staffer was being considered, but he would be named the new SEC chair, and he was. 
Cook's term ended after three years when he voluntarily resigned after getting caught up in the Robert Vesco investigation. Amid Watergate-related scandals, Cook resigned 74 days after taking office.
== Education ==
Cook graduated with a bachelors degree from the University of Nebraska. He also received a juris doctor degree from the University of Nebraska Law School. 
He was also a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy.
== References ==	
Category:U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Category:U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - Former Employees
Category:Former SEC Chairmen
Category:Lawyers
Category:Winston & Strawn
Category:Winston & Strawn - Former Employees
Category:Deceased