Daniel Baugh Brewster Jr. (November 23, 1923 – August 19, 2007) was an American attorney and politician from the state of Maryland. A Democrat, Brewster represented Maryland in the U.S. Senate from 1963 to 1969. Previously, he served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1950 to 1958 and as a U.S. representative from the 2nd congressional district of Maryland from 1959 to 1963. After his Senate career, and following a lengthy court battle, Brewster pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of accepting an illegal gratuity.
Early life, education, and military service
Daniel Baugh Brewster, Jr. was born on November 23, 1923, in Baltimore County, Maryland, in the Green Spring Valley Region. He was the eldest of six children of Ottolie Y. (Wickes) and Daniel Baugh Brewster. Brewster was born into a wealthy family and was "raised in comfort on a beautifully appointed farm in Maryland fox-hunting country". The Washington Post described him as an "inheritor of the Baugh Chemical fortune". His father died when he was 10 years of age.
Brewster was a great-grandson of Benjamin H. Brewster, an attorney and politician from New Jersey who served as United States Attorney General from 1881 to 1885 and was himself a descendant of Mayflower passenger William Brewster. Brewster was also a great-great-great-grandson of Sarah Franklin Bache and Richard Bache and a great-great-great-great-grandson of Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was also related to George Mifflin Dallas (July 10, 1792 – December 31, 1864), a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and the 11th Vice President of the United States.
Education
Brewster was educated at the Gilman School in Baltimore City and at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He attended college at Princeton University and Johns Hopkins University before the U.S. entry into World War II.
After the war, Brewster completed his undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins and enrolled at the University of Maryland Law School. He graduated from University of Maryland Law School in 1949 and was admitted to the bar the same year; he began practicing law in Towson, Maryland, soon after.
Military service
In 1942, Brewster enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. He was commissioned from the ranks in 1943. During World War II, he served in the Pacific theatre, including participating in the Battle of Guam and the Battle of Okinawa. For his actions during the war, he received a Bronze Star. He was wounded seven times, receiving a Purple Heart and a Gold Star in lieu of a second award. He left active duty in 1946 but continued in the Reserve until 1972, reaching the rank of colonel.
Political career
Maryland House of Delegates (1950-1958) Brewster, a Democrat, was elected as to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1950. At age 26, he was one of the youngest members of Maryland's state legislature in history. He served in the House of Delegates until 1958.
U.S. House of Representatives (1959-1963) In 1958, Brewster was elected to the House of Representatives from the 2nd district of Maryland, defeating the Republican candidate, J. Fife Symington, Jr. He was a member of the House during the Eighty-sixth (1959–1961) and Eighty-seventh Congresses (1961–1963),serving on the House Armed Services Committee and on the subcommittee on Military Personnel, Manpower Utilization, and Emergency Defense Transportation. In the House, Brewster voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
U.S. Senate (1963-1969) In 1962, Brewster ran for the United States Senate seat vacated by the retiring Republican senator John Marshall Butler. He defeated Congressman Edward Tylor Miller to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Maryland since 1946. Brewster served in the Senate from 1963 to 1969. In the Senate, Brewster voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. Brewster was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Brewster sought re-election to the Senate in 1968. However, "his complicated personal life, his support of the Vietnam War and his increasingly serious problems with alcohol took their toll", and he was defeated by Republican Charles Mathias.
In 1978, Brewster stated that the greatest mistake he made in his public life was his support for the Vietnam War.