Smith Wildman Brookhart

Smith Wildman Brookhart of Washington, Iowa, served as U.S. senator from Iowa in the years 1922-1933. Few Iowa senators have been as well known in their own time. A Progressive who was deeply concerned about the agricultural depression in his home state, Brookhart's political career before and during his Senate term illuminates the continuing Populist tradition in Iowa politics. It also explains much about the developing character of the modern Republican Party in Iowa. Nationally, Brookhart was highly visible - some thought the rifleman senator from Iowa was more of a showhorse than a workhorse. Brookhart was convinced that Eastern business interests had conspired to depress farm prices and restrict credit. The Populist solution he proposed was a cooperative banking and marketing system for farmers and for small businesses. In Iowa, Brookhart became the focal point of a continuing struggle for control of the Iowa Republican Party. By 1920 he split with the old Progressives to run as a "true" Progressive. He became such an irritant that during the 1920s the Republican Party frequently wished that Brookhart would disappear from the scene, and many worked hard to bring about that end.