TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Mar 25, 2021

Former U.S. Sen. Bill Brock, R-Chattanooga, died today in Florida at the age of 90, the Tennessean reports. Brock spent eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1962 to 1970, becoming the first Republican to hold the Third Congressional District seat in 40 years. In 1970, he defeated incumbent Democrat Albert Gore Sr. for a seat in the U.S. Senate, but lost his re-election bid to Democrat Jim Sasser six years later. He went on to head the Republican National Committee, and serve as U.S. trade representative and Labor Department secretary during the Reagan administration. After leaving government service he formed the Brock Group, a Washington, D.C., trade consulting firm. Former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, who decades later held the same congressional seat, described Brock as the "father of the Republican Party" in Tennessee.