RightDataUSA


Overton Brooks

[Congressional biography]

Born: December 21, 1897 in Baton Rouge, LA
Died: September 16, 1961 in Bethesda, MD

Education:

  • Louisiana State University Law School, 1923

Military Service:

  • U.S. Army, 1918-1919

Career:

  • Lawyer
  • United States Commissioner, 1925-1935


Election Results for Overton Brooks


Click on the Year to see the results of that election.

YearAgeStatePartyOfficeDistrictStagePosVotes%
1936 38 LA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 28,668 55.3%
1936 38 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 26,152 99.9%
1938 40 LA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 17,827 69.8%
1938 40 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 10,661 99.6%
1940 42 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 33,704 100.0%
1942 44 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 7,184 100.0%
1944 46 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 27,886 100.0%
1946 48 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 8,499 100.0%
1948 50 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 32,045 100.0%
1950 52 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 25,529 100.0%
1952 54 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 40,724 100.0%
1954 56 LA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 44,956 91.1%
1954 56 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 24,587 100.0%
1956 58 LA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 22,801 92.7%
1956 58 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 40,583 68.1%
1958 60 LA D U.S. House District 04 Primary 1 42,697 92.3%
1958 60 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 23,844 100.0%
1960 62 LA D U.S. House District 04 General 1 48,286 74.2%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this election.



Ideology Data for Overton Brooks


Click on the number in the 'Conserv.' column to see all of the key votes for that year.

YearAgeBodyConservative
Coalition		Party UnityPresidential
Support		Vote %LiberalConserv.
P
1937 39 House 80 7 D 80
1938 40 House 98 2 D 100
1939 41 House 83 14 D 98
1940 42 House 74 10 D 86
1941 43 House 98 2 D 96
1942 44 House 85 15 D 97
1943 45 House 73 21 D 89
1944 46 House 57 23 D 80
1945 47 House 78 14 D 93
1946 48 House 48 34 D 78
1947 49 House 61 37 D 93 42
1948 50 House 64 28 D 90 56
1949 51 House 68 21 D 90 62
1950 52 House 60 15 D 72 50
1951 53 House 48 15 D 59 30
1952 54 House 39 50 D 78 8
1953 55 House 47 37 R 48 87 22
1954 56 House 33 17 R 21 34 54 38
1955 57 House 71 29 R 54 39 92 40
1956 58 House 50 13 R 44 38 73 17
1957 59 House 68 31 R 32 63 96 22
1958 60 House 38 11 R 26 30 58 29
1959 61 House 73 9 73 23 R 43 48 90 11
1960 62 House 95 5 49 47 R 35 60 95 11
1961 63 House 45 10 36 34 D 43 27 63 20 88
Lifetime conservative rating:   88%


Age: Age as of July 1 of the year pertaining to this row.


Conservative Coalition: According to the publication "Congressional Quarterly" (CQ), this is an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats (from back when Southern Democrats tended to be conservative or at least moderate) against Northern Democrats in Congress.

This concept had significant meaning perhaps through the 1980's. These statistics stopped being computed after 2000 because conservative Democrats no longer existed except in very rare cases. The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the coalition; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the coalition. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Party Unity: According to CQ, a Party Unity vote in Congress is one in which the parties were split, with a majority of Democrats opposing a majority of Republicans.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with his party; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the party. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast.


Presidential Support: These are votes for which the President has stated his position, either in via a message to Congress, by press conference remarks or other public statements and documents.

The number under the green check is the percentage of time this Representative or Senator voted with the President; the number under the red X is the percentage of the time he opposed the President. The numbers often do not add to 100% because of instances where no vote was cast. The "P" column indicates the party of the President in each year.


Vote %: The percentage of roll-call votes in which this Representaive or Senator participated by voting "Yes" or "No" (as opposed to "Present" or not voting at all.)


Liberal Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the ultra-liberal advocacy organization called "Americans for Democratic Action" (ADA). They have been rating members of Congress since 1947. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the liberal position on a key issue. The methodology behind the calculation can be found here. Ratings followed by an asterisk were calculated the "ADA way" due to missing data regarding key votes in the ADA source material.


Conservative Rating: These ratings are based on key votes as identifed by the conservative advocacy organization called the "American Conservative Union" (ACU). They have been rating members of Congress since 1971. The number shown is the percentage of the time this Representative or Senator took the conservative position on a key issue.

The liberal and conservative ratings are not expected to add to 100% because the two groups use different sets of key votes to determine their ratings. Conservative ratings from 1961 through 1970 (and for 2024) were calculated based on key votes as selected by the creators of this website.