Early Life
Brooks was born in Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish in south Louisiana. His family moved to Beaumont, Texas, when he was five years old. He attended public schools and received a scholarship to Lamar Junior College. He enrolled in Lamar in 1939, where he majored in journalism, and completed his first two years of college. Brooks transferred to the University of Texas at Austin where he earned a B.A. in journalism in 1943 and was a member of the Texas Cowboys. After Brooks was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1946, he sponsored a bill that would make Lamar a four-year institution. The bill failed, but the following year it passed both houses. While a member of the Texas legislature, he earned a law degree from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1949.
During World War II, Brooks enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, serving for approximately two years in the Pacific theater on Guadalcanal, Guam, Okinawa, and in North China. He continued his military service in the Marine Corps Reserves, reaching, upon his retirement in 1972, the rank of colonel.
Read more about this topic: Jack Brooks (politician)
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