Kerry Speaks at Memorial Service for Former Sen. Edward Brooke
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — A memorial service was held on Tuesday for former Massachusetts Sen. Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be elected to the Senate.
Brooke, a lifelong Republican who was elected in 1966 and served two terms, died of natural causes in Coral Gables, Florida, on Jan. 3. He was 95.
Since Brooke left the Senate in 1979, only two other blacks have been elected to the chamber: Carol Moseley Braun from California in 1992 and Barack Obama from Illinois in 2004, both Democrats.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was a former Massachusetts senator himself, gave a eulogy for his predecessor in Washington’s National Cathedral on Tuesday, calling Brooke a “trailblazer.”
Watch Kerry’s full eulogy for Brooke below:
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