Cross & Crescent

“I was rushed by the President of the United States.”

Doesn’t that sound like a tabloid headline or the title of a “B” movie in the 1950s? It’s actually the middle of an interesting family history.

Chapter One

Franklin Eli Brooks was born in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in 1860. He graduated from Brown University in 1883, and while in attendance, he was a member of Delta Phi fraternity. He received his law degree from Boston University in 1888, and in 1891, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he established a law practice. He was elected as a U.S. congressman from Colorado, and served from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1907. He was involved in land development and also served on the Board of Trustees of Brown University before passing away in 1916.

Chapter Two

Congressman Brooks’ son was Philip C. Brooks Sr. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan where he was also a member of Delta Phi fraternity. He obtained his doctorate from the University of California. In 1935, he was selected as one of the 35 individuals hired by the National Archives, a newly established government agency.

When the Truman Library was established, President Harry. S. Truman asked for the National Archives to send its best archivist to be the library’s director. Phil Brooks Sr. was selected and held the position of director from 1957 until 1971.

Chapter Three

Philip C. Brooks Jr. (Kansas 1962) is the son of the director of the Truman Library, which is located on U.S. Highway 24 in Independence, Missouri. It houses tens of thousands of documents, photographs, and pieces of memorabilia related to Harry S. Truman and the United States Government. Phil Brooks Jr. remembers well the former President.

“He was a kind, warm, and gracious individual who reached out to everyone, and the former first lady was a lovely person.”

Phil Brooks Jr. began his undergraduate college experience at Claremont College, but after his freshman year decided to transfer to the University of Kansas because “of their outstanding political science program and also because friends of the family were on the faculty.”

By this time, Phil Brooks Jr. knew the former President and it was during his initial year at KU that he happened to meet him at the Truman Library. Phil Brooks Jr. explained that he was considering joining a fraternity, one of which was Lambda Chi Alpha.

President Truman, without hesitating stated, “Lambda Chi Alpha is a great fraternity of which I am an honorary member. I went down to Jefferson City to become initiated and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As a Mason, and former Grand Master of Freemasonry in Missouri, I was familiar with the Ritual.”

At that time, President Truman took Phil Brooks Jr. to the personal office complex part of the Truman Library “where he showed me his certificate of membership from Lambda Chi Alpha which was proudly displayed on the wall.”

The rest is history since Phil Brooks Jr. subsequently joined Lambda Chi Alpha at Kansas. He is presently retired, an active writer, and resides with his wife, Sue, in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Chapter Four

The family story doesn’t end there. Anthony Franklin Coolidge Brooks (Texas-San Antonio ) is the son of Phil Brooks Jr. He attended the University of Texas-San Antonio before transferring to and graduating from Hampden-Sydney College in 1995. While at UTSA he became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha.

And that, as brother Paul Harvey would have said, is “The rest of the story.”