In the 1960s, Danny Brewster had it all: Hollywood handsome, a decorated World War II Marine, with a stellar education, inherited wealth, glamorous wife and two young sons, and a political career so ascendant he was known as “the Golden Boy of Maryland Politics.” But then, over the course of a decade it all unraveled. Debilitated by alcoholism, Brewster’s first marriage failed and, after losing reelection to the U.S. Senate, his second marriage also collapsed. Subsequently, he was indicted in Maryland on allegations of accepting bribes, charges he fought for six ruinous years, but ultimately beat. Brewster finally quit drinking, married a third time, had a new family, and settled into a quiet life as a doting father, farmer, and hospital administrator, gradually rebuilding his reputation and his shattered life.
Author John W. Frece will talk about his new biography, Self-Destruction: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of U.S. Senator Daniel B. Brewster, highlighting the events of Brewster’s life, and detailing how he conducted and organized his research, including interviews and records from the Brewster family.
John W. Frece spent half of his career as a newspaper and wire service reporter and half working for Maryland state and federal government. For seventeen years, he was State House Bureau Chief in Annapolis for United Press International and the Baltimore Sun.
He is the author of three pervious books: Sprawl and Politics: The Inside Story of Smart Growth in Maryland (2008), which recounts his time as a gubernatorial staffer working on Maryland’s then controversial Smart Growth land use policy, as well as two autobiographies of notable Maryland political figures, Governor Harry R. Hughes, and U.S. Senator Joseph D. Tydings.