The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003

Broadway theatre,^[1] commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City.^[2] Along with London's West End theatre, Broadway theatre is widely considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

The Broadway theatre district is a popular tourist attraction in New York. According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold approximately $1.081 billion worth of tickets in calendar year 2011, compared with $1.037 billion for 2010. Attendance in 2011 was 12.13 million.^[3]

18th and 19th centuries[link]

Interior of the Park Theatre, built in 1798

Early theatre in New York[link]

New York did not have a significant theatre presence until about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas Kean established a resident theatre company at the Theatre on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The Beggar's Opera.^[4] In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as their manager. They established a theatre in Williamsburg, Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of 1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon and Phillida. The Revolutionary War suspended theatre in New York, but thereafter theatre resumed in 1798, the year the 2,000-seat Park Theatre was built on Chatham Street (now called Park Row).^[4] The Bowery Theatre opened in 1826,^[5] followed by others. Blackface minstrel shows, a distinctly American form of entertainment, became popular in the 1830s, and especially so with the arrival of the Virginia Minstrels in the 1840s.^[6]

By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New York's premiere nightspots. The 3,000-seat theatre presented all sorts of musical and non-musical entertainments. The Astor Place Theatre opened in 1847. A riot broke out in 1849 when the lower-class patrons of the Bowery objected to what they perceived as snobbery by the upper class audiences at Astor Place: "After the Astor Place Riot of 1849, entertainment in New York City was divided along class lines: opera was chiefly for the upper middle and upper classes, minstrel shows and melodramas for the middle class, variety shows in concert saloons for men of the working class and the slumming middle class.^[7]

The plays of William Shakespeare were frequently performed on the Broadway stage during the period, most notably by American actor Edwin Booth who was internationally known for his performance as Hamlet. Booth played the role for a famous 100 consecutive performances at the Winter Garden Theatre in 1865 (with the run ending just a few months before Booth's brother John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln), and would later revive the role at his own Booth's Theatre (which was managed for a time by his brother Junius Brutus Booth, Jr.). Other renowned Shakespeareans who appeared in New York in this era were Henry Irving, Tommaso Salvini, Fanny Davenport, and Charles Fechter.

1868 programme for Ixion

Lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences. Thompson's troupe, called the "British Blondes", was the most popular entertainment in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season. "The eccentricities of pantomime and burlesque—with their curious combination of comedy, parody, satire, improvisation, song and dance, variety acts, cross-dressing, extravagant stage effects, risqué jokes and saucy costumes—while familiar enough to British audiences, took New York by storm."^[8] The six-month tour ran for almost six extremely profitable years.^[9]

Birth of the musical and post-Civil War[link]

Theatre in New York moved from downtown gradually to midtown beginning around 1850, seeking less expensive real estate prices. In 1870, the heart of Broadway was in Union Square, and by the end of the century, many theatres were near Madison Square. Theatres did not arrive in the Times Square area until the early 1900s, and the Broadway theatres did not consolidate there until a large number of theatres were built around the square in the 1920s and 1930s. Broadway's first "long-run" musical was a 50-performance hit called The Elves in 1857. New York runs continued to lag far behind those in London,^[10] but Laura Keene's "musical burletta" Seven Sisters (1860) shattered previous New York records with a run of 253 performances. It was at a performance by Keene's troupe of Our American Cousin in Washington, D.C. that Abraham Lincoln was shot.

The Black Crook (1866), considered by some historians to be the first musical^[11]

The first theatre piece that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is considered to be The Black Crook, which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866. The production was a staggering five-and-a-half hours long, but despite its length, it ran for a record-breaking 474 performances. The same year, The Black Domino/Between You, Me and the Post was the first show to call itself a "musical comedy."^[11]

Tony Pastor opened the first vaudeville theatre one block east of Union Square in 1881, where Lillian Russell performed. Comedians Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart produced and starred in musicals on Broadway between 1878 (The Mulligan Guard Picnic) and 1885, with book and lyrics by Harrigan and music by his father-in-law David Braham. These musical comedies featured characters and situations taken from the everyday life of New York's lower classes and represented a significant step forward from vaudeville and burlesque, towards a more literate form. They starred high quality singers (Lillian Russell, Vivienne Segal, and Fay Templeton), instead of the women of questionable repute who had starred in earlier musical forms.

As transportation improved, poverty in New York diminished, and street lighting made for safer travel at night, the number of potential patrons for the growing number of theatres increased enormously. Plays could run longer and still draw in the audiences, leading to better profits and improved production values. As in England, during the latter half of the century the theatre began to be cleaned up, with less prostitution hindering the attendance of the theatre by women. Gilbert and Sullivan's family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by the authors and also in numerous pirated productions). They were imitated in New York by American productions such as Reginald Dekoven's Robin Hood (1891) and John Philip Sousa's El Capitan (1896), along with operas, ballets and other British and European hits.

1890s and later[link]

Charles Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's long-run champion, holding the stage for 657 performances. This would not be surpassed until Irene in 1919. In 1896, theatre owners Marc Klaw and A. L. Erlanger formed the Theatrical Syndicate, which controlled almost every legitimate theatre in the U.S. for the next sixteen years.^[12] However, smaller vaudeville and variety houses proliferated, and Off-Broadway was well established by the end of the 19th century.

A Trip to Coontown (1898) was the first musical comedy entirely produced and performed by African Americans in a Broadway theatre (largely inspired by the routines of the minstrel shows), followed by the ragtime-tinged Clorindy the Origin of the Cakewalk (1898), and the highly successful In Dahomey (1902). Hundreds of musical comedies were staged on Broadway in the 1890s and early 1900s made up of songs written in New York's Tin Pan Alley involving composers such as Gus Edwards, John Walter Bratton, and George M. Cohan (Little Johnny Jones (1904), 45 Minutes From Broadway (1906), and George Washington Jr. (1906)). Still, New York runs continued to be relatively short, with a few exceptions, compared with London runs, until World War I.^[10] A few very successful British musicals continued to achieve great success in New York, including Florodora in 1900–01.

Victor Herbert

In the early years of the 20th century, translations of popular late-19th century continental operettas were joined by the "Princess Theatre" shows of the 1910s by writers such as P. G. Wodehouse, Guy Bolton and Harry B. Smith. Victor Herbert, whose work included some intimate musical plays with modern settings as well as his string of famous operettas (The Fortune Teller (1898), Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905), The Red Mill (1906), and Naughty Marietta (1910)).^[13]

Beginning with The Red Mill, Broadway shows installed electric signs outside the theatres. Since colored bulbs burned out too quickly, white lights were used, and Broadway was nicknamed "The Great White Way." In August 1919, the Actors Equity Association demanded a standard contract for all professional productions. After a strike shut down all the theatres, the producers were forced to agree. By the 1920s, the Shubert Brothers had risen to take over the majority of the theatres from the Erlanger syndicate.^[14]

The Winter Garden, Maxine Elliott's, Casino, and Knickerbocker Theatres on Broadway in 1920.

The motion picture mounted a challenge to the stage. At first, films were silent and presented only limited competition. Nevertheless, by the end of the 1920s, films like The Jazz Singer could be presented with synchronized sound, and critics wondered if the cinema would replace live theatre altogether. The musicals of the Roaring Twenties, borrowing from vaudeville, music hall and other light entertainments, tended to ignore plot in favor of emphasizing star actors and actresses, big dance routines, and popular songs. Florenz Ziegfeld produced annual spectacular song-and-dance revues on Broadway featuring extravagant sets and elaborate costumes, but there was little to tie the various numbers together. Typical of the 1920s were lighthearted productions like Sally; Lady Be Good; Sunny; No, No, Nanette; Harlem; Oh, Kay!; and Funny Face. Their books may have been forgettable, but they produced enduring standards from George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, and Rodgers and Hart, among others, and Noël Coward, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml continued in the vein of Victor Herbert. Clearly, the live theatre survived the invention of cinema.

Leaving these comparatively frivolous entertainments behind, and taking the drama a giant step forward, Show Boat, premiered on December 27, 1927 at the Ziegfeld Theatre, representing a complete integration of book and score, with dramatic themes, as told through the music, dialogue, setting and movement, woven together more seamlessly than in previous musicals. It ran for 572 performances.

The 1920s also spawned a new age of American playwright with the emergence of Eugene O'Neill, whose plays Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie, The Hairy Ape, Strange Interlude and Mourning Becomes Electra proved that there was an audience for serious drama on Broadway, and O'Neill's success paved the way for major dramatists like Elmer Rice, Maxwell Anderson, Robert E. Sherwood, Tennessee Williams, and Arthur Miller, as well as writers of comedy like George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Classical revivals also proved popular with Broadway theatre-goers, notably John Barrymore in Hamlet and Richard III, John Gielgud in Hamlet, The Importance of Being Earnest and Much Ado About Nothing, Walter Hampden and Jose Ferrer in Cyrano de Bergerac, Paul Robeson and Ferrer in Othello, Maurice Evans in Richard II and the plays of George Bernard Shaw, and Katharine Cornell in such plays as Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, and Candida

After the lean years of the Great Depression, Broadway theatre entered a golden age with the blockbuster hit Oklahoma!, in 1943, which ran for 2,212 performances. Hit after hit followed on Broadway, and the Broadway theatre attained the highest level of international prestige in theatre.

The Tony Awards were established in 1947 to recognize achievement in live American theatre, especially Broadway theatre.

Broadway today[link]

Schedule[link]

Although there are now more exceptions than previously, generally shows with open-ended runs have evening performances Tuesday through Saturday with a 7pm or 8pm "curtain" and afternoon "matinée" performances on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, at 2pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays and 3pm on Sundays, making an eight performance week. On this schedule, shows do not play on Monday, and the shows and theatres are said to be "dark" on that day.^[15][16] Actors and the crew in these shows tend to regard Sunday evening through Tuesday evening as their "weekend". The Tony award presentation ceremony is usually held on a Sunday evening in June to fit into this schedule.

In recent years, some shows have moved their Tuesday show time an hour earlier to 7 pm.^[15] The rationale for the move was that fewer tourists took in shows midweek, so the Tuesday attendance in particular depends on local audience members. The earlier curtain therefore allows suburban patrons time after a show to get home by a reasonable hour. Some shows, especially those produced by Disney, change their performance schedules fairly frequently, depending on the season, in order to maximize access to their targeted audience.

Personnel[link]

Both musicals and stage plays on Broadway often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from movies and television are frequently cast for the revivals of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving a cast. There are still, however, performers who are primarily stage actors, spending most of their time "on the boards", and appearing in television and in screen roles only secondarily. As Patrick Healy of the New York Times noted, "Broadway once had many homegrown stars who committed to working on a show for a year, as Nathan Lane has for The Addams Family. In 2010, some theater heavyweights like Mr. Lane were not even nominated; instead, several Tony Awards were given for productions that were always intended to be short-timers on Broadway, given that many of their film-star performers had to move on to other commitments."^[17] According to an article by Mark Shenton, "One of the biggest changes to the commercial theatrical landscape—on both sides of the Atlantic—over the past decade or so is that sightings of big star names turning out to do plays has gone up; but the runs they are prepared to commit to has gone down. Time was that a producer would require a minimum commitment from his star of six months, and perhaps a year; now, the 13-week run is the norm."^[18]

The minimum size of the Broadway orchestra is governed by an agreement with the musicians union (Local 802, American Federation of Musicians) and The Broadway League. For example, the agreement specifies the minimum size of the orchestra at the Minskoff Theatre to be 18, at the Music Box Theatre to be 9.^[19]

Producers and theatre owners[link]

Most Broadway producers and theatre owners are members of The Broadway League (formerly "The League of American Theatres and Producers"), a trade organization that promotes Broadway theatre as a whole, negotiates contracts with the various theatrical unions and agreements with the guilds, and co-administers the Tony Awards with the American Theatre Wing, a service organization. While the League and the theatrical unions are sometimes at loggerheads during those periods when new contracts are being negotiated, they also cooperate on many projects and events designed to promote professional theatre in New York.

The three non-profit theatre companies with Broadway theatres (Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Roundabout Theatre Company) belong to the League of Resident Theatres and have contracts with the theatrical unions which are negotiated separately from the other Broadway theatre and producers. (Disney also negotiates apart from the League, as did Livent before it closed down its operations.) However, generally, shows that play in any of the Broadway houses are eligible for Tony Awards (see below).

The majority of Broadway theatres are owned or managed by three organizations: the Shubert Organization, a for-profit arm of the non-profit Shubert Foundation, which owns seventeen theatres (it recently retained full ownership of the Music Box from the Irving Berlin Estate); The Nederlander Organization, which controls nine theatres; and Jujamcyn, which owns five Broadway houses.

Runs[link]

Most Broadway shows are commercial productions intended to make a profit for the producers and investors ("backers" or "angels"), and therefore have open-ended runs (duration that the production plays), meaning that the length of their presentation is not set beforehand, but depends on critical response, word of mouth, and the effectiveness of the show's advertising, all of which determine ticket sales. Investing in a commercial production carries a varied degree of financial risk. Shows do not necessarily have to make a profit immediately. If they are making their "nut" (weekly operating expenses), or are losing money at a rate which the producers consider acceptable, they may continue to run in the expectation that, eventually, they will pay back their initial costs and become profitable. In some borderline situations, producers may ask that royalties be temporarily reduced or waived, or even that performers — with the permission of their unions — take reduced salaries, in order to prevent a show from closing. Theatre owners, who are not generally profit participants in most productions, may waive or reduce rents, or even lend a show money in order to keep it running.

Some Broadway shows are produced by non-commercial organizations as part of a regular subscription season—Lincoln Center Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, and Manhattan Theatre Club are the three non-profit theatre companies that currently have permanent Broadway venues. Some other productions are produced on Broadway with "limited engagement runs" for a number of reasons, including financial issues, prior engagements of the performers or temporary availability of a theatre between the end of one production and the beginning of another. However, some shows with planned limited engagement runs may, after critical acclaim or box office success, extend their engagements or convert to open-ended runs. This was the case with 2007's August: Osage County and 2009's God of Carnage.

Historically, musicals on Broadway tend to have longer runs than "straight" (i.e. non-musical) plays. On January 9, 2006, The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre became the longest running Broadway musical, with 7,486 performances, overtaking Cats.^[20]

Audience[link]

Attending a Broadway show is a common tourist activity in New York. The TKTS booths sell same-day tickets (and in certain cases next-day matinee tickets) for many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows at a discount of 25%, 35%, or 50%. The TKTS booths are located in Duffy Square, in Times Square, in Lower Manhattan, and in Brooklyn. This service run by Theatre Development Fund makes seeing a show in New York more affordable. Many Broadway theatres also offer special student rates, same-day "rush" or "lottery" tickets, or standing-room tickets to help ensure that their theatres are as full, and their "grosses" as high as possible.^[21] According to The Broadway League, total Broadway attendance was 12.13 million in calendar year 2011 compared to 12.11million in 2010.^[3] The Broadway League also reports that approximately 62% of all Broadway tickets were purchased by tourists in the 2010-2011 season.^[22] By way of comparison, London's West End theatre reported total attendance of 14.3 million for major commercial and grant-aided theatres in central London for 2009.^[23]

Off-Broadway and US tours[link]

The classification of theatres is governed by language in Actors' Equity Association contracts. To be eligible for a Tony, a production must be in a house with 500 seats or more and in the Theatre District, which criteria define Broadway theatre. Off Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway shows often provide a more experimental, challenging and intimate performance than is possible in the larger Broadway theatres. Some Broadway shows, however, such as the musicals Hair, Little Shop of Horrors, Spring Awakening, Next to Normal, Rent, Avenue Q, and In the Heights, began their runs Off Broadway and later transferred onto Broadway, seeking to replicate their intimate experience in a larger theatre.

After (or even during) successful runs in Broadway theatres, producers often remount their productions with a new cast and crew for the Broadway national tour, which travels to theatres in major cities across the country—the bigger and more successful shows may have several of these touring companies out at a time, some of them "sitting down" in other cities for their own long runs. Smaller cities are eventually serviced by "bus and truck" tours, so-called because the cast generally travels by bus (instead of by air) and the sets and equipment by truck. Tours of this type, which frequently feature a reduced physical production to accommodate smaller venues and tighter schedules, often play "split weeks" (half a week in one town and the second half in another) or "one-nighters", whereas the larger tours will generally play for one or two days per city at a minimum. The Touring Broadway Awards, presented by The Broadway League, honor excellence in touring Broadway.

Awards[link]

Broadway productions and artists are honored by the annual Antoinette Perry Awards (commonly called the "Tony Awards, or "Tony") which are awarded by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, beginning in 1947.^[24] The Tony is Broadway's most prestigious award, even compared to the Academy Awards for Hollywood productions. Their importance has increased since the annual broadcast on television began. In a strategy to improve the television ratings, celebrities are often chosen to host the show, like Rosie O'Donnell, some with little or no connection to the theatre.^[25] The latest Tony Awards ceremony was held on June 12, 2011. Other awards given to Broadway productions include the Drama Desk Award, presented since 1955, and the New York Drama Critics' Circle awards, first given in 1936.

List of Broadway theatres[link]

• If no show is currently running, the play listed is the next show planned (dates marked with an *).
• If the next show planned is not announced, the applicable columns are left blank.
• Capacity is based on the capacity given for the respective theatre at the Internet Broadway Database.^[26]

Upcoming productions[link]

The following have been announced as future Broadway productions. The theatre in which they will run is either not yet known or currently occupied by another show.

Confirmed openings[link]

Musicals[link]

• Rebecca: November 18, 2012 (Broadhurst Theatre)^[41]
• Chaplin: September 10, 2012 (Barrymore Theatre)^[42]
• Golden Boy: December 3, 2012 (theatre unknown)^[43][44]
• Annie: November 8, 2012 (Palace Theatre)^[45]
• A Christmas Story, The Musical!: November 6, 2012 - December 30, 2012 (theatre unknown)^[46]

Plays[link]

• An Enemy of the People: September 27, 2012 (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)^[47]
• The Big Knife: March 22, 2013 (American Airlines Theatre)^[48]
• The Heiress: November 1, 2012 (theatre unknown)^[49]
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: September 27, 2012 (Shubert theatre to be announced)^[50]
• Cyrano de Bergerac: September 14, 2012 (American Airlines Theatre)

To be announced[link]

Musicals, current season[link]

References[link]

See also[link]

• Broadway Bladder

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Broadway theatre

• The Internet Broadway Database
• The Houses of Broadway
• Broadway.com

Coordinates: 40°45′21″N 73°59′11″W / 40.75583°N 73.98639°W / 40.75583; -73.98639

This disambiguation page is currently linked from a large number of articles. Please help direct these ambiguous links to articles dealing with the specific meaning intended. (February 2012)

Jeremy Jordan may refer to:

• Jeremy Jordan (Broadway/film performer)
• Jeremy Jordan (singer)
• Jeremy Jordan (pornographic actor)

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Scott Brown
United States Senator from Massachusetts
Incumbent
Assumed office February 4, 2010 Serving with John Kerry
Preceded by	Paul G. Kirk
Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the Norfolk, Bristol & Middlesex district
In office March 25, 2004[1] – February 4, 2010
Preceded by	Cheryl Jacques
Succeeded by	Richard Ross
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 9th Norfolk district
In office 1998–2004
Preceded by	Jo Ann Sprague
Succeeded by	Richard Ross
Member of the Wrentham, Massachusetts Board of Selectmen
In office 1995–1998
Member of the Wrentham, Massachusetts Board of Assessors
In office 1987–1990
Personal details
Born	Scott Philip Brown (1959-09-12) September 12, 1959 (age 52) Kittery, Maine
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Gail Huff
Children	Ayla Brown Arianna Brown
Residence	Wrentham, Massachusetts
Alma mater	Tufts University (B.A.) Boston College (J.D.)
Profession	Politician, lawyer, soldier
Religion	Christian Reformed Church in North America
Website	scottbrown.senate.gov
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army National Guard[2]
Years of service	1979 – present
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps[2]
Commands	Head defense attorney for the New England States
Awards	Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in homeland security; Meritorious Service Medal

Scott Philip Brown (born September 12, 1959)^[3] is an American politician and the junior United States Senator from Massachusetts. Brown previously served as a member of the Massachusetts General Court, first in the State House of Representatives (1998–2004) and then in the State Senate (2004–2010).

Brown is a member of the Republican Party, and faced the Democratic candidate, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, in the 2010 special election to succeed U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy for the remainder of the term ending January 3, 2013. While initially trailing Coakley in polling by a large margin, Brown won the election and in January 2010 became the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972.

Prior to entering the state legislature, he had experience as a town selectman and assessor. He is a practicing attorney, concentrating in real estate law and serving as defense counsel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the Massachusetts Army National Guard. Brown is a graduate of Wakefield High School (1977), Tufts University (1981), and Boston College Law School (1985).

Early life and education[link]

Brown was born on September 12, 1959 in Kittery, Maine^[4] and grew up in Wakefield, Massachusetts.^[5] He often spent his summers in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where his father served as a city councilor for 18 years. Brown's father, Claude Bruce Brown, and mother, Judith Ann “Judi” (née Rugg),^[6][7] divorced when he was about a year old. Both his parents have since remarried three times. His father and his grandfather were Republicans. His father has said that young Scott became interested in running for political office in the mid 1960s while accompanying him on a campaign for state office.^[8] Scott Brown recalls holding campaign signs for his father.^[2]

Brown had a difficult childhood; after her divorce his working mother received welfare benefits.^[9] Brown experienced sexual abuse from a camp counselor who threatened to kill the 10-year-old boy if he told anyone—which he did not disclose even to his family until his autobiography Against All Odds (2011)^[10]—and physical abuse from his stepfathers.^[11] During various periods of his childhood, Brown lived with his grandparents and his aunt. He shoplifted many times,^[11] and was arrested for stealing record albums and brought before Judge Samuel Zoll in Salem, Massachusetts at the age of 13 or 14.^[12] Zoll asked Brown if his siblings would like seeing him play basketball in jail and required Brown to write a 1,500-word essay on that question as his punishment. Brown later said, "that was the last time I ever stole.^[5]

He graduated from Wakefield High School in 1977.^[13] He received a Bachelors of Arts in History,^[14] cum laude from Tufts University in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School in 1985. During his undergraduate career at Tufts, Brown was a member of the Kappa Chapter of Zeta Psi International Fraternity.^[4][15]

Early career[link]

Army National Guard service[link]

Brown has said the rescue efforts of Army National Guard during the Northeastern United States blizzard of 1978 impressed him. He joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard when he was 19, receiving his basic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey,^[5] and attending Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) classes at the campus of Northeastern University.^[16] He was trained in infantry, quartermaster, and airborne duties, and in 1994 he joined the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG).^[16] He has been active in the Guard for about 30 years and has risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel. As the Army Guard's head defense attorney in New England, Brown defended Guard members who had disciplinary difficulties such as positive drug tests,^[2] and provided estate planning and real estate advice to those who are about to deploy to war zones.^[16] He spent ten days to two weeks with the Guard in Kazakhstan and a week in Paraguay.^[2]

He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in homeland security shortly after the September 11 attacks.^[13] He credits his military experience with causing him to focus on veteran's issues as well as issues of war and peace.^[2] He has served on the Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee, the Hidden Wounds of War Commission, and the Governor's Task Force on Returning Veterans during his career as a legislator.^[2]

On May 2, 2011, Brown announced that he would soon go to Afghanistan for training as part of his Army National Guard service.^[17] When deployed in August 2011 for a week of training, he spent most of his time in Kabul.^[18]

Modeling[link]

In June 1982, Brown, then a 22-year-old law student at Boston College, won Cosmopolitan magazine's "America's Sexiest Man" contest. After two weeks on a crash diet of "three cans of tuna a day" and intensive workouts^[11] he was featured in the magazine's centerfold, posing nude but strategically positioned so that according to Brown, "You don't see anything". In the accompanying interview, he referred to himself as "a bit of a patriot" and stated that he had political ambitions. The Cosmopolitan appearance and its $1,000 fee^[2][19][20] helped pay for law school, and began for Brown a "long, lucrative" part-time catalog and print modeling career in New York and Boston during the 1980s.^[21][22]

State political career[link]

Brown "caught the political bug" in 1992 when he was elected property assessor of Wrentham, Massachusetts.^[2] In 1995, he was elected to the Wrentham Board of Selectmen.

He successfully ran for the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1998, representing the 9th Norfolk District for three terms. Brown again moved up the ladder of state politics to the state Senate in March 2004 when he won a special election to replace Democrat Cheryl Jacques. Brown was re-elected for a full term in November 2004, and again in November 2006, running without opposition the second time. He won re-election in November 2008, defeating Democratic candidate Sara Orozco by a 59–41 percent margin. Following his re-election, Brown was one of five Republicans in the 40-seat Massachusetts senate. In the Massachusetts Senate, Brown served on committees dealing with consumer protection, professional licensing, education, election laws, public safety, and veterans' affairs.^[15]

In February 2007, a controversy arose after Brown's appearance at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, Massachusetts as part of a debate on gay marriage. The high school students had launched a Facebook group attack on Brown and had made a derogatory remark about his daughter, Ayla. During his presentation, Brown defended himself and his daughter by directly quoting several vulgar statements they had made and announcing the names of the students who had written the statements. Critics questioned whether Brown should have quoted the profane comments in front of a high school audience.^[23]

In January 2010, The Boston Globe reported that during six terms in the Legislature, three each in the House and Senate, Brown had a modest record of legislative initiatives, but he had carved out a niche as a leading advocate for veterans. Richard R. Tisei of Wakefield, Massachusetts, the leader of the Republican minority in the state Senate, called Brown "the acknowledged expert on veterans' issues."^[24] State Senator Jack Hart, a Democrat of South Boston, said: "He does his homework, he's comprehensive in his approach, and on veterans' issues, he's one of them and has done a very good job on their behalf."^[24]

Brown lists among his achievements as a legislator his authorship of a 2007 law that created a check-off box on state income tax forms for veterans to indicate whether they served in Iraq or Afghanistan. The state uses the information to notify veterans of available services and benefits, including the Welcome Home Bonus^[25] that provides $1,000 for those returning from active duty in Afghanistan or Iraq.^[24]

U.S. Senate[link]

Elections[link]

2010

Brown on the campaign trail.

On September 12, 2009 (his 50th birthday), Brown announced his run for the U.S. Senate seat that became vacant with the death of Ted Kennedy, saying the state "needs an independent thinker."^[26][27] Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker^[28] said that Brown's political positions did not fall neatly into party lines, and called Brown "mainstream in a nation that defines itself as mostly conservative".^[29] Boris Shor, political scientist at the Harris School of Public Policy, described Brown as a liberal Republican by national standards, but well-suited for his Massachusetts constituency. Shor explained the support Brown was receiving from the conservative national GOP as due to their "decentralized decision" to support the candidate most likely to win.^[30][31]

Brown won a landslide victory in the Republican primary on December 8, 2009, defeating late entrant and perennial candidate Jack E. Robinson by a margin of 89 percent to 11 percent.^[32]

Brown's opponents in the general election were Democratic nominee, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and independent Joseph L. Kennedy (no relation to the Kennedy family). At the outset, he faced overwhelming odds because he was relatively unknown compared to Coakley, he was running as a Republican in a very Democratic state, and much of his campaigning had to be done during the Christmas and New Year's season when citizens do not generally pay much attention to politics.^[33] No Republican had been elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts since Edward Brooke in 1972.^[34] He polled far behind Coakley for several months, but closed the gap in the early weeks of January.^{[35][36][37][38]}

A week before the general election, Brown raised $1.3 million from over 16,000 donors in a 24-hour money bomb. His campaign office stated it raised $5 million over the period from January 11–15.^[39][40] Charlie Cook of the Cook Political Report stated on January 17 that he would put his "finger on the scale" for Scott Brown as the favorite. The Rothenberg Political Report released a statement that "the combination of public and private survey research and anecdotal information now strongly suggests that Republican Scott Brown will defeat Democrat Martha Coakley in tomorrow's race".^[41] Suffolk University's polling of three bellwether counties on January 18 had Brown leading Coakley by double-digit margins.^[42] Brown won the January 19 election, performing well in traditional Republican strongholds and holding rival Coakley's margins down in many Democratic precincts.^[43][44][45]

Brown campaigning in his truck.

One week before the January special election, a controversy arose over a Coakley approved television ad. The ad referenced the conscientious objector amendment Brown had sponsored for inclusion in a 2005 proposed state measure on patients' rights.^[46] This amendment would have allowed individual healthcare workers and hospitals to refuse to provide emergency contraceptive care to rape victims if they objected due to a religious belief. After the amendment failed, Brown did vote for the main bill which, along with other patient rights, requires healthcare workers and hospitals to provide such care.^[47] Coakley's ad featured a male voice that said, "Brown even favors letting hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims," over the ad's graphic which had the words, "Deny care to rape victims."^[47] Brown's daughter Ayla called the Coakley ad "completely inaccurate and misleading", and stated that her father would never deny care to a rape victim. Brown criticized Coakley for running what he described as attack ads.^[47]

In the 2010 Senate race, although Brown was not endorsed by the Greater Boston Tea Party group,^[48] the group organized a fund-raising breakfast for him in Boston.^[49] The Tea Party Express also endorsed Brown^[50] and bought ads on the national cable networks supporting Brown.^[51]

When told that at various times he has been labeled a conservative, moderate and a liberal Republican, he responded "I'm a Scott Brown Republican."^[52] According to Politifact, while Brown was a Massachusetts legislator, he voted about 90 percent with the state Republican leadership;^[53] however, Republican Leadership in the Massachusetts legislature is generally considered far more moderate than the national Republican Party.^[54]

On election night, after Coakley conceded, Brown gave a victory speech that stated, "It all started with me, my truck, and a few dedicated volunteers. It ended with Air Force One making an emergency run to Logan. I didn't mind when President Obama came here and criticized me – that happens in campaigns. But when he criticized my truck, that's where I draw the line."^[55]

2012

October 2011 polling showed Brown's approvals had fallen and he faced a competitive re-election if matched against Democrat Elizabeth Warren.^[56] However, his numbers in early March 2012 showed he led Warren by 8 points in the polls.^[57] Later in March 2012, Browns lead has narrowed to within 2.3%, within the error sampling.^[58]

Tenure[link]

Brown was sworn in to office on February 4, 2010, by Vice President Joe Biden, in his capacity as President of the Senate, on the floor of the Senate.^[59] As a Class I Senator, his term will last until January 3, 2013.

Brown was among the speakers at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, D.C., introducing former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.^[60] Despite his appearance at CPAC, where he alluded to his election as making "big government spenders...[not] feel good at all", Brown refused to rule out a vote for a Democratic "jobs bill" proposal, and has praised both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and senior Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts for indicating their willingness to work with him across party lines.^[61] Brown was one of five Republican senators to vote for cloture on the jobs bill. The motion passed in the Senate 62–30 on February 22, 2010.^[62] In an up or down vote on the bill itself on February 24, 2010, Brown voted for final passage, helping to pass the bill 70–28.^[63]

According to the Washington Post, Brown voted with the majority of Republicans 80% of the time.^[64] In the same poll, "56% of Massachusetts voters believed he has kept his promise to be an independent voice in the U.S. Senate."^[65]

Brown's views on the 2011 budget cuts have been at odds with some of his fellow Republicans and Tea Party conservatives. His reluctance to go along with some of the more drastic budget cuts has placed him at odds with Glenn Beck and other prominent conservatives.^[66] He said he opposed these measures because he believed that they would have a negative impact on low income families and children.^[67]

In late June 2010, Brown was ranked as "the most popular officeholder in Massachusetts" according to a poll conducted by the Boston Globe. 55% of those polled had favorable opinions of Brown nearly five months after his January 19, 2010, special election victory to finish the term of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. 50% of respondents generally approved of how Brown had handled his new position.^[68]

On March 30, 2011, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee released a poll showing that Brown remained the "most popular politician in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with an approval rating of 73 percent." Brown's "'re-elect' score was comfortably above 50 percent, which is unusual for a Republican in an overwhelmingly Democratic state."^[69]

Committee assignments[link]

Brown's committee assignments are as follows.^[70]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Airland (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery
  • Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia
• Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Caucus memberships[link]

• Senate Oceans Caucus

Political positions[link]

Brown meets President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, June 2010.

Brown has positioned himself as a conservative counterweight to Massachusetts' previously all-Democratic, 12-member congressional delegation.^[2][5] He describes himself as socially moderate and fiscally conservative. He identifies himself as a "Reagan Republican". He has said, "I'm going to be the only person down there who is going to be the independent voter and thinker... I've always been the underdog in one shape or form."^[5]

Fiscal policy[link]

Brown is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.^[71] In a letter to the editor of the Boston Globe written on January 8, 2012, Brown wrote, "With out-of-control government spending and rising debt and deficits, politicians in Washington have proven time and time again that they cannot manage hard-earned taxpayer money responsibly. So why should we give them even more?"^[72]

Brown opposes a proposed multi-billion dollar tax on banks to recoup bailout money and prescribing of bank executive compensation. Brown, discussing the proposal through a spokesperson, said that he is "opposed to higher taxes, especially in the midst of a severe recession". He also opposes it on the grounds that the tax would likely be passed onto consumers in the form of higher service and ATM fees.^[73][74] In September 2010, Brown opposed a Senate bill creating a $30 billion government fund aimed at encouraging lending to small businesses. The bill combines the fund with $12 billion in new tax breaks. Brown criticized the bill for including a provision much like the Troubled Asset Relief Program, stating: "Banks making lending decisions with government funds is not the way to get our economy moving again.’’^[75]

On December 12, 2010, the Boston Globe reported that "[c]ampaign contributions to [Brown] from the financial industry spiked sharply during a critical three-week period last summer as the fate of the Wall Street regulatory overhaul hung in the balance and Brown used the leverage of his swing vote to win key concessions sought by firms."^[76] Brown received more than ten times the amount of contributions from the financial services industry as House Financial Services Committee chairman (and author of the legislation) Barney Frank during the same period.^[76] According to the Globe:

Brown’s efforts benefited large Massachusetts companies such as MassMutual Financial Group, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Fidelity Investments, and State Street Corp., whose executives and political action committees contributed $29,000 to Brown during the three-week period he was extracting the concessions from Democrats. They also benefited major out-of-state institutions such as Goldman Sachs, UBS, and JPMorgan Chase. Those and other out-of-state financial interests gave Brown a total of $50,000 during the period.^[76]

In December 2011, with a temporary payroll tax cut set to expire at the end of the month, the Senate considered the Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011, which would extend the tax cut for 113 million workers or families and fund the plan by a 3.25 percent surtax on incomes over $1 million. Brown voted against proceeding to take up the bill (i.e., voted against cloture that would end the filibuster). He announced that his opposition was to the surtax on high incomes.^[77][78][79]

Foreign policy[link]

Brown supports President Barack Obama's decision to send 30,000 more troops to fight in Afghanistan. He cited Stanley McChrystal's recommendations as a reason for his support.^[2] He also advocates that suspected terrorists be tried in military tribunals and not civilian courts.^[16] He also supports the limited use of "enhanced interrogation techniques", including waterboarding against non-citizen terrorist suspects.^[80] He supports a two-state solution for the Israel-Palestinian conflict in which Israel and a new, independent Palestinian state would co-exist side by side.^[81]

Veteran services[link]

In 2007, Brown wrote a law establishing a check off box on State income tax forms to allow a filer to indicate if he or she is a veteran of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars. The measure's purpose is to locate and inform returning veterans of benefits they qualify for. Known as the "Welcome Home" bonus, it was passed with bipartisan support.^[13] Brown also amended the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, with Senator Jack Reed (RI), to create a dedicated military liaison office within the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which aside from defending against unscrupulous lenders, also ensures protection of military families against fraudulent life insurance policies. The measure passed the U.S. Senate 99 to 1.^[82]

Health care[link]

Brown supported the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform, which requires all residents to have health insurance, with a state-subsidized plan created for those who cannot afford to insure themselves. Brown does not support President Obama's health care reform plan in its current form as approved by the Democratic-led House and Senate. He has stated this plan is fiscally unsound, and during his campaign notably pledged to be the 41st vote to filibuster the bill in the Senate.^[83]

Brown voted for a state measure on patients' rights that, among other provisions, requires emergency rooms to provide what is known as the morning-after pill^[84] to rape victims to prevent an unwanted pregnancy from developing. In consideration of health care workers who might have a religious objection to administering this medication, Brown attached what became known as the Conscientious Objector amendment which would have exempted these workers, as well as religious hospitals, from being required to provide this medication. However, Brown's amendment also required that all hospitals still had to provide a means for the patient to receive the medication, either by providing another healthcare worker willing to administer the medication, or, in the case of religious hospitals, to provide transportation to another facility, and in a timely manner.^[85] The amendment did not pass.^[86] Brown remains in favor of allowing religious hospitals to refuse to provide emergency contraception on moral or religious grounds, as he stated in the January 5, 2010 candidate debate.^[86][87]

Energy policy[link]

Brown supports expanding solar, wind, and nuclear power, and offshore drilling exploration as a means to reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.^[5] But, when faced with the controversial issue of whether an offshore wind farm should be allowed in the waters off the Cape Cod coast in Massachusetts, a major tourist destination and boating location, he expressed opposition, saying he believed it would hinder tourism and boating in the area.^[88]

Congressional ethics[link]

Brown is an avid supporter of bipartisan cooperation among members of Congress. He has said that his goal in Congress is to "to work in a bipartisan and bicameral manner."^[89] According to a Congressional Weekly study, in 2011 Brown was the second-most bipartisan U.S. Senator, voting with his own party only 54% of the time.^[90] By comparison, his partner in the Massachusetts Senate delegation, Senator John Kerry, voted with his own party 96% of the time, and the entire Massachusetts delegation to the House of Representatives voted with their party over 90% of the time.^[90]

During the second half of 2011, Brown wrote the 2011 version of the STOCK Act, a move to ban insider trading in Congress.^[91] The act, which was co-written with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would prohibit asset trading by members of Congress (and their staff) who have advance knowledge of their assets' behavior due to their involvement in Congress.^[92] The bill was verbally supported by President Barack Obama during his third State of the Union Address, and passed a major procedural hurdle in the Senate by a vote of 93–2 on January 30, 2012.^[93]

Social issues[link]

Brown refers to the currently legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts as a settled issue, which he does not wish to change.^[2] Brown has said he personally believes marriage is between a man and a woman, but would oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.^[94] He is in favor of civil unions.^[5] He opposes ending the Defense of Marriage Act, but otherwise favors leaving the issue to the states to decide.^[38] After initially claiming neutrality on "don't ask, don't tell", the ban on openly gay military personnel,^[95] he joined a handful of Republicans who broke with their party to repeal the ban in December 2010.^[96][97]

Brown has supported a presumption of shared parenting after divorce and was a co-sponsor of Fathers and Families HB 1460.^[98]

Brown has stated that Roe v. Wade is settled law. He is against intact dilation and evacuation abortions (known by opponents as "partial birth abortion") and has spoken in favor of parental consent^[5] for minors who seek an abortion. He said he would not use abortion as a litmus test in Supreme Court confirmations.^[5] He opposes federal funding for elective abortion in accordance with the Hyde Amendment.^[38]

Crime and security[link]

Brown supports strengthening Massachusetts sex offender penalties,^[98] the death penalty,^[81] the right to bear arms (with some restrictions such as licenses and background checks) and strengthening border enforcement and creating an employment verification system with penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants.^[98] He opposes providing driver's licenses and in-state tuition to illegal immigrants.

Internet/censorship[link]

Brown announced via Twitter on Tuesday January 17, 2012 that he would vote against the proposed Protect IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act: "I’m going to vote NO on #PIPA and #SOPA. The Internet is too important to our economy."

Organizational associations and honors[link]

Brown is a 30-year member of the Massachusetts National Guard, in which he currently holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. Brown was awarded the Army Commendation Medal for meritorious service in organizing the National Guard to quickly support homeland security following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.^[100][101] He has also completed Airborne School and been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.^[13]

Brown has received the Public Servant of the Year Award from the United Chamber of Commerce for his leadership in reforming the state's sex offender laws and protecting victims' rights.^[102] Brown's family has helped raise funds for such non-profit organizations as Horace Mann Educational Associates (HMEA,Inc.), Wrentham Developmental Center, Charles River Arc, and the Arc of Northern Bristol County, all for the care and support of those with developmental disabilities. He has also been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) for his work in creating an environment that encourages job growth and expansion in Massachusetts.^[103] The Boston Globe selected Brown as the 2010 Bostonian of the Year, citing his "profound impact on national politics in the last year".^[99]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Brown is married to former WCVB-TV reporter Gail Huff, whom he met through modeling. They have two daughters, Ayla, an American Idol semi-finalist and a student at Boston College, and Arianna, a competitive equestrian and pre-medical student at Syracuse University.^[21] Besides their primary home in Massachusetts, the couple owns a home in Rye, New Hampshire, three rental condos in Boston, and a timeshare on the Caribbean island of Aruba.^{[5][104][105]}