Brock, William Emerson, 1930-

William Emerson "Bill" Brock III was born November 23, 1930, in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to William E. Brock Jr. and Myra Kruesi Brock. His family owned the Brock Candy Company. He was the grandson of William Emerson Brock I, a Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee from 1929 to 1931. He received a B.S. from Washington and Lee College in Lexington, Virginia, in 1953 and subsequently served in the U.S. Navy until 1956. He progressed in the Brock Candy Company from assistant in production and control in 1956 to director of the company and vice president of marketing in 1961. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the third congressional district of Tennessee, in 1962, as a Republican. In 1970, he won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate from Tennessee and defeated three-term incumbent Sen. Albert A. Gore Sr. He served in the senate from 1971 to 1977. He was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1977 to 1981. He was appointed U.S. Trade Representative in 1981 and served until 1985 when he was made Secretary of Labor. Brock served as Secretary of Labor from April 29, 1985 to October 31, 1987. While serving as Secretary, he greatly increased attention to health and safety hazards for workers; stressed the use of conciliation in correcting discrimination in employment; led an initiative to help improve employment for Vietnam-era veterans; and actively promoted non-confrontational labor-management cooperation. He also mobilized a national effort to provide qualified workforce for the future through the "Workforce 2000" initiative and advocated improved literacy and basic education. After leaving politics in the late 1980s, Brock formed the Brock Group to advise foreign and domestic companies on international trade policy. In the early 1990s his firm earned almost one million dollars assisting the Mexican government in the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 1990, he chaired the Secretary of Labor's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills. In 1990, he established residency in Annapolis, Maryland, and in 1994 sought election to the U.S. Senate from that state. He was defeated by incumbent Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes.