Determination Laced With Humor : Brock a Hard-Working High Achiever

The Japanese trade minister opened the box handed to him by American trade representative William E. Brock III, unwrapped an aluminum baseball bat and, after a moment of astonishment, broke into a big grin.

Brock had achieved what American companies couldn’t do--get U.S. baseball bats into Japan. And his little joke that day in 1983 helped ease one of the periodic bouts of trade tension between the United States and Japan. Brock left Tokyo with commitments from the Japanese to allow baseball bats and other previously forbidden imports into their markets.

The incident was vintage Bill Brock: determination laced with humor in an effective package. His relaxed manner and Tennessee drawl, sometimes so quiet that interviewers must lean forward to catch all of his words, mask a hard-working high achiever.

Bridging a Gap

Brock has been a congressman, senator, Republican Party chairman and, since 1981, the nation’s top trade negotiator. Now, President Reagan has nominated him to be secretary of labor, hoping that the affable, politically sensitive Brock will help bridge the gap between the union movement and the White House.

The Reagan Administration “hasn’t had any relationship at all with labor, and Brock has the sensitivity, judgment and experience to improve that,” said Robert S. Strauss, a former Democratic Party chairman and special trade representative who is a friend and admirer of Brock.

The new labor secretary-designate, according to a former associate, “is one of the few people in Washington, or perhaps the country, who could walk into the Oval Office today and do the job as President effectively.”

Hallmark Is Free Trade

The comment was by Pete Teeley, who was press and communications director for the Republican National Committee when Brock helped rehabilitate the party in the aftermath of Watergate, bringing it into the high-technology age of computerized donor lists and automated fund-raising campaigns. “The Democratic National Committee is still playing catch-up,” Teeley said.

Free trade has been Brock’s hallmark for the last four years. He staunchly opposed restrictions on imports despite complaints from American companies and workers in such diverse domestic industries as autos, steel, textiles and copper. Most Americans “hold a very strong commitment to open trade,” maintains Brock, who has occasionally come under some heavy fire from aggrieved domestic firms.

“I hope Mr. Brock has more concern for the jobs of American workers as secretary of labor than he did as the special U.S. trade representative,” said William J. Gill, a consultant on international trade for several domestic industries.

Good-Guy ‘White Hats’

There are just 150,000 production jobs left in the U.S. steel industry, down from 450,000 in 1980, and “almost all of these job losses were due to the insane trade policy practiced by the United States government,” Gill said.

But Brock argues that a tough policy of barring imports, whether for the protection of steel or any other domestic industry, would backfire, causing other nations to retaliate by barring U.S. goods. Calling themselves the good-guy “white hats,” Brock and other free-trade advocates in the Administration once celebrated a string of political victories by ordering formal top hats in gleaming white. However, his commitment to free trade is tempered by political agility--”He knows the time to compromise and the time to hang tough,” said John C.L. Donaldson, a consultant who worked for Brock’s four predecessors in the trade representative’s post.

When Japanese negotiators here were balking over insistent U.S. demands that American producers be allowed to ship more citrus products and beef into Japan, Brock’s staff took a lunch break and ostentatiously consumed hamburgers and orange drinks.

Brock then called a press conference to warn of dire, but unspecified, consequences if the Japanese intransigence persisted. Shortly thereafter, the Japanese agreed to accept more American citrus and beef.

Alternating Tactics

“Sometimes you have to hit people with a 2-by-4 to get their attention,” Brock says of his alternating tactic of sweet persuasion and tough talk.

Brock is leaving his yet-unnamed successor with a plateful of problems. The United States had a $101-billion trade deficit last year, and many angry members of Congress are speaking of surcharges on imports or other actions to protect U.S. jobs. “The world trade situation is very delicate now,” Donaldson said, “but Brock is a team player and the President said do it, so Brock said OK.”

The new labor secretary-designate, 54 years old, is married to the former Laura (Muffet) Handly. They have four children.

Brock, a native of Chattanooga, was graduated from Washington and Lee University, served in the Navy, and worked as a marketing executive for the Brock Candy Co., founded by his grandfather more than 80 years ago.

As labor secretary, Brock will not be new to Cabinet meetings--the trade post gives him Cabinet rank. But he has been bringing a bonus to the meetings, an ample supply of the Brock brand of jelly beans, the President’s favorite candy.