Lawrence Westbrook (politician)
Colonel Lawrence Westbrook was a Texan politician and official in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was born 23 August 1889 in Belton, Texas and was a 1908 graduate of the University of Texas and later the University of Texas Law School. Colonel Westbrook also served as a member of the Texas Legislature representing Waco, Texas. During World War I he attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army Signal Corps. He married Mrs. Martha Wootton Collings in Hot Springs, Arkansas in March 1937. During World War II Colonel Westbrook returned to active duty and was wartime president of the United States Purchasing Board in the South Pacific theater where he was awarded the Order of the British Empire from New Zealand. While serving in the South Pacific he was responsible for a survey of all defense resources for this region. Colonel Westbrook died January 24, 1964 in San Angelo, Texas.
Westbrook, the developer of the little-known Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division – a program of cooperatively owned housing projects for middle-income residents funded by the US Government – began his career late in the 1920s with his own self-initiated program for organizing rural Texas farmers into a cooperative marketing body. Today, in 2009, while the US is experiencing the popping of a real estate bubble, the mutual ownership concept is especially interesting, as it was based on the idea that traditional home ownership was not the best economic choice for many middle income families. Since it ties these families to their home during times of economic recession or depression, it makes it difficult for them to move and follow available employment opportunities. In the early 1930s, Westbrook and his program attracted favorable attention from regional New Deal officials, and in 1931 Westbrook was appointed to the position of Director of the Texas Relief Commission. While involved in the Texas relief programs Westbook was intensely interested in supporting the development of the Texas Parks system. He was a close friend of influential Congressman and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1940-1947, 1949-1953 and 1955-1961) Sam Rayburn which the Westbrook family reports was a key in Colonel Westbrook's success while working within the US Government. During Colonel Westbrook's experience as a Texas public official he became convinced of the benefits of cooperative enterprises. In quick succession, he was promoted to Assistant Federal Emergency Relief Administrator in the Rural Rehabilitation Division, and then to First Assistant Work Projects (WPA) Administrator Harry L. Hopkins. They became friends and Mr. Hopkins would serve as best man at Colonel Westbrook's marriage in 1937.
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