Braskamp, a Presbyterian minister, served as the 56th House Chaplain, January 3, 1950, until the time of his death in 1966.

[1] Braskamp graduated from the University of Michigan in 1908 and the Theological School in Princeton, New Jersey in 1911.

[2][3] In 1955, he served on the advisory committee that helped create the U.S. Capitol Congressional Prayer Room.

[4] During his time working with the House of Representatives, Braskamp's many prayers included the one that opened the session that passed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964[5] The NY Times reported that "The air of a great occasion hung over the chamber from the moment that Chaplain Bernard Braskamp began his prayer with the quotation from Leviticus engraved on the Liberty Bell: "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.

[2] Braskamp died in his Washington, D.C., home on February 22, 1966, of a stroke.