His father, Herbert Brownell, was a professor and author at the Peru State Normal School in education and physical sciences.

The tankers were eventually made available for sale, but because they were considered to have a militarily strategic value in the event of another war, they were being offered to American citizens only.

From 1944 to 1946, he was the chairman of the Republican National Committee, where he focused on modernizing it with advanced polling methods and fundraising techniques.

Along with Dewey, Brownell was instrumental in Eisenhower's selection of Richard Nixon as the vice-presidential running mate.

On November 6, 1953, Brownell told members of the Chicago Executives Club, "Harry Dexter White was a Russian spy....

[5] Early in his term, Brownell was involved in several landmark civil rights cases, including Brown v. Board of Education.

Mr. Brownell was both praised and condemned as he departed from office....[6]In 1965, Brownell chaired a committee to find civilians, who would serve on the first impartial Civilian Complaint Review Board of the New York City Police Department, the first such citizen oversight of police in the country.

[7] Brownell later served as the United States representative to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and from 1972 to 1974, he was special U.S. envoy to Mexico for negotiations over the Colorado River.

In addition to many honors and other civic roles, Brownell was also President of the New York City Bar Association in 1982.