Monthly Archives: March 2020
Robert Searle’s St Augustine raid and the founding of South Carolina
In this week’s Florida History Podcast we discuss a critical event that led to the building of the Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine. May 28, 1668 was the 82nd anniversary of Sir Frances Drake’s successful raid on St Augustine. That afternoon the 120 soldiers guarding St Augustine had been put on alert as […]
#Stayathome book suggestion: January 1973
January 1973: Watergate, Roe v. Wade, Vietnam, and the Month That Changed America Forever by James Robenalt is an essential read into a month in American history where a confluence of events all came together. It’s a very good read for the stay at home period thanks to Coronavirus. The book doesn’t really cover new ground […]
#Stayathome reading and listening suggestions: Claude Pepper
For progressive Floridians looking to pass the time during the current Coronavirus shutdown I recommend reading both Red Pepper and Gorgeous George: Claude Pepper’s Epic Defeat in the 1950 Democratic Primary (Florida Government and Politics) and Claude Pepper and Ed Ball: Politics, Purpose, and Power (Florida History and Culture) about Claude Pepper, the liberal lion. We also […]
“Reckless Ronnie the Ridiculous” bringing back the worst of Florida’s history
As we discussed on the most recent episode of The Florida History Podcast, pandemics that are given regional names are usually done so for xenophobic reasons as was the case in 1918. There is an enormously important story about xenophobia and Coronavirus unfolding in Florida currently but, as has too often been the case in […]
#Stayathome book suggestion: Last Train to Paradise
The building of the Overseas Railroad is one of great engineering feats in Florida’s history – in fact it might actually be one of the most amazing marvels in American history. Built thanks to Henry Flagler’s ingenuity and his deep pockets, the east coast railroad that had changed Florida was extended to the Keys to […]
Crisis Economics – A history and what now
“I guess everyone’s a Keynesian in the foxhole.” – Robert Lucas, University of Chicago, 2008 Since its founding the U.S. government has generally adopted a hands-off attitude with private business. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s the economy was so wild economic historian, John Steel Gordon, labeled it, “Capitalism Red in Tooth and […]
#Stayathome reading suggestions – Florida and the American Revolution
As we hunker down during the Coronavirus Pandemic, much of my focus has been research for my forthcoming book on English/British influence on Florida. The American Revolution took place during a period of time when Florida was ruled by the British. Yet Florida did not join the revolution and in fact was important in the […]
1918 Influenza epidemic
On this special edition of The Florida History Podcast we look back at our state’s experience with a previous worldwide pandemic. The pandemic killed at least 4,000 people in the state and nationally was responsible for more deaths than all the wars of the 20th Century combined. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast […]
#Stayathome book suggestion – A Most Disorderly Court
A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary (Florida History and Culture) by Martin Dyckman is yet another important time piece by the former St Petersburg Times Associate Editor. Dyckman’s knowledge of the 1970’s Florida political landscape is second to none among reporters and having covered the events closely, he was able to first pen Reubin […]
#Stayathome reading suggestion: Poisoning the Press: Richard Nixon, Jack Anderson and the Rise of Washington’s Scandal Culture.
Richard Nixon was the closest thing we have gotten to having Floridian in the White House (During Nixon’s 1972 reelection he was possibly registered to vote in Florida and was nominated both in 1968 and 1972 for President at the Republican National Convention held in Miami). Donald Trump has tried repeating the same trick for […]
The Florida Squeeze 