Category Florida History
On the passing of Tom Slade
One of the most influential people in Florida’s last half century of politics passed away on Monday. Tom Slade, more than any other single man is responsible for the political climate Floridians live in today. The lasting and permanent Republican majorities in the state of Florida were built largely by him, with deputies implementing his […]
Flashback Friday: Florida and off-year elections…where national trends stop
National trends don’t always engulf Florida in off-year elections. Florida is again showing it can buck the trend this cycle as Charlie Crist, now a Democrat is pulling away from incumbent Republican Rick Scott in the Governor’s race despite the national mood being decidedly anti-Democrat. Assuming Crist wins, this would simply prove to be the […]
Flashback Friday: September of 1964… Hurricanes Cleo, Dora and the Beatles rock Jacksonville
September 1964, 50 years ago was a momentous month in Florida history. The state was recovering from Hurricane Cleo which hit southeast Florida in late August with particular venom, destroying the Storyland amusement park which never reopened and passed over the Coral Springs Covered Bridge after destroying most of the city. The Fort Lauderdale News did […]
Flashback Friday: 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane
This week marks a sad anniversary, the 86th of the the worst natural disaster in the history of Florida. In 1928, southern Florida was still recovering from the 1926 “Great Miami Hurricane” which adjusted for inflation remains far and away the most expensive Hurricane in this history of the United States. The 1926 storm was […]
Thursday Bookshelf: The Roosevelts
As companions to Ken Burns’ The Roosevelts on PBS the following books, all available on Kindle are highly recommended. The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism Theodore Rex Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Monday Musings: 9/11 Memories, Crist Field and Turnout operation, Who is Leslie Wimes, Orange County, Joe Negron and Home Rule Hypocrisy
On 9/11/01 I was a student at New College of Florida. As you may remember, President George Bush was in Sarasota (where New College is located) and of course the whole campus has organized protests for that morning. I had gone to class and when I came back, one student was sitting out in the […]
Flashback Friday: Florida and World War II
75 years ago this week, World War II began when Germany invaded Poland and the British and French declared war on the Germans. The United States would not become formally involved in the conflict until December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but the USA was very involved in arming and financing the British […]
Thursday Bookshelf: Government in the Sunshine State
Few Floridians know the state as well as UF Professor David Colburn and FSU Professor Lance deHaven-Smith. In 1999, Republicans took complete control of state government for the first time since the Reconstruction era- that same year during Legislative Session Government in the Sunshine State: Florida Since Statehood was released and delivered to every Legislative […]
Flashback Friday: When Crist and Sheldon faced off in 2000
Disclaimer: Kartik Krishnaiyer is currently serving as the Deputy Campaign Manager for George Sheldon’s Attorney General Campaign and will not be discussing this campaign on TFS. This is a historical piece looking at Mr. Sheldon’s previous statewide campaign. Yesterday, as I attended the well executed “unity rallies” the Florida Democratic Party put together I could […]
Do Isolated State Capital’s Like Tallahassee Impact Corruption?
Interesting nugget today in the Buzz blog. Something I have theorized for years appears to now have empirical evidence to back it up. From Adam Smith in the St Pete Times today: For those of you who haven’t yet finished the latest edition of The American Economic Review, Profs. Filipe R. Campante and Quoc-Anh Do […]
The Florida Squeeze 