Category Florida History
Joe Biden was a liberal – progressives need to fight to bring him back home.
Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee for President in 2020. Those who keep fighting the good fight for progressive principles and Bernie Sanders should be lauded – if they fight the fight respectively. Sometimes Sanders supporters behave like Jacobins in Revolutionary France. Agree with them 99% but cross them once and they’ll have your head […]
The Sunshine State Parkway in its early days
Since south Florida is made largely of transplants many locals don’t know about the complicated history of road building in the region this is a good time to discuss the remarkable road that is the Florida Turnpike. While the federal government dolled out money for roads in their native New York and Chicago, road building […]
It’s Biden’s party (in theory) – but Democrats appear very badly positioned for November and they probably don’t care
Joe Biden is the presumptive Democratic nominee for President. Which Joe Biden will we get, the one that took aggressive liberal stands on Gun Control, fighting Apartheid and many Foreign Affairs issues or the one that sandbagged Anita Hill, pushed laws that benefited creditors over consumers and the VP for President Obama’s administration that barely […]
Has the era of bipartisan conservative economic consensus commenced?
The 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination race accelerated a process that has been underway for a decade or more. The ability of the Democratic Party to more tightly control electoral outcomes and leadership races within its own yard, but its inability to win races on the macro level. For me personally, I do not like these […]
Florida’s statewide teachers strike of 1968
One of the most important events in the history of public sector unions took place right here in Florida. In 1968, Florida’s teachers walked off the job after several spot strikes and the failure of Republican Governor Claude Kirk and the Democratic legislature to properly fund education. The background and legacy of this strike is […]
George Smathers, JFK, LBJ and Nixon
George Smathers lives in infamy as the winner of the nasty 1950 Florida Democratic Primary for US Senate. In that primary Smathers defeated liberal icon incumbent Senator Claude Pepper with a red-baiting campaign that ushered in the McCarthy era. But Smathers Senate career saw him as close as anyone to the center of power. Close […]
Trump and “Gone with the Wind”: The academic history behind the racist “Lost Cause” narrative
President Trump’s citation of “Gone with the Wind” as an American film worthy of commendation while ripping a film by a Korean-producer could not have been an accident – it has to have been a carefully-scripted dog whistle to neo-Confederate types whose turnout will be important for the President’s reelection. “Gone with the Wind,” is […]
The History of Miami Beach
Miami Beach is one of the most famous places in Florida and one of the most glamorous destinations in the world. On this week’s Florida History Podcast we review the history of Miami Beach from Carl Fisher’s initial development, through Al Capone buying a home, the Art Deco era, the filming of Goldfinger, the Jackie […]
The History of Florida’s Presidential Primary – long a critical contest
On this week’s Florida History Podcast we discuss the critical role Florida’s Primary has played in both Democratic and GOP races of the past. Beginning in 1972, Florida’s Presidential Primary became a critical event in the Democratic Party’s nominating process. Starting in 1976, it was an important date on the GOP’s nomination calendar. Throughout the […]
Andrew Jackson in Florida
In this week’s Florida History Podcast we discuss Andrew Jackson, one of the most colorful and controversial figures in the history of this state and the Union as a whole. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast on Anchor (which hosts our show), Spotify, Google, Apple, Radio Public, Breaker, Overcast, Castro or Pocket Casts. Overcast, Castro, Spotify, Radio Public and Breaker have App Store apps […]
The Florida Squeeze 