Category Florida History
Flashback Friday: Air Florida 90 Crash
On a cold snowy and icy January day in 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 was scheduled to fly from Washington’s National Airport to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International with a stop at Tampa International Airport. The plane’s crew had arrived at Washington-National (which our readers know is actually in Arlington, Virginia) from Miami earlier in the day […]
Flashback Friday: The 1980 Election in Florida and Ronald Reagan’s ascent
In January we spoke to Robert Buccellato the author of the excellent new book new book Jimmy Carter in Plains: (Images of Modern America). Since that interview and due to the Presidential primaries I have been thinking often about the 1980 Election where President Jimmy Carter was unseated by Ronald Reagan. Last month we discussed the Dixiecrat […]
GOP Statewide Race-Baiting in Florida from 1968 to 2016 (And those Republicans who opposed it)
Both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio have done a fair amount of race-baiting either subtle (Rubio) or overt (Trump) over the course of the last few months. The GOP race now in Florida has featured this baiting This is sadly nothing new in the annals of this state. In 1968, Alabama’s Democratic former Governor George […]
Flashback Friday: Senator Bob Graham and Authorization for the Iraq War
After last weekend’s Future of Florida Summit at the Bob Graham Center in Gainesville I began thinking in-depth about the lead up to the Iraq War once again. It’s become an issue in the face for both Presidential nominations and the war is in hindsight seen as a fatal mistake. While many in Washington in […]
Flashback Friday: Racial backlash, the 1968 Election in Florida, George Wallace and Marco Rubio
In 1968, Alabama’s Democratic former Governor George Wallace who had become a national figure with his “stand in the schoolhouse door” ran for President on the ticket of the “American Independent Party.” The candidacy despite coded words like “crime,” “law breakers,” and “patriotism” was about one thing- race. Wallace had been a populist earlier in […]
Challenger – 30 Years Later; What the non-commemorations say about America
Today should be treated the way we view anniversaries of Pearl Harbor, 9/11 and JFK Assassination from where I sit. On January 28, 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at Cape Canaveral shortly after takeoff. The crew of seven on the STS-51 mission perished immediately. Admittedly, I am biased, having grown up in a NASA family […]
Interview: Robert Buccellato, author Jimmy Carter in Plains, The Presidential Hometown
Robert Buccellato the author of Florida Governors Lasting Legacies has penned another book this time about President Jimmy Carter and his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The new book Jimmy Carter in Plains: (Images of Modern America) is on sale now for release on February 1. The book is a unique look at the relationship between President Carter […]
Flashback Friday: Florida and the Union Blockade
Florida was the least populated state in the Confederacy during the Civil War. But with by far the longest coastline in the nation, the Union had to take seriously the ability of the smugglers to use Florida to get weapons and other raw materials to the Confederate Government. At the outset of the war, the […]
Flashback Friday: Florida to California in 1980 and 2015
Transcontinental flights from Florida to California were a late development compared to flights from the northeast corridor to California. Here is look at flights from Florida to California in January 1980 just as airline deregulation was being implemented and compare it to December 2015. January 1980: From Los Angeles To Fort Lauderdale National Airlines 1x […]
Flashback Friday: Why Didn’t Florida Join the American Revolution?
Florida did not become part of the United States until 1819. However, the opportunity had arisen for Florida to be part of the original rebellion against British rule. Florida had been under British rule since 1763, having been a long-standing target for conquest. The British tried in 1702, 1707, 1739 and 1742 to conquer Florida […]
The Florida Squeeze 