Category Florida History
Flashback Friday: Charley Johns, The “Pork Chop” Gang, The Purple Pamphlet and the shame of Florida’s circa 1960’s Legislature
Senator Charley Johns (D-Starke) is one of the best known figures in the Florida Political History for multiple dubious reasons. The leader of the infamous “Pork Chop Gang”. Johns became Governor in 1953 after Governor Dan McCarty the first Governor elected from southern Florida died just months after taking office. Prior to 1968, Florida had […]
Flashback Friday: Sunshine Skyway Bridge accident
Tomorrow, May 9th marks the 35th Anniversary of one of the most painful memories modern Florida has endured. The freighter MV Summit Venture crashed into the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa Bay killing 35 people. At the time the Skyway was a Cantilever Bridge with twin spans. After the disaster before the new Cable Stayed […]
Flashback Friday: Police excess and urban violence in Florida
Below I will chronicle several incidents of law enforcement excess towards African-Americans in the state of Florida since 1980. This is not meant to provoke a “race war” in the comments section but is intended to raise awareness about what has transpired in this state through the years for those who may not know the […]
Flashback Friday: The American Conquest of Florida
Florida was formally annexed into the United States by the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 between the US and Spain. However, Florida’s move from Spanish Colony that spanned from the Mississippi River to the Keys after the 1783 Treaty of Paris to American territory happened piecemeal between 1810 and 1819 and involved more than anything the […]
Flashback Friday: Senator Bob Graham and the Iraq War
While many in Washington in both parties were anxious to rush toward a military conflict with Iraq in 2002, Florida’s Senior Senator Bob Graham was a lonely voice in the wilderness cautioning against the invasion of Iraq. In October 2002, after reading the intelligence reports related to Saddam Hussein and has WMD program, Graham voted […]
Flashback Friday: The End of the Civil War in Florida
This week marked the 150th Anniversary of the end of major hostilities in the Civil War. Throughout much of the war, union forces occupied Pensacola and Key West the two most strategic locations in the state. But the capital, Tallahassee which was the size of a large village at the time was never captured and […]
Flashback Friday: Did the Civil War actually start in Florida?
As we approach the 150th Anniversary of General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, it will once again be prominently mentioned that the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. While no doubt the hostilities and all-out war that followed make Fort Sumter a seminal event, the […]
Flashback Friday: George Wallace, Leroy Collins, Selma and the 1968 US Senate Race
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 […]
Thursday Bookshelf: A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary
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 […]
Monday Musings – West Palm Beach Mayoral Race, Pat Bainter and the Gainesville Commission, Kristin Jacobs emerging as a statewide star, Need for Primaries, Battle of Natural Bridge Anniversary
Both Florida and Palm Beach County Democrats are crowing about West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio’s big victory. Certainly the Palm Beach County party deserves loads of credit for activating its electoral infrastructure and defeating Kimberly Mitchell who would have emerged quickly as a state GOP star by such a large margin. Mitchell’s extensive family and […]
The Florida Squeeze 