Category Florida History
Flashback Friday – Senator Claude Pepper leads opposition to anti labor legislation
Remember when Florida had a progressive leader in the US Senate? It’s been a long while, but Senator Claude Pepper was the leading New Deal Democrat, and a figure of incredible national stature. Republicans captured a majority in Congress during the 1946 midterm elections. This came after the years of the New Deal where Democrats […]
State and local officials invited to public records training
The Florida Institute for Reform and Empowerment (FIRE) has partnered with the First Amendment Foundation to offer a free training tomorrow in Orlando at 9:30 AM on open government. The training will cover topics on open meetings, public records laws, open government, first amendment, and media law topics to help us all hold our elected […]
Flashback Friday: Road Map of Florida in 1962
From my collection a Standard Oil Road Map of Florida circa 1962.
Thursday Bookshelf: River of Interests
River of Interests: Water Management in South Florida and the Everglades, 1948-2010 is a complete and definitive history of the Everglades ecosystem in the second half of the 20th Century. The book which is incredibly well-researched and written covers the draining of significant portions of the Everglades, the original channelization of many of the rivers in […]
Flashback Friday: Tourist map of Florida from 1950
This is one of my favorites from my personal collection of old Florida maps. This tourist map which highlights Florida’s east coast is from 1950, when Harry Truman was still President and kept his “Little White House” in Key West. Interstate Highways hadn’t come to Florida yet and the first urban expressways would not be […]
Flashback Friday: An interview with Robert Buccellato
On Thursday we reviewed the soon to be released book Florida Governors Lasting Legacies (Images of America). Recently, I sat down with author Robert Buccellato for a candid chat about the legacy of Florida’s Governors and the challenges of leadership today in the Sunshine State. The lessons of Reubin Askew, perhaps Florida’s greatest governor were foremost […]
Thursday Bookshelf – Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies
Unlike other southern states, no definitive chronicle exists about Florida’s governors. That inspired Robert Buccellato to put together a first of its kind book about the governors – Florida Governors Lasting Legacies (Images of America) which will be released next week. In this day and age where institutional knowledge of Florida’s history and political culture has […]
Flashback Friday: Expressway revolts in Dade, Broward, Pinellas and Hillsborough
In the 1960’s urban planners were preparing for explosive growth in the Tampa Bay area and southeast Florida. Population was exploding in both areas and various proposals for expressways were floated and eventually adopted by regional planning councils.The network of expressways proposed would have displaced existing neighborhoods and would have cost millions in local tax […]
Thursday Bookshelf – FDR and the birth of modern liberalism
Happy Days Are Here Again: The 1932 Democratic Convention, the Emergence of FDR–and How America Was Changed Forever, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope, and American Experience: FDR Being a Democrat today inevitably leads back to the New Deal and how the party structure in the United States essentially changed at […]
Martin Luther King Jr. and St Augustine – Changing Florida
Editors Note: In commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday being observed today we look back at an article we ran in April 2013 regarding Dr. King and St Augustine. Monday Musings will return next week. Today is the 45th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and this week was the 500th anniversary of […]
The Florida Squeeze 