On this special edition of The Florida History Podcast we look back at our state’s experience with a previous worldwide pandemic. The pandemic killed at least 4,000 people in the state and nationally was responsible for more deaths than all the wars of the 20th Century combined. You can listen to the Florida History Podcast […]
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 first pen Reubin […]
Richard Nixon was the closest thing we have gotten to having Floridian in the White House (During Nixon’s 1972 reelection he was possibly registered to vote in Florida and was nominated both in 1968 and 1972 for President at the Republican National Convention held in Miami). Donald Trump has tried repeating the same trick for […]
In his first year as Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis achieved more from a governing perspective than his immediate predecessor Rick Scott did in eight years. DeSantis also seemed on the trajectory to be Florida’s most effective Governor since Bob Graham. Then came COVID-19. I wrote three days ago that I had faith in the Governor […]
President Jimmy Carter’s 1992 book, Turning Point: A Candidate, a State, and a Nation Come of Age is the story of Carter’s first run for public office. In 1962, Carter sought a seat in the State Senate and was the victim of blatant vote stuffing. At the time Georgia was still resisting desegregation laws, and elections were […]
With most of locked inside for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 reading about the Civil Rights movement served as a reminder of the critical role Florida played in the passage of legislation- specifically St Augustine which the epicenter of MLK Jr. and SLC activity during the Senate filibuster of the legislation. The amount of […]
When the Turnpike was originally proposed in he late 1940’s the road was supposed to travel thirty five miles east of Orlando. Thomas B. Manuel, a Broward County Commissioner and chair of the Turnpike Commission sought to link southeast Florida with the First Coast destinations of Jacksonville and St Augustine. Speaker of the House Farris […]
Thanks to the COVID-19 related shut down, I have made great progress on my latest book project which is a narrative about Colonial Florida and the influence the English/British had on it. Florida was only under British rule for two decades from 1763 to 1783. However, the English then the British (after the 1707 Act […]
I hope everyone is coping with this Coronavirus pandemic as best they can. For me, the boredom and Netflix binging afflicting most folks hasn’t hit me yet, largely because this down time has given me the opportunity to make great progress on my forthcoming book on Florida History. I had planned to spend some of […]
Editors Note: This column has been submitted by an influencer in the state of Florida who wishes to remain anonymous. At this critical time for our state, nation and planet we at TFS are committed to bringing various perspectives into the discussion about public health and our economic future. SARS-CoV-2… You may have heard of […]
The Florida Squeeze 