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The 1950s : LeRoy Collins and Charley Johns The 1950s : LeRoy Collins and Charley Johns

James Anthony Schnur

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Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Schnur, James. "The 1950s: LeRoy Collins and Charley Johns." In Florida Decades: A Sesquicentennial History, ed. by James J. Horgan and Lewis N. Wynne. St. Leo: St. Leo College Press, 1995.

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LeRoy Collins and Charley johns

· ....... by James A. Schnur "" ', : ,, ,, <

Popular culture and collective memories have often attributed a sense of complacency and tranquillity to America during the 1950s. Old photographs, as well

as television imd radio programs, might reminisce about an in­nocent era. But dramatic and pivotal changes redefined Florida after World War II.

While much of the state's present infrastructure evolved between 1945 and 1960, battles between leaders of old and new Florida did leave a mixed legacy. Issues that confronted Florid­ians in the 1950s continue to influence contemporary political, social, educational, cultural, and environmental life. 1

Florida had joined its southern neighbors as a bastion of one-party rule. After the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, state authorities propagated a political structure based upon white supremacy and Democratic party hegemony. The 1885 constitution limited the governor's authority by prohibiting suc­cessive terms of office and by requiring the state executive to share power with cabinet members eligible for re-election. This conservative document remained in effect until 1968. Except for special sessions, lawmakers convened every two years throughout this period, forcing governors to implement their proposals quickly during the first sixty-day term of the legisla­ture, before they became "lame ducks."2

"Porkchoppersn and "Lambchoppersn Unity among Democrats did not necessarily follow from

single-party rule. Florida's malapportioned legislature supported rural interests: In 1950, Dade County's lone state senator spoke for nearly 500,000 constituents, while Jefferson County's delegate had barely 10,000 voters in his district. Similar

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166 Florida Decades

disparities occurred in the House of Representatives, as leg~slators failed to account for demographic changes during their mandated reapportionment sessions. Florida's expansive geography and peculiar demography led to recurrent rural ("porkchopper") versus urban ("lambchopper") sectional cleavages and prevented distant metropolitan areas from supporting a unified platform.

Politicians survived by creating ever-changing coalitions based on personal patronage rather than on principle. In such a milieu, counties with less than fifteen percent of the state's total population controlled both houses. The lack of a viable Republican organization during the 1950s fostered competition among Democrats, and the "sink-or-swim" battles between legislative and executive branches prevented governors from acting as the party leader in state politics. With few registered Republicans on the rolls during the 1950s, Democratic gubernatorial candidates fought resolutely to win the party primaries because the victorious candidate automatically secured the office during the November elections.3

Two political factions dictated Democratic politics during the 1950s. "Porkchoppers" sought to maintain the legislative dominance of agrarian districts in Tallahassee. Conservative "county seat elites" who distrusted calls for reform and sought to preserve customs such as patronage and segregation, mem­bers of the Pork Chop gang took a blood oath to oppose any demands for reapportionment that would dismantle their per­vasive power in the state house. As tax revenues flowed into the capitol from burgeoning urban counties, Pork Chop legisla­tors redistributed these funds for the benefit of their smaller communities.

Charley Johns-a senator from Bradford County since the mid-1930s and Senate President during the 1953 term-best represented porkchopper brethren. Hailing from urban and pen­insular counties, lambchoppers viewed issues from the context of state-wide business progressivism, rather than of parochial self-preservation. Led by Verle A. Pope and (Thomas) LeRoy

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 167

Collins, lambchoppers called for equitable reapportionment and

a revision of the 1885 constitution.4

Changes in gubernatorial statecraft signalled the transition between old and new Florida. Dan McCarty, former Speaker of the House from peninsular Fort Pierce, assumed the gove~or­ship in 1953. Although illness led to his unt~mely death ei~ht months after taking office, McCarty champ10ne~ ?rogress~v.e reforms that placed business interests above traditiOnal poh:I­cal spoils. The constitution and a state Supreme Court ver~Ict provided that Senate President Charl~y Johns be~ome Actmg Governor until a 1954 election determined a candidate to com-

plete McCarty's unexpired term.5

LeRoy collins Two days after the court's ruling, LeRoy Collins announced

his intention to run against Johns for the balance of the term. Angered at Johns's suspension of McCarty appointees and t~e return of corrupt patronage, Collins campaigned to seek legis­lative reapportionment, to restore integrity in g~vernment, and to reinstate suspended officials just as the Umted S~ates S~­preme Court's May 1954 Brown v. Board~~ ~ducatwn ~eci­sion proclaimed separate educational facilities for. Afncan Americans inherently unequal. Bill Hendrix, a leader m the Ku Klux Klan and Democratic candidate in the 1952 race, ques­tioned Acting Governor Johns's loyalty to the principle of seg-

regation. At Johns's 1954 campaign kick-off from a Starke football

field, Pork Chop Senator Dillworth Clark placate~ Hendri~ by exclaiming that he had not witnessed "a crowd this large s~nce the last lynching in Jefferson County." While. Johns obtame~ more votes than Collins and Brailey Odham m the 1954 pn­mary, a plurality required a run-off election. With Odham throw­ing his support behind Collins, the Leon County senator han~­ily defeated his Bradford County colleague and token opposi­tion from Republican nominee J. Tom Watson, who actua~ly died before the election. Johns returned to the Senate. Collms

became governor.6

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168 Florida Decades

Throughout his political care C . strengthen Florida's public sch 1 A~' ollms st~uggled to first entered the House of R oo s. ~lah~ssee native, Collins cate of New Deal re-~'orm eApresSentatiVes m 1935 as an advo-

1' s. s enate Pre ·d h Governor Millard Caldw 11 SI ent, e offered Foundation Bill that mode ~up%ort for the 1947 Minimum educational system This ernize and ~tan?ardized Florida's base level of financi·n· g th tiandmark legislatiOn provided for a

a compensated fi d · · · poorer and wealthier count· or Ispanties between 1es.

During his gubernatorial ter C 1 . practice as elementary and msd o hns put the law into throughout the state Reco ~e.con ar~ schools sprouted up technologies in schools C ll~illZing the Important role of new

' 0 ms assembled a citizen' · to evaluate the potential of ed f 1 . . s COillilllttee the legislature to approve au~~~o.~a ~~evisi~n. He persuaded Commission that provided for r~ a uc.atwnai Televis~on between educational br d oo~erahve prograrnrnmg p oa casters m Miami T S

etersburg, Gainesville, Jacksonville and 'T'all h ' abmpa- t. C . ' 1; a assee y 1960.7

ornmumty and jun · 11 foresight of LeRoy Coll:~~ ~o d ege enrollment exp.loded. The state's Communit n sa~e recommendatiOns by the legislature) provid~d~~~l=~ Cou~cll ( establi~hed by the 1955 ior college education within~~:;: o~s ex~answn to place ajun­percent of the populat · F utmg distance of ninety-nine to 46 281 in 1961 196210n. rom 7,224 students in 1957-1958

' - ' enrollment cont · d almost 125,000 by 1965_1966. mue to skyrocket to

During this period, junior colle . the paternalistic direction oflocal b!:~~=:m~~·Ia:gely u~der and Jacked curricular d. . pu Ic mstructwn, demic freedom until th~v:~:l;;~onomy, or substantial aca­percent increase in enroll s. N~vertheless, the 1,630 1966 d ment over the nme years from 1957 to

emonstrated the commit t f . . ondary educaf s men o Flondians to post-sec-Ion.

Universities faced similar e . of 4 162 t d · xpanswn. From a wartime low

' s u ents m 1944 the st t · . nearly 30,000 students by ,1960 ~eh.ul mv~~sity system. served

· 1 e illlhtary COmmitments

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 169

during the Second World War decimated enrollment at the Uni­versity of Florida (UF), veterans flocked to college campuses by the late 1940s. With over 8,000 applications for admission received in 1946 alone, UF' s Gainesville campus could not ac­commodate the onslaught of newcomers and authorities estab­lished a Tallahassee branch of UF on a former military field adjacent to the Florida State College for Women.

By 1947, the capital city's college became the coeducational and comprehensive Florida State University (FSU). Under the presidency of Doak Campbell, FSU rapidly expanded its cur­riculum, physical plant, and athletics program. In December 1956, the University of South Florida (USF) became the state's first public university created since the 1905 Buckman Act had consolidated public institutions of higher learning. Located in Hillsborough County, USF opened its doors in September 1960 to nearly 2,000 students.9

The struggle for civil rights modified the educational land­scape as politicians attempted to circumvent the Brown deci­sion. Fearing that Brown was inevitable, lawmakers converted the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes into a full-fledged university in 1953. Following the lead of their southern colleagues, Florida legislators hoped to subvert Brown as school boards ignored it and U.S. district courts rarely enforced it.

Fearing that African Americans would seek immediate ad­mission to white classrooms, local communities and district boards of public instruction embarked upon substantial projects to erect new schools in long-neglected black neighborhoods. Ironically, this building frenzy created some all-black schools that possessed better facilities than nearby white facilities. 10

Pinellas County's superintendent best described this strat­egy in 1956 when he claimed improvements made black schools "separate but really equal." At a time when state officials funded a massive expansion of community colleges, they added to the cost by creating a dual system of post-secondary institutions. In the fall of 1962, 1,747 students attended Brevard Commu-

170 Florida Decades

nity Coll~g~, while only 52 enrolled at C . -terpart; smniar disproporti. .arver, Its all-black coun-2 860 W: ons occurred mE b.

' ' asbington: 193), Jackson C . scam Ia (Pensacola: and St. Lucie (Indian River: 431 L. ( hip.ola: 726, J ~ckson: 68), a few. An integration surve c~ mc.ol~. 96) Counties, to name ~ontro1 encouraged authorides mnus~wned by the Board of tlons, as white respondents to contmue segregated institu-should deny admission to qu~~~:~lly asserted that the state Supreme Court verdict. u blacks regardless of any

Charley Johns . Segregationists attem ted m~egrati~nists. When studenfs at ;o pounce on .university neighbonng Florida A & M U . 1on.da State Umversity and Tallahassee bus boycott st t mv~~sit~ supported the 1956 affairs in an attempt to p' a e authonties Interfered in academic

· revent adverse bl. · received by a similar p t . · pu I city similar to that ro est m Montg

a 1956 special Iegislat. . ornery, Alabama. During · . . Ive sess10n la k InterpositiOn resolution that 1 . ' wma ers debated an Court lacked sovereignty to x:~~ atrned t~at the U.S. Supreme

They also supported I e on racial matters in Florida. J hn a proposal by s t p . o s to create an inte · . . . ena e resident Charley

nm mvestigatwn · search for an alleged link b . comnuttee that would

d etween hberal d . . an a supposed commu · t s, esegregatwmsts h . ms menace Du · · . ' t e Flonda Legislative Inve . . . nng Its mne-year tenure, co~only known as the Johnss~~atw~ Committee (FLIC)­tenswns, trivialized acade . <:.. mnuttee--exacerbated racial

d illlc ueedom thr . . an sought to preserve k h ' eatened CIVIl liberties f por c oppe . ' acuity, and admin1·st t r prerogatives. Students

. ra ors at publi h ' umversities faced · d. c sc ools, colleges and . . Irnme Iate d. · ' assassmatwn if they ad Isrntssa1 and character h vocated progr ·

t e FLIC's authority. 12 essiVe causes or questioned

Despite the dangers they en countered · ·1 · possessed a strong resol Afi ' CIVI ngbts activists

A · ve. ter World W: II mencans who bad fought f, ; ar , many African

fort~ against domestic aparth~:~g~·fascism redirected their ef­Chnstmas day 1951 H . wlence often occurred: On A . . ' ' arry T. Moore-lead f b . ssoc1atwn for the Ad er o t e Natwnal

vancement of Colored People (NAACP)

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 171

in Florida-and his wife were murdered when a firebomb ex­ploded at their Mims home.

While Governor Fuller Warren supported a 1951 law that 1 forbade the wearing of masks in public demonstrations as a

means of limiting Klan activity, he claimed that NAACP Ex­ecutive Secretary Walter White visited Florida "to try to stir up strife" while attending Moore's funeral. Hendrix's candidacy in the 1952 election, the presence of Klan chapters throughout the state, and the promises to uphold the custom of segregation by all1954 Democratic gubernatorial candidates demonstrated that dark clouds continued to cast a shadow on the integrity of Sunshine State politics. 13

The 1956 election marked a pivotal point in Florida's his­tory. Collins had received approval from the state Supreme Court to seek an unprecedented second term. Residents in disparate urban areas threw their support behind Collins, realizing that his business progressivism and moderate stand on racial inte­gration, as well as his support of reapportionment and constitu­tional revision, served their best interests.

Collins bypassed an obstructive legislature and an unyield­ing cabinet by appealing directly to Floridians through radio and television broadcasts. While Collins emphasized the state's potential as an economic leader, Democratic candidates Farris Bryant, Fuller Warren, and Sumter Lowry propounded a plat­form based upon segregation and reminiscent of old Florida politics. After winning a second term in the November 1956 general election, Collins resumed his tireless crusade to both encourage civic participation and effect reform in government. 14

Despite Collins's victory, clouds continued to cover the land­scape. While Florida lacked the violence found in neighboring states, the Southern manifesto of "massive resistance" curtailed school integration efforts and jeopardized civil rights advocates. After attempting to dismantle NAACP chapters throughout the state, the Johns Committee attacked the academic integrity and curriculum of educational institutions, as well as the personal freedoms of many Floridians.

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172 Florida Decades

Althoug? Florida's intellectual climate suffered irrepar:; damage dunng these McCarthyite witch hunts the FLIC · ·n·b ' and Its I. I er~l supporters did not resurrect old Florida. While ~ollms fail~d ~o obta~n fair legislative apportionment or are­VIsed constitutiOn dunng his six years as governor, he did set a stand~d of moral and ethical behavior that encouraged many ~men cans to rel.ocate to Florida, and their arrival forever modi­fied the econorruc and cultural climate.

Development and Change Newcomers provided the impetus for profound economic

changes. From a population of approximately 2.8 million in 195~, the state's residents numbered nearly five million in 1960. Dunng. the twentieth century the state changed from a predommantly rural to an overwhelmingly urban character. Local governments required additional authority to cope with unp:ecede~ted growth, and infrequent biennial legislative s~sswns faded to provide an adequate forum for the needs of diverse communities.

~~medies during the late 1950s and 1960s included provi.siOns for home rule-the granting of cities and counties s~nc~wn to govern their affairs-and the proliferation of special distncts and regional regulatory and planning councils. The urba~ growth that occurred in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area and m Tampa portrayed the multicultural character of this postwar urbanization. 15

?Iobal events changed the face of southeast Florida. The state s Jewish population catapulted after World War II as retired Jewish pensi?ners discovered the climate and lifestyle of Dade County. While many Jews continued to champion activist causes, their fraternal and cultural organizations in the Miami area recognized that reactionary elements would attack liberals and desegregationists.

Indee.d, during late 1954 and early 1955 many former Commumst party sympathizers and union leaders had received ~ubp~en~s to give testimony at Harold Velde's Miami InvestigatiOns for the House Un-AmericanActivities Committee

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 173

(HUAC). Similar to Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch ~u~ts, these HUAC proceedings at the Dade County federal bmld~ng attempted to link membership in so-called subvers~ve organization with traitorous behavior. Liberals in the. Jewish community became an obvious target, just as the bombmg of a Miami synagogue :i,n 1958 demonstrated that anti-Semitism remained a potent force in much of the state. By the early 1960s, the face of Miami changed again as older folk died off and younger Jews moved away from Miami and Miami Beach.

Nearly 500,000 Cubans fled their homeland after Fidel Castro seized control of Cuba in 1959, and friction developed between Cuban arrivals and Jewish elders. The Cuban exiles settled largely along southeastern Florida-predominantly in Dade County-and included a substantial professional class that gave the Miami area a more cosmopolitan flavor. 16

Castro's ascent and the postwar cult of suburbanization reshaped Tampa's Latin communities. While advances in machinery had rendered the skilled cigar-maker obsolete by the late 1940s, President John F. Kennedy's embargo on tobacco imports devastated the once-thriving cigar industr! i~ Tampa, reducing many factories to empty, elaborate bmldmgs of a bygone era. Thousands of employees in West Tampa and Ybor City lost their jobs as commercial restrictions signalled the end of the Cigar City's namesake industry.

During a Cold War era when authorities demanded. abso­lute loyalty to American customs, a mass cult~re su~or?mated many ethnic institutions, such as mutual a1d societies an.d domino games along the street comer. Similar to the expen­ence of other ethnic enclaves across America, federal dollars funded urbanization projects that developed suburbs. Many former residents ofYbor City migrated to West Tampa (a "Latin suburb") or to newer "bedroom" communities such as Temple Tenace. 17

An urbanized population demanded great mobility. Just as the railroads sponsored by Henry Flagler and Henry Plant brought many residents to the sparsely populated peninsula by

174 Florida Decades

the late nineteenth centur h. h -changed Florida' h y, Ig ways cut a substantial path that

s uman geography. A signal event was the Florida F

1949 legislature and cham . d b ence Law, approved by the In comparison with other s~:~:se th y ;o:ernor Fuller Warren. range came relatively late. Alth~ug~ c o~mf of Florid~'s open commodities continued to p d . ag~Icu tural and livestock

re onunate m n 1 t · the counties planned rout .c • ear Y wo-thirds of ' es .tor state high .

the federal Interstate High S ways, a turnpike, and state's coasts. way ystem fueled growth along the

Between 1949 and 1953 Fl 'd . spent nearly $500 nu'll' t : on a transportatiOn officials

IOn o Improve ro d F · their last scheduled ru a ways. ernes made ns across Tampa B · 19 majestic Sunshine Sky . ay m 54 after the way umted St p t b County The s h' · e ers urg and Manatee · uns me State Park · (Fl ·

tended from Miami to F rt p· way onda Turnpike) ex-. Interstate 75 at Wildwoood b I~~~4by Ja~uary 1957, and joined which links Tampa 0 1 d y · PortiOns of Interstates 4--. ' ran o, andDayto B h

mng along the Atlantic Seab d ~a eac -and 95' run-among the earliest segments c~%pl~~~~ tathrd Uto ~iami, were

w · n e mted States hile urban growth clo ed .

parked in one place d t gg d roa~w.ays, many vehicles · .. an s aye Renu f

tourist camps" of the 1920 · mscent o the "tin can checkered the landscap Is s and 1930s, mobile home parks e.

The Cold War also redefin d Fl . d . . federal economic infusi· J e on a With Its unprecedented

on. ust as New D 1 presence of military train. f. T . ea programs and the economy during the 193~:~n~c~~ties had b?lstered Flor~da's (such as the Interstate H' h S 40s, pubhc works proJects tries created new career Ig way ~~tern) and Cold War indus­logical enterprises mushr oppo~umties. Scientific and techno­fore Sputnik's 1957 1 ~me throughout the state long be­the space race to a pe~:~c dcSaus~d fear th~t America had lost

Ive oviet monolith While the federal govemme t d . .

installations throughout Fl 'd ~ eactiVated many military a former field near Coc ~I a: ter World War II, it reopened

oa eac as Patrick Air Force Base in

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James A. Schnur • The 1950s 175

1948. A year later, authorities secured unoccupied scrub and estuary lands on Cape Canaveral as a rocket launching site. Beginning in July 1950, rockets blasted from Florida's "space coast." Throughout the decade, Brevard County encountered a commercial and technological renaissance, as professionals and engineers overwhelmed Titusville, Cocoa, Melbourne, Merritt Island, and surrounding coastal communities. Other Cold War industries appeared throughout the state, often funded through branches of the federal government.19

Such growth fostered profound ecological consequences. The "sun and fun" quest for convenience and leisure brought many new automobiles and boats to land and water throughways. The use of toxic pesticides (including DDT) be­ginning in the 1940s and continuing into the 1960s left resi­dues that have threatened the frail biological balance of Florida's food chain. Many long-time residents remember the large "fog­ging" trucks that spewed noxious gasses on the front line of the war against the mosquito.

Cities of cement rechannelled the rivers of grass, thereby disrupting water flow and drainage into aquifers. Communities often failed to expand sewage and industrial treatment plants until long after present facilities had exceeded their capacity. The advent of affordable wall air conditioning units allowing countless newcomers to persevere through hot and humid sum­mers, but these mechanical marvels also brought people in from their front porches, transfigured traditional architecture, and required a greater electrical burden for coal-burning power plants.20

Dredging exemplified the commercial and environmental consequences of post-war demography. In the early 1950s, the Navy enlarged Port Canaveral to accommodate the needs of the space program and its military endeavors. Other coastal re­gions followed suit. Reminiscent of the dredging along Miami Beach, Davis Islands (in Tampa), and Snell Isle (in St. Peters­burg) during the 1920s, suburban communities appeared atop former boggy estuaries, shallow sandbars, and barrier islands on both peninsular coasts and along the Panhandle.

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176 Florida Decades

The transfonnation of Mud Key, a mangrove island along southern Pinellas County, provides an example of this transfor­mation. Renamed Vina del Mar, Mud Key soon became part of Pass-a-Grille, and after more dredging, a subdivision of St. Petersburg Beach. By 1958, nearly one-quarter of Boca Ciega Bay-the intracoastal waterway separating Pinellas County's mainland peninsula from its beaches-was filled. While the creation of a water and navigation authorities and resolute re­strictions on the use of state-owned submerged lands did limit dredging by the early 1960s, Pinellas's beach boon taxed natu­ral resources: Authorities had to secure distant water reservoirs in Pasco and Hillsborough counties to quench the thirst of Pinellas residents because salt water intrusion had corrupted local wells. The Florida of bygone years would never return. 21

As LeRoy Collins left the Governor's Mansion in January 1961, he witnessed surroundings that differed greatly from the

·Florida of his childhood. Profound political, social, educational, economic, and ecological changes that reshaped the state throughout the twentieth century had accelerated during his two tenus as governor. As segregationist Farris Bryant assumed the governorship, neither the uncertain future of civil rights under his administration nor the anti-intellectual climate wrought by Charley Johns and his committee's investigations during the early 1960s managed to restore the dominance of the Pork Chop gang.

Despite Collins's sage leadership, new Florida's mixed fore­cast included both clouds and sunshine, as profound demo­graphic and environmental changes during the 1950s offer lega­cies that many present-day Fl01idians may wish to forget.

Endnotes ' Many of the issues that confronted Floridians during the 1950s have roots in the Second

World War. A thorough examination of this pivotal period of history appears in Lewis N. Wynne, ed., Florida at War, Saint Leo, FL: Saint Leo College Press, 1993. Other general histories of Florida include Charlton W. Tebeau, A Histmy of Florida, Coral Gables: Univer­sity of Miami, 1971; and Michael Gannon, Florida: A Short History, Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1993.

Investigations of Florida's political climate include Manning J. Dauer, ed., Florida's Politics and Government, 2d edition, Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1984; David R. Colburn and Richard K. Scher, Florida's Gubernatorial Politics in the T\ventieth Century,

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 171

J H kshom ed Govemment · d 1980· and Robert · uc ' ·• T ll hassee· University Presses ofFlon a, . ' f Florida 1991. In earlier days, a a · . ·n . u ·vefSlty Presses o , ..

and Politics in Florida, Gat~esvt e. m ed history largely as the saga of past pohll~s. historians constructed narrattves_ that ~or~~:es between Charley Johns and LeRoy Collms While the author uses phtlosophtcal dtffe l examines broader social, educatiOnal, to characterize old and new Florida: this ~hapt;~~t~~al account of Florida during the 1950s, economic, and environrnentalDqueslltw;l~ri~~:a From Secession to Space Age, St. Petersburg: 1. G Cox and J E ove ' see Mer Ill · . ." · 220-245. Great Outdoors Pubhshmg, 1

974• PP· h "every man ior himself' was

. . fi d Florida as a place w ere 1 ..

J ltl a classic work, V. 0. Kt;y !dent! te "d E Man •or Himself," in Southern Po ltlcs K J "F!on a· very 1' . · 1

modus operandi. See V. 0. ey, _r., 1949 82-105. Florida's malapporuoned legts a-in State and Nation, New Yor~: Vmta_ge, 'p~ attention in William C. Havard and L~ren ture and its effects on the ~ohty recetve t~or~~~ ral- Urban Cmiflict in the Florida Leglsla­p Beth The Politics of Mls-Representat~on . . I p ess 1962· and William C. Havard and tl;re B~ton Rouge: Louisiana State Umverslty e: ;rtionn;ellt: A Case Study for Florida, Lor~n p Beth, Representative GovemmelltGan_d R .Pllp· University of Florida Public Admm-

. . . · No 20 amesv1 e. . R bl" Studies in Public Adrmmstratwn, . , . t ·nority the number of regtstered epu 1-istration Clearing Service, 1960. Long a stl~n rm l :\40 000 in 1960. While Democrats cans increased from just over 6?·?00 m ~95 to.~el~lo th~ trend in Republican growth that accounted for a sizeable 1.65 mllhon regtstrants_t litics in the 1960s and beyond. See started after World War II would redefi~e p~::a;h~oChanging Politics of the South, ed. by Manning J. Dauer, "Florida: A Dt~eren:si!~~·s:ate University Press, 1972, pp. 9~-164; ~nd William C. Havard, Baton Rouge. Lou d A H"story of the Republican Party m Flonda, Peter D. Klingman, N_either J?ies t:or s~:~::s ~;Bor:da, 1984.

1867-1970, Gainesville: Umvemty p " d . 1955 to signify a legislator's stand ' The terms "porkchopper" and "lambc~opper a~p~·ar:at: the broader chasm between agrar­

on the reapportionment issue. These ut_les s~onth: ;emocratic party. For a discussion of ian populists and business ~rogresst~~h~n Pork Chop Gang: Florida's Bourbon Legacy," porkchopper politics, see Kevm_ Klem, U . sity 1993. LeRoy Collins represented the Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Flonda State mv~~h Pork Chop gang. For a political bwgra-spl. rit of business progressivism that challengeLeRe Colll"ns oif Florida: Spokesman of the

'" Governor oy "' "A hy of Collins, see Tom R. vv~gy, . a Press, 1985; and Thomas Ray vvag_y, ~ew South, University, AL: _Dm~erstty oGf Alabam LeRoy Collins of Florida," Unpublished S uth to Save: The Admimstratwn of ?vemor 0

. Fl · d State University, 1980. Ph.D. Dissertatwn, on a L Christie "The Collins-Johns

s For an account of the 1_954 D~m~cratic prima~i~~g~;~ ;;~~. ;p. 5-19. A detailed a~alysis of Election, 1954: A Tummg P?mt, ~pa~che~ tsfield and Elston E. Roady, Flonda Votes, electoral behavior appears_m Ann~e. ~ori~a Government Series No. 1, Tallahassee: In-1920-1962. Selected Electwn Statistics, U . "t 1963

· h Florida State mvefSl y, · stitute of Governmental Researc ' M C t and Charley Johns illustrates

' Correspondence in the gubernatorial pa:s ~f ~a~ap~rs ar iecord Group 102, Series 569, their divergent philosophies. See Johns c ar ,

State Archives of Florida, Tallahassee. . . . Public Schools Under the · . · c mrmttee Fmancmg . I'

Florida Legislative Council, Educatwn ~l h e: Florida Legislative Council andRe er-Florida Minimum Foundation Program, Ta .a asse Ed ation Education and the Future of ence Bureau, 1957; Florida Citizen's ~omrmtt:e ~~uca~~on in Florida, Tallahassee: St~te of Flo

rl"da. A Report of the ComprehensiVe Study ifd h ols libraries and other educatwnal · . . · 1 cont11bute to sc o • ' J ·

Florida, 1947. Civic mstltutwns a so f women's clubs and service leagues, see esst.e institutions. For an assessment of the role o ifS . The Florida Federation of Women s

. h Wi . A Century 0 erv1ce, Hamm Meyer, Leadmg t e ay. "d F deration of Women's Clubs, 1994. Clubs, 1895-1995, Lakeland: Flon a e . db k an essential reference tool for

f Tl e Flonda Han °0 ' rr llah Enrollment information comes rom l . The Florida Handbook, 1a as-d t f Florida history. See Allen Moms, comp., any stu en o . .

see: Peninsular Pubhshmg.

178 Florida Decades

9 For an institutional account of post-war chan es at Flo . . . Campbell, A University in Transition Florid ~t t U . nd~ State Umverstty, see Doak S Florida State University Press 1964, ,..., a a e mv~rstty Studies No. 49, Tallahassee: s h Fl . • · 1 o trace the functwnal th f · out onda, examine Russell M c d M grow o the University of . ooper an argaret B F h porary University: A Case Study of E . . ts er, The Vision of a Contem-cation, 1950-1975 Tampa· Uni 't x~mlszon and Development in American Higher Ed

10

• • ' • verst Y resses of Florida, 1982. li-

The Brown dectswn invigorated the social stru . . . tlve, see Richard Kluger Simple Justice· '~''h Hg~le for ctvtl nghts. For a broader perspec-BlkA ., ' .l.ezstmyofBrown B df . ac menca s Struggle for Equality N y; k· . v. oar o EducatiOn and III, From Brown to Bakke The S ' ew or . Vmtage, 1975; and J. Harvie Wilkinson

York: O~ford University Press, ;~;~:neF~;~;;t ~nd,School Integration: 1954-1978, New Tomberlm, "Florida Whites and th B D . o_nda s response to Brown, see Joseph A

51 (J I e rown ectston of 1954" Fl 'd . ·

u Y 1972), pp. 22-36· and · . • on a Hzstorical Quarterly M . • vanous essays m Chari u S ·

ovement m Florida and the United St t 1' II h es . mtth, ed., The Civil Rights contemporary account of the turtle a Ies, a a assee: Father and Son Press 1989 For a

-craw progress of s h 1 d . ' · monthly accounts in Southern School N ' . . c oo esegregatwn in Florida, see porting Service. ells, a publtcatwn from the Southern Education Re-

11 Nu . merous studtes document school dese r . . . see Janet Hall, "School Desegregatt'o . gH~lgl abtwn efforts m Flonda counties. For example Th · · n m t s orough Cou ty Fl 'd " '

ests, Umversity of South Florida 1992. d J n • on a, Unpublished M.A.

Sch I · p· ' • an ames A Schnur "D · oo s m mellas County Florid "y, B . · • esegregatwn of Public

43. For a state-wide persp:ctive, c~'nsu~~~Jo~e ~::tory, 13 (S~ri~~/Summer 1991), pp. 26-System of Education: The Aftermath f th Bp· on Tomberlm, The Negro and Florida's Fl 'd S o e I own Case" U bl' h d . on a tate University 1967 For ad' . ' npu ts e Ph.D. Dissertation L . ' · ISCUSS!On of segregat d · '

ee Smtth, The Magnificent T\velve. Fl 'd ' Bl e commumty colleges, see Walter G, 1994; and Walter Lee Smith "A St ;n ; ;1 ack Ju~ior Colleges, Winter Park: FOUR-1966," Unpublished Ph.D. Dis~ertatio~ ~ 'd acSk Publtc_ Juni_or Colleges in Florida: 1957-

Iz . • on a tate Umverslty 1974 For further mformation on the Tall h B ' . The Civil Rights Movement t'n ""allah as see Flus ~oycott, see Glenda Rabby, "Out of the Past·

. 1 • a assee onda" u bl' · State Umversity 1984· and Jam M F' . ' npu tshed Ph.D. Dissertation Florida

- ' ' es ax endnch Jd 1 c · ' Rzghts Movement Albany· Stat U · . ' ea ztzzens: The Legacy oifthe Civil

' · e mverstty of New y; k p papers, closed from the committee' d' b d . or ress, 1993. The Johns Committee

d s ts an ment m 1965 t'l bl'

opene them in 1993 offer a ch'll' . un 1

pu tc records legislation

fl ' 1 mg portratt ofMcCarth 't d · -

0 awmakers in Cold War Flo 'd s Fl . Y1 e an antl-mtellectual activities

R n a. ee onda Legis! t' 1 · .

ecord Group 940 Series 1486 St t Ar hi a tve nvestlgatwn Committee Papers , ' • a e c ves of Flo 'd 1' 11 h ' 'The Florida Legislative Investigatt' on C . n a, a a assee; and Steven F. Lawson,

R R I . . ommtttee and the c t' · .

ace e atlons," mAn Uncertain Tradition· C . . . ons ttutwnal ReadJUStment of Kermit L. Hall and James W. Ely, eds., A;he~;stztutzon~hsm and the_ History of the South, broader perspective of Cold War A . : Umverstty of Georgta Press, 1989. For a

C ld m menca, examme Steph J wh· fi

o rrar, Baltimore: Johns Ho ki U . . en · It eld, The Culture of the

13

F . P ns mverslty Press, 1991.

or a geopohtical account of attempts to I' 't b D(ouglas) Price, The Negro and Southern! pmll _IacAk political participation, examine H(ugh)

N y; k U . . o zflcs: ChapteroifFl 'd H'

ew or mverslly Press 19S7

N . on a zstory, New York: · ' · ewspapers serve as 1 · attitudes during the 1950s The Af · A . mportant pnmary sources of racial

S . · ncan- mencan pre s · 1 d d

entmel-Bul/etin (Tampa) the Fl 'd S s me u e papers such as the Florida ' on a tar (Jackso ·n ) d h .

papers-such as the Atlanta Daily w, ld Cl. nvt_ e 'an t e Mzami Times. National

d h . or • ncago Dazly De~'end B 1 · .

can, an t e Patsburgh Courier· _, . J' er, a tzmore Afro-Amen-]' -uocumented events m Fl 'd E . tes also reappraised race relations

1- th . . on a. dttors of large urban dai-

f N I n etr commumty Fo .

o e son Poynter, Special Coli t' d . · r one perspective, consult Papers

U · . ec wns an Archtves N 1 p mvers!ly of South Flotida St p t b ' e son oynter Memorial Library

14

• • e ers urg. ,

A comprehensive account of Collins's govemo h' . . old: The Administration oif Gov L R rs tp appears m Flonda Across the Thresh-

ernor e oy Col/' J. Tallahassee: Governor's Office 1961 G b l~S, anumy 4, 1955- Janumy 3, 1961, Florida's "Statesman of the Cen;ury" I ~d_ematonal papers preserve Collins's legacy as

. n a ttl on to papers at the State Archives in Tallahas-

James A. Schnur • The 1950s 179

see, see LeRoy Collins Papers, Special Collections, Robert M. Strozier Library, Florida State University, Tallahassee; and LeRoy Collins Papers, Special Collections, Tampa Cam­pus Library, University of South Florida, Tampa. Collins became an integrationist during his second term of office. For essays on his political transformation, see Robert Howard Akerman, "The Triumph of Moderation in Florida Thought and Politics: A Study of the Race Issue from 1954 to 1960;' Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, American University, 1967; Sandra L. Fanning, "A Study of Changes in Racial Attitudes as Revealed in Selected Speeches of LeRoy Collins, 1955-1965," Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of South Flmida, 1965; and John Michael Cornett, "A Study of Dispositio in Selected Speeches of LeRoy Collins on Race Relations, 1954-1964," Unpublished M.A. Thesis, Florida State University, 1965. Governmental reform during the Collins years is also documented by: Bruce Mason and Penrose Jackson, eds., Reports of the Governor's Citizens' Committees, Studies in Public Administration, no. 15, Gainesville: University of Florida Public Administration Clearing

House, 1956.

15 See Raymond Arsenault and Gary R. Mormino, "From Dixie to Dreamland: Demographic and Cultural Change in Flodda, 1880-1980," in Shades of the Sunbelt: Essays on Ethnicity, Race, and the Urban South, Randall M. Miller and George E. Pozzetta, eds., Contributions in American History No. 128, New York: Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 161-191.Arichlitera­ture, wdtten for general readership, either promoted or criticized life in Florida during this era. Some examples include Max E. Bulske, Florida ls1z 't Heaven! New York: Vantage Press, 1957; June Cleo and Hank Mesouf, Florida: Polluted Paradise, Philadelphia: Chilton Books, 1964; A. Lowell Hunt, Florida Today, New York: Scribner's Sons, 1950; Mike Smith, Florida: A Way of Life, New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1959; and Lady Peg Wilks, Skippy Rides Through Florida: A Dog's-Eye View of the Sunshine State, New York: Vantage Press, 1959. For sources that describe retirement in Florida, see William H. Bates, You Can Live Longer in Florida, New York: Exposition Press, 1950; George Dusenbury and Jane Dusenbury, How to Retire in Florida, rev. ed., New York: Harper, 1947; Carte'r C. Osterbind, Looking at Aging in Florida, Tallahassee: Citizens Advisory Committee on the Aged, 1960; T. Stanton Dietrich, Florida's Older Population, Research Report No. 2, Tallahassee: Florida State Improvement Commission, 1952; and Edith M. Orsini, ''The Impact of Elderly In-Migration

on Flotida's Counties," Unpublished M.A. Thesis, University of Florida, 1991.

16 For an account of Jewish life in Florida, see Henry Alan Green and Marcia Kerstein Zerivitz, MOSAIC: Jewish Life in Florida: A Documentary Exhibit from 1763 to the Present, Coral Gables: MOSAIC, 1991. More specific to Miami is Deborah Dash Moore, To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A, New York: Free Press, 1994. HUAC investigations in Dade County are documented in the Florida Legislative In­vestigation Committee Papers. Studies of Miami's Cuban community appear in David Rieff, The Exile: Cuba in the Heart of Miami, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.

17 For a lively portrait of the blending of Tampa's Cuban, Italian, and Spanish communities, see Armando Mendez, Ciudad de Cigars: West Tampa, Tampa: Florida Historical Society, 1994; and Gary R. Mormino and George E. Pozzetta, The Immigrant World ofYbor City: Italians and Their Latin Neighbors in Tampa, 1885-1985, Urbana: University of Illinois

Press, 1987.

18 The arrival of millions of newcomers has not stifled the importance of agriculture and live-stock to Florida's economy. Frozen concentrate citrus juices became a premiere agricultural commodity beginning in the 1950s. For a discussion of Florida's cattle enterprise, see Joe A. Akerman, Jr., Florida Cowman, A History of Florida Cattle Raising, Kissimmee: Florida Cattlemen's Association, 1976. A celebratory history of the State Road Department appears in Baynard Kendrick, Florida Trails to Turnpikes, 1914-1964, Gainesville: University of

Florida Press, 1964.

19 Elaine Murray Stone, Brevard County: From Cape of the Canes to Space Coast, Northridge, CA: Windsor Publications, pp. 55-74. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) maintains an archives as part of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Library. Nearly 700,000 pages of documents and over 25,000 photographs trace the history of KSC.

,'1 I,

180 Florida Decades

2° For an overview of the relationship of economy and ecology in Florida see Mark D s K' d ifP. d' . • err, ome

m o ara tse: A Chromcle of Man and the Land in Florida, New York: William Morrow 1989 · To get a sense of the broader implications of air conditioning in Southern culture ' Raymo~~ Arsenault, "The End of the Long Hot Summer: The Air Conditioner and South:: Culture, Journal of Southern Hist01y, 50 (November 1984), pp. 597-628.

21 For a history of batTier island communities in Pinellas County see Frank T Hurley 1 s if, Sand, and Post Card Sunsets: A History of Pass-a-Grille and the Gulf Be~ches s't ~ t u ' burg Beach: Hurley, 1977. Studies of dredging along Pinellas County include Rob~rt Fra~: H~t:on, et al.,. The Ecology of Boca Ciega Bay, with Special Reference to Dredging and Ftllmg Operatwns, St. Petersburg: Florida State Board of Conservation 1956· d Th JC · h J "Th . • ,an omas · unn.mg am, r., ~ Emer~mg Lands in Boca Ciega Bay, Pinellas County, Florida," Unp~bhshed ~.S. Thesis, Flonda State University, 1957. See also Luther J. Carter, The Flonda .Expenence: Land and Water Policy in a Growth State, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Umversity Press, 1974; Ne~son Manfred Blake, Land into Water-Water into Land: A His­tOiy ofWater ';!anagement 11! Florida, Tallahassee: University Presses of Florida, 1980; and Laura Szabo, The W~ter War, ~1961-1974)" Seminar paper, 1992. Paper 014, Florida His­tory Rese.arch CollectiOn, Special Collections and Archives, Nelson Poynter Memorial Li­brary, Umversity of South Florida, St. Petersburg.

NASA and the Space Race

T he "Beep ... Beep ... Beep" of Sputnik as it or­bited the earth on October 4, 1957, sent political waves crashing against the coast of Brevard County

and across the United States with the same intensity as the hur­ricanes that regularly pound the Florida beaches. Repercussions of the Sputnik launch included the redirection of national civil and military policies toward space and a metamorphosis of Brevard County, Florida, from the "Mosquito Coast" to the "Space Coast."

The U. S. space program would have a great impact on the county closest to the epicenter of space activity at Cape Canaveral. Its effects-the economic impact and the demand on public services in particular-spread throughout the rest of the state.

The Space Race The Space Race began not just for international prestige or

technological superiority. It was a deadly serious weapons com­petition between the two superpowers who emerged from the international restructuring of World War II.

Impressed with the success of the German V-1 and V-2 rockets against England during the war, Congress in 1949 authorized the establishment and operation of a missile range starting from Cape Canaveral and extending beyond Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. Canaveral was chosen for its isolated location, proximity to the Banana River Naval Air Station (NAS), and favorable overwater missile flight paths. 1

Two US Army rockets-Bumper 8 and Bumper ?-inaugurated flights from the cape in July of that year. Testing on the range in the early 1950s concentrated on military weaponry, including

i. I i