Thomas LeRoy Collins was the
33rd Governor of Florida.
Early life
Collins was born and raised in
Tallahassee, FloridaTallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
, where he attended
Leon High SchoolLeon High School is a public high school in Tallahassee, Florida. For the 2007-2008 school year, the Florida Department of Education gave the school an "A" rating after its students scored well above the state average on standardized tests in reading and in math...
. He went on to attend the
Eastman Business CollegeThe Eastman Business College was a business school located in Poughkeepsie, New York.It was founded in 1859 by Harvey G. Eastman, and was for a time one of the largest commercial schools in the United States....
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and then went on to the
Cumberland School of LawCumberland School of Law is an ABA accredited law school at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. The 11th oldest law school in the United States, it is 160 years old and has more than 11,000 graduates. Its alumni include two United States Supreme Court Justices; Nobel Peace Prize recipient...
in
Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
to receive a law degree. In 1932, he married
Mary Call DarbyMary Call Darby Collins was the widow of Governor LeRoy Collins and First Lady of Florida from 1955-1961.- Early years :...
, great-granddaughter of
Richard K. CallRichard Keith Call was the third and fifth territorial governor of Florida.Named after his uncle, a Revolutionary War hero, he was born in Pittsfield, Prince George County, Virginia. In 1813 he left school to take part in the Creek War. He came favorably to the attention of General Andrew Jackson,...
, twice territorial governor of Florida.
Politics
His entry into public service began in 1934, when he was elected as
Leon County'sLeon County is a county located in the state of Florida, named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León. At the 2010 Census, the population was 275,487. The county seat of Leon County is Tallahassee which also serves as the state capital. The county seat is home to two of Florida's major...
representative in the
Florida House of RepresentativesThe Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
. He continued to serve in the House until 1940, when he was elected to the
Florida SenateThe Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
to fill an unexpired term of the late William Hodges.
In 1941, he purchased the home built by Richard K. Call in Tallahassee,
The Grove PlantationThe Grove was a modest cotton plantation located in central Leon County, Florida and established by Richard Keith Call in the 1830s. Call was also owner of Orchard Pond Plantation....
located across the street north of the
Governor's MansionThe Florida Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. residence in Tallahassee, Florida. On July 20, 2006, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The mansion, which was designed to resemble Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth, who also designed...
. Collins was re-elected to the Senate in 1942, but resigned to fight in the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After the war, he was elected once again to the Florida Senate in 1946. He was reelected in 1950, serving until 1954 when a special election was held to fill the remaining two years in the term of Governor
Daniel T. McCartyDaniel Thomas McCarty was an American politician and elected officeholder. McCarty was elected to the Florida House of Representatives, and served as its speaker, and was later elected the 31st Governor of Florida....
, who had died in office in 1953.
Collins twice received title of "Most Valuable Senator" (the first time in 1947 by the Capital Press Corps and in 1953 by fellow lawmakers).
Governorship
Governor McCarty died just nine months after accession to the office on September 28, 1953 after suffering a debilitating heart attack on February 25. At that time, Florida had no
lieutenant governorThe Lieutenant Governor of Florida is a statewide elected office in the government of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the Florida Constitution, the lieutenant governor is elected to a four-year term congruent with that of the Governor of Florida, and succeeds to the office of Governor if it...
, and the president of the
Florida SenateThe Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
,
Charley Eugene JohnsCharley Eugene Johns was an American politician. Johns, a Baptist, served as the 32nd Governor of Florida from 1953 to 1955.Johns was born in Starke, Florida. He worked as a railroad conductor...
, became
acting governorAn acting governor is a constitutional position created in some U.S. states when the governor dies in office or resigns. In some states, the governor may also be declared to be incapacitated and unable to function for various reasons, including illness and absence from the state for more than a...
to serve until a special election.
Collins challenged Johns in the Democratic
primary electionA primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
and won the nomination; due to
dominance of the Democratic Party in the South at the timeSolid South is the electoral support of the Southern United States for the Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877, the end of Reconstruction, to 1964, during the middle of the Civil Rights era....
, a primary win nearly guaranteed victory in the general election. Collins was sworn in as governor on January 4, 1955. In 1956, he was reelected to serve a regular four-year term, which made him the first governor of Florida to serve two consecutive terms.
In the 1956 election, he made history by becoming the first governor to win election in the first primary election, defeating five other candidates. During his term, Collins focused on education, working to strengthen the state's school system. In the racial unrest of his time he took a moderate course, counseling progress under law, and the state experienced only minimal disorder.
Although he initially condemned the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
decision in
Brown v. Board of EducationBrown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, as did almost all Southern elected officials, he fought with the
Florida LegislatureThe Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
to attempt to prevent them from passing an "
interpositionInterposition is an asserted right of U.S. states to declare federal actions unconstitutional. Interposition has not been upheld by the courts. Rather, the courts have held that the power to declare federal laws unconstitutional lies with the federal judiciary, not with the states...
"
resolutionA resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...
, which indicated the intent of the legislature to "interpose" itself between the citizens of Florida and the United States government to prevent what the legislature contended was an illegal intrusion upon the right of the state by imposing integration.
He utilized the little-known provision in Section 10 of Article IV of the state constitution by unilaterally adjourning the legislature to prevent it from passing the resolution the first time. After the legislature returned and passed the resolution, he had no power to
vetoA veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
it, because it was not a law but only a resolution expressing the sense of the legislature.
However, as it passed through his office, he wrote upon the interposition resolution, the following statement, in his own handwriting, which is today held by the State Archives of Florida:
Collins became Chairman of the Southern Governors Association in 1957.
Collins fell just a few votes short of persuading the first Constitution Revision Commission to send an amendment to voters to abolish
capital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. He recalled about his proposal to end the death penalty in Florida that every time an execution was carried out under his order, it left him feeling nearly as guilty as the murderers. It is noteworthy that his two immediate successors,
C. Farris BryantCecil Farris Bryant was the 34th Governor of Florida. He also served on the United States National Security Council and in the Office of Emergency Planning during the administration of President Lyndon B...
and Haydon Burns, also opposed the death penalty.
Presidential and Vice Presidential possibilities
During the
1956 Democratic National ConventionThe 1956 National Convention of the Democratic Party nominated former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois for President and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee for Vice President. It was held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois August 13–17 1956. Unsuccessful...
Collins was among contenders for the
Vice PresidentialThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
nomination, when presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II allowed the convention to choose his running-mate. Collins received 29 votes on the first ballot.
Before the
1960 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
Collins was seriously considered as a possible candidate because of his popularity as a southern Governor, who was acceptable to Northern liberals because of his support for civil rights. However, he did not seek the nomination, even in the Florida primary, which went to
favorite sonA favorite son is a political term.*At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates and votes for a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a viable candidate...
candidate Senator
George SmathersGeorge Armistead Smathers was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate for eighteen years, from 1951 until 1969, as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
.
Chairman of the 1960 Democratic National Convention
Collins served as a chairman of the
1960 Democratic National ConventionThe 1960 Democratic National Convention was held in Los Angeles. In the end, the Kennedy-Johnson ticket was assembled and went on to secure an electoral college victory and a narrow popular vote plurality in the fall over the Republican candidates Richard M...
, which nominated Senator
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
of
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
for President and Senate Majority Leader
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
of
TexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
for Vice President.
Post-governorship
Upon completion of six years as governor, he became president of the
National Association of BroadcastersThe National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
. He resigned this at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson to become the first Director of the
Community Relations ServiceThe United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
under the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Also by Presidential appointment, he became
Under Secretary of CommerceThe United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...
on July 7, 1965. He resigned this position effective October 1, 1966 to return to Florida and become a partner in a
TampaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
law firm.
He was successful in obtaining the Democratic nomination for the
U.S. SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in the primary elections of 1968 but was defeated in the general election. In the general election campaign against Edward Gurney, a photograph of Collins walking alongside Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
during the
SelmaSelma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
march was widely distributed to Florida voters by Gurney's supporters. The photograph contained no caption or other explanation of what Collins was doing in
SelmaSelma is a city in and the county seat of Dallas County, Alabama, United States, located on the banks of the Alabama River. The population was 20,512 at the 2000 census....
leaving that open to the imagination of the voter. In fact, Collins had not been participating the march, but was shuttling back and forth between the marchers and the Alabama authorities to attempt to craft a compromise which would avoid violence. He conducted these negotiations as a part of his job as head of the Community Relations Service. He was successful in these negotiations as violence was averted when the marchers crossed the bridge, prayed, and then returned to the other side.
A death penalty opponent, Collins participated in a protest against execution of John Spenkelink in 1979: the first
post-FurmanFurman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
involuntary execution in the U.S. and first in Florida since 1964, outside
gubernatorial mansionThe Florida Governor's Mansion is a historic U.S. residence in Tallahassee, Florida. On July 20, 2006, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The mansion, which was designed to resemble Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, was designed by Marion Sims Wyeth, who also designed...
he once occupied (then-Governor
Bob GrahamDaniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...
let the execution proceed).
After his defeat, he left his law firm in Tampa and returned to "The Grove" in Tallahassee until his death from cancer in 1991. He was called the greatest Governor that Florida ever had many times by Florida governors Reubin Askew,
Bob GrahamDaniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...
, and
Jeb BushJohn Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
. A tribute was entered in the official record of the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
on March 19, 1991 by Florida Representatives
James BacchusJames Bacchus is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a former chairman of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization....
and
Charles E. BennettCharles Edward Bennett was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1949 to 1993. He was a Democrat who resided in Jacksonville, Florida.-Early years:...
.
Family
His son, LeRoy Collins, Jr., a retired
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
rear admiralRear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. The uniformed services of the United States are unique in having two grades of rear admirals.- Rear admiral :...
, unsuccessfully sought the
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
nomination for
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Florida in 2006, losing to Congresswoman
Katherine HarrisKatherine Harris is an American Republican politician, former Secretary of State of Florida, and former member of the United States House of Representatives. Harris won the 2002 election to represent Florida's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She held that post...
, who was in turn defeated by Democratic
incumbentThe incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Bill NelsonClarence William "Bill" Nelson is the senior United States Senator from the state of Florida and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a former U.S. Representative and former Treasurer and Insurance Commissioner of Florida...
.
Book Authored
- Forerunners Courageous: Stories of Frontier Florida Colcade, Tallahassee, FL, 1971
External links