2013 marks 500 years since Juan Ponce de León first landed in our state and claimed the territory for Spain. While the first PERMANENT colonial settlement did not occur until 1565, next year is rightfully the 500th anniversary of our state’s founding. For this we at the Political Hurricane want to cover the important events and personalities that have shaped our state all year long.
Earlier today my colleague Dave Trotter wrote an excellent piece about the restoration of Spanish rule to Florida in 1565, and the first genocide in Florida history. Four hundred years later African-Americans in the south still did not have full civil rights and had been systematically disfranchised from the voting roles by various Jim Crow measures. Martin Luther King Jr. made a concerted effort to integrate St Augustine during the 400th anniversary of the events Dave Trotter referenced in his piece. We will have an article on MLK Jr. in St Augustine on the MLK Jr. Day later this month.
Today let’s focus on the momentous congressional legislation pushed by President Lyndon Johnson and passed over the objection over the vast majority of the Florida Delegation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 received zero votes from members from the Deep South and very few from the peripheral south. The only vote in favor of final passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 from Florida was by Rep. (former Senator) Claude Pepper, who courageously fought reactionary forces throughout his political career.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 received a higher percentage of support among Florida’s delegation than among any other southern state except Texas (which at this time was less “southern” than Florida) , something we can be proud of. The act pushed by LBJ after the Selma Massacre got the support of several Florida congressmen including Rep. Charlie Bennett who represented the very conservative and racially polarized city of Jacksonville. This vote caused Bennett his only intense problems at home in his long and distinguished political career, but he survived in office until 1992.
Full votes of the Florida Delegation for both momentous pieces of legislation is listed below.
Civil Rights Act of 1964 Final Passage
| Florida Reps | |||
| NAY | D | Sikes, Robert | FL 1st |
| NAY | D | Bennett, Charles | FL 2nd |
| AYE | D | Pepper, Claude | FL 3rd |
| NAY | D | Fascell, Dante | FL 4th |
| NAY | D | Herlong, Albert | FL 5th |
| NAY | D | Rogers, Paul | FL 6th |
| NAY | D | Haley, James | FL 7th |
| NAY | D | Matthews, Billy | FL 8th |
| NAY | D | Fuqua, Don | FL 9th |
| NAY | D | Gibbons, Sam | FL 10th |
| NAY | R | Gurney, Edward | FL 11th |
| NAY | R | Cramer, William | FL 12th |
Senate
NAY D Holland, Spessard FL
NAY D Smathers, George FL
Voting Rights Act of 1965
| Florida Reps | |||
| NAY | D | Sikes, Robert | FL 1st |
| AYE | D | Bennett, Charles | FL 2nd |
| AYE | D | Pepper, Claude | FL 3rd |
| AYE | D | Fascell, Dante | FL 4th |
| AYE | D | Herlong, Albert | FL 5th |
| AYE | D | Rogers, Paul | FL 6th |
| NAY | D | Haley, James | FL 7th |
| NAY | D | Matthews, Billy | FL 8th |
| NAY | D | Fuqua, Don | FL 9th |
| AYE | D | Gibbons, Sam | FL 10th |
| NAY | R | Gurney, Edward | FL 11th |
| AYE | R | Cramer, William | FL 12th |
Senate
NAY D Holland, Spessard FL
AYE D Smathers, George FL
I am shocked so many Democrats from outside rural areas voted no on both of these.
I am surprised so many Floridians voted AYE on the VRA of 65. Assumed all but Pepper voted no.