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The 1950S : Leroy Collins and Charley Johns

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The 1950S : Leroy Collins and Charley Johns University of South Florida Digital Commons @ University of South Florida USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications USF Faculty Publications 2000 The 1950s : LeRoy Collins and Charley Johns James Anthony Schnur Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications 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. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the USF Faculty Publications at Digital Commons @ University of South Florida. It has been accepted for inclusion in USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ University of South Florida. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LeRoy Collins and Charley johns ·....... by James A. Schnur I "" ', : ,, ,, < l opular culture and collective memories have often attributed a sense of complacency and tranquillity to PAmerica during the 1950s. Old photographs, as well as television imd radio programs, might reminisce about an in­ nocent 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 Florid­ ians 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 suc­ cessive 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 legisla­ ture, 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 James A. Schnur • The 1950s 167 166 Florida Decades Collins, lambchoppers called for equitable reapportionment and disparities occurred in the House of Representatives, as 4 a revision of the 1885 constitution. leg~slators failed to account for demographic changes during Changes in gubernatorial statecraft signalled the transition their mandated reapportionment sessions. Florida's expansive between old and new Florida. Dan McCarty, former Speaker of geography and peculiar demography led to recurrent rural ("porkchopper") versus urban ("lambchopper") sectional the House from peninsular Fort Pierce, assumed the gove~or­ cleavages and prevented distant metropolitan areas from ship in 1953. Although illness led to his unt~mely death ei~ht supporting a unified platform. months after taking office, McCarty champ10ne~ ?rogress~v.e reforms that placed business interests above traditiOnal poh:I­ Politicians survived by creating ever-changing coalitions cal spoils. The constitution and a state Supreme Court ver~Ict based on personal patronage rather than on principle. In such a provided that Senate President Charl~y Johns be~ome Actmg milieu, counties with less than fifteen percent of the state's total Governor until a1954 election determined a candidate to com- population controlled both houses. The lack of a viable 5 plete McCarty's unexpired term. Republican organization during the 1950s fostered competition among Democrats, and the "sink-or-swim" battles between LeRoy collins legislative and executive branches prevented governors from Two days after the court's ruling, LeRoy Collins announced acting as the party leader in state politics. With few registered his intention to run against Johns for the balance of the term. Republicans on the rolls during the 1950s, Democratic Angered at Johns's suspension of McCarty appointees and t~e gubernatorial candidates fought resolutely to win the party return of corrupt patronage, Collins campaigned to seek legis­ primaries because the victorious candidate automatically lative reapportionment, to restore integrity in g~vernment, and secured the office during the November elections.3 to reinstate suspended officials just as the Umted S~ates S~­ Two political factions dictated Democratic politics during preme Court's May 1954 Brown v. Board~~ ~ducatwn ~eci­ the 1950s. "Porkchoppers" sought to maintain the legislative sion proclaimed separate educational facilities for. Afncan dominance of agrarian districts in Tallahassee. Conservative Americans inherently unequal. Bill Hendrix, a leader m the Ku "county seat elites" who distrusted calls for reform and sought Klux Klan and Democratic candidate in the 1952 race, ques­ to preserve customs such as patronage and segregation, mem­ tioned Acting Governor Johns's loyalty to the principle of seg- bers of the Pork Chop gang took a blood oath to oppose any regation. demands for reapportionment that would dismantle their per­ At Johns's 1954 campaign kick-off from a Starke football I ~ I vasive power in the state house. As tax revenues flowed into field, Pork Chop Senator Dillworth Clark placate~ Hendri~ by the capitol from burgeoning urban counties, Pork Chop legisla­ exclaiming that he had not witnessed "a crowd this large s~nce tors redistributed these funds for the benefit of their smaller the last lynching in Jefferson County." While. Johns obtame~ communities. more votes than Collins and Brailey Odham m the 1954 pn­ mary, a plurality required a run-off election. With Odham throw­ Charley Johns-a senator from Bradford County since the ing his support behind Collins, the Leon County senator mid-1930s and Senate President during the 1953 term-best han~­ ily defeated his Bradford County colleague and token opposi­ represented porkchopper brethren. Hailing from urban and pen­ tion from Republican nominee J. Tom Watson, who insular counties, lambchoppers viewed issues from the context actua~ly died before the election. Johns returned to the Senate. Collms of state-wide business progressivism, rather than of parochial 6 self-preservation. Led by Verle A. Pope and (Thomas) LeRoy became governor. 168 Florida Decades James A. Schnur • The 1950s 169 Throughout his political care C . strengthen Florida's public sch 1 A~' ollms st~uggled to during the Second World War decimated enrollment at the Uni­ first entered the House of R oo s. ~lah~ssee native, Collins versity of Florida (UF), veterans flocked to college campuses cate of New Deal re-~'orm eApresSentatiVes m 1935 as an advo- by the late 1940s. With over 8,000 applications for admission 1' s. s enate Pre ·d h Governor Millard Caldw 11 SI ent, e offered received in 1946 alone, UF' s Gainesville campus could not ac­ Foundation Bill that mode ~up%ort for the 1947 Minimum commodate the onslaught of newcomers and authorities estab­ educational system This ernize and ~tan?ardized Florida's lished a Tallahassee branch of UF on a former military field base level of financi·n· g th tiandmark legislatiOn provided for a adjacent to the Florida State College for Women. a compensated fi d · · · poorer and wealthier count·1es. or Ispanties between By 1947, the capital city's college became the coeducational During his gubernatorial ter C 1 . and comprehensive Florida State University (FSU). Under the practice as elementary and msd o hns put the law into presidency of Doak Campbell, FSU rapidly expanded its cur­ throughout the state Reco ~e.con ar~ schools sprouted up riculum, physical plant, and athletics program. In December technologies in schools C ll~illZing the Important role of new 1956, the University of South Florida (USF) became the state's ' 0 ms assembled a citizen' · to evaluate the potential of ed f 1 . s COillilllttee first public university created since the 1905 Buckman Act had the legislature to approve au~~~o.~a ~~evisi~n. He persuaded consolidated public institutions of higher learning. Located in Commission that provided for r~ a uc.atwnai Televis~on Hillsborough County, USF opened its doors in September 1960 between educational br d oo~erahve prograrnrnmg to nearly 2,000 students.9 p oa casters m Miami T S etersburg, Gainesville, Jacksonville and 'T'all h ' abmpa- t. The struggle for civil rights modified the educational land­ . ' 1; a assee y 1960.7 C ornmumty and jun · 11 scape as politicians attempted to circumvent the Brown deci­ foresight of LeRoy Coll:~~ ~od ege enrollment exp.loded. The sion. Fearing that Brown was inevitable, lawmakers converted state's Communit n sa~e recommendatiOns by the the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes legislature) provid~d~~~l=~ Cou~cll ( establi~hed by the 1955 into a full-fledged university in 1953. Following the lead of ior college education within~~:;: o~s ex~answn to place ajun­ their southern colleagues, Florida legislators hoped to subvert percent of the populat · F utmg distance of ninety-nine Brown as school boards ignored it and U.S. district courts rarely to 46 281 in 1961 196210n. rom 7,224 students in 1957-1958 enforced it. ' - ' enrollment cont · d almost 125,000 by _ . mue to skyrocket to 1965 1966 Fearing that African Americans would seek immediate ad­ During this period, junior colle . mission to white classrooms, local communities and district the paternalistic direction oflocal b!:~~=:m~~·Ia:gely u~der boards of public instruction embarked upon substantial projects and Jacked curricular d. pu Ic mstructwn, to erect new schools in long-neglected black neighborhoods. demic freedom until th~v:~:l;;~onomy, or substantial aca­ Ironically, this building frenzy created some all-black schools percent increase in enroll s.
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