Reubin O'D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics

by Martin A. Dyckman, David R. Colburn (Foreword by), Susan MacManus (Foreword by)

Overview

Inside the reinvention of Florida politics

Florida Book Awards, Bronze Medal for Florida Nonfiction

 

Reubin Askew was swept into the governor’s office in 1970 as part of a remarkable wave of progressive politics and legislative reform in Florida. A man of uncompromising principle and independence, he was elected primarily on a platform of tax reform.
 

In the years that followed, Askew led a group of politicians from both parties who sought—and achieved—judicial reform, redistricting, busing and desegregation, the end of the Cross Florida Barge Canal, the Sunshine Amendment, and much more.


This period was truly a golden age of Florida politics, and Martin Dyckman’s narrative is well written, fast paced, and reads like a novel. Dyckman also reveals how the return of special interests, the rise of partisan politics, unlimited campaign spending, term limits, gerrymandering, and more have eroded the achievements of the Golden Age in subsequent decades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813068947
Publisher:	University Press of Florida
Publication date:	09/20/2022
Series:	Florida Government and Politics
Pages:	358
Product dimensions:	6.13(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.76(d)

About the Author

Martin A. Dyckman, retired associate editor of the St. Petersburg Times, is the author of Floridian of His Century: The Courage of Governor LeRoy Collins and A Most Disorderly Court: Scandal and Reform in the Florida Judiciary. His series on Florida prison conditions circa 1971 won the Distinguished Service Award of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors, the Silver Gavel of the American Bar Association, and the Associated Press Managing Editors Association Public Service Award. In 1984, the Florida Bar Foundation recognized his writing on judicial reform with its Medal of Honor Award.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

1 The Big Bang 1

2 Claudius Rex (1966-1970) 8

3 The Double Cross (1969-1970) 23

4 A Mother's Son 38

5 Reubin Who? (1968-1970) 49

6 Baptism by Fire (1970-1971) 65

7 "Curse You, Red Baron" (1971) 77

8 "And Rightly So" (1971) 89

9 "Some Nut with a Huey Long Outlook" (1971) 94

10 Promises Fulfilled (1971) 102

11 Bus Wreck (February-April 1972) 123

12 The Politics of 1972 137

13 Down on the Farm (Spring 1973) 151

14 Scandals in the Capitol (1972-1975) 163

15 Scandals in the Court (1973-1976) 172

16 Only in Florida (Politics of 1974) 176

17 "My Senate" (1975) 192

18 Justice Hatchett (1975-1976) 203

19 Two Innocent Men and a Crook (1975-1976) 209

20 Sunshine and Strife (1975-1976) 215

21 Lame Duck? (1976) 224

22 Culture Wars (1977) 234

23 Triumph and Tragedy (1978) 245

24 Eight Years Too Late (1976-1984) 262

25 The Shortest Campaign (1987-1988) 275

26 Epitaph for the Golden Age 293

Acknowledgments 293

Notes 295

Bibliography 319

Index 329

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"If I were asked to recommend just one book about my state that would remind us all of the power of real policy and real leadership, I would recommend this one. This is a fascinating history, with lessons for all of us, written by one of the best journalists this state has ever known."—David Lawrence Jr., publisher, Miami Herald (retired)

 

"Perhaps no one alive has a better vantage point to write this book than Martin Dyckman. As Florida’s premier legislative reporter in the 1960s-1980s, Dyckman covered the people and policies discussed here, and his skilled, smooth, fast-paced writing style shines through."—James M. Denham, director, Lawton Chiles Center for Florida History, Florida Southern College

Editorial Reviews

[A] must-read biography.”—Tampa Bay Times

 

“Dyckman uses his understanding of the inner workings of Florida government, combined with a journalist’s eye for fascinating detail, to create a full portrait of Askew and those who played significant roles in leading Florida in the 1970s.”—Tampa Bay History

 

“An interesting, well-written window into a time that Florida’s leaders were racing to transform it into the modern state that its mushrooming population required.”—Florida Bar Journal

 

“One will not find a more vivid or more compelling portrayal of Florida politics and government in the last third of the twentieth century.”—Journal of Southern History

 

“Dyckman does a masterful job. . . . Only someone who was there, as Dyckman was, tracking events on a daily basis, could provide such a nuanced account.”—Florida Historical Quarterly

From the Publisher