Jesse J. McCrary Jr.

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Jesse McCrary
Florida Secretary of State
In office
July 19, 1978 – January 2, 1979
GovernorReubin Askew
Preceded byBruce Smathers
Succeeded byGeorge Firestone
Personal details
Born
Jesse James McCrary Jr.

(1937-09-16)September 16, 1937
Miami, Florida, U.S.
Alma materFlorida A&M University (BA, JD)
ProfessionAttorney

Jesse James McCrary Jr. (September 16, 1937 – October 29, 2007) was an

Reconstruction. He was inducted into the Florida Civil Rights Hall of Fame
.

Early life and education

McCrary was born in 1937 in

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he was a civil rights activist, organizing sit-ins in Tallahassee. He was also on the debate team, a member of the drama club and an ROTC cadet. He served in the Military Intelligence Corps before graduating from Florida A&M University College of Law with his Juris Doctor
in 1965.

Career

In 1967, McCrary became Florida's first assistant Attorney General. He dealt with criminal appeals and advised the state Racing Commission. Three years later, he became the first black lawyer to argue a case before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of a Southern state (the case was Williams v. State of Florida; the court decided in favor of the state, which was seeking to uphold a law allowing six-person juries in non-capital criminal cases).

In the 1970s, McCrary was a partner in the law firm McCrary, Ferguson and Leethrough. He issued a report critical of Opa-locka's government and police department, was the Dade County School Board's first black attorney, and was appointed by Governor Reubin Askew to a Florida Industrial Commission judgeship. At the time, he was Florida's highest-paid black official.

After returning to private practice for five years, McCrary was appointed in 1977 to the Florida Constitution Revision Commission by Askew. The following year, Askew appointed him Secretary of State of Florida to finish the unexpired term of Bruce Smathers, who had resigned to run for governor.[2] As Secretary of State, he recommended judicial appointees to the governor.[3]

McCrary returned to private practice in 1979 and was active in the community in the 1980s and 1990s. He represented an embattled county commissioner in a public corruption scandal. He was part of the effort to have the board allow

Lenore C. Nesbitt in a federal condemnation suit brought by the National Park Service to acquire land for Everglades National Park.[5] In 2003, the Florida Legislature
passed a resolution recognizing his work on ten landmark Florida Supreme Court cases.

Death

McCrary died in 2007 of lung cancer.

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-56164-031-7
    .
  2. ^ "Portrait of Secretary of State Jesse J. McCrary Jr. - Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory. State Library and Archives of Florida. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  3. ^ Fineout, Gary (May 25, 2000). "Due Process: Florida A&M, Florida International Finally Get Law Schools". Black Issues in Higher Education. 17 (7). Retrieved October 31, 2007.
  4. South Florida Business Journal
    . December 8, 2000. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
  5. ^ Christensen, Dan (July 5, 2001). "Landowners fight U.S. valuation of condemned lots". Miami Daily Business Review. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
Sources
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