LeRoy Collins

LeRoy Collins
33rd Governor of Florida
In office January 4, 1955 – January 3, 1961
Preceded by	Charley Eugene Johns
Succeeded by	C. Farris Bryant
Chair of the National Governors Association
In office May 18, 1958 – June 25, 1959
Preceded by	William Stratton
Succeeded by	J. Caleb Boggs
Member of the Florida Senate
In office 1946–1954
In office 1940–1943
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
In office 1934–1940
Personal details
Born	Thomas LeRoy Collins (1909-03-10)March 10, 1909 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Died	March 12, 1991(1991-03-12) (aged 82) Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Seattle, Washington)
Battles/wars	World War II

Thomas LeRoy Collins (March 10, 1909 – March 12, 1991) was an American politician who served as the 33rd governor of Florida from 1955 to 1961. Collins began his governorship after winning a special election in 1954, and was elected to a four-year term in 1956.

Prior to winning election as governor, Collins served several terms in the Florida House of Representatives and Senate. He was the first governor from the South to promote ending segregation. Counseling "progress under law," he took a moderate course in favor of incremental improvements during the 1950s and 60s and is remembered as a voice in favor of civil rights.

Early life

Collins, "an example of the poor boy made good," was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, son of a "neighborhood grocer".^[1]: 19 He attended Leon High School. He went on to attend Eastman Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and then the Cumberland School of Law, at that time in Lebanon, Tennessee, where he earned a law degree. In 1932, he married Mary Call Darby, great-granddaughter of Richard K. Call, twice territorial governor of Florida.

Start of career

Political start

Collins was first elected to public office in 1934, as Leon County's representative to the Florida House of Representatives. He continued to serve in the House until 1940, when he was elected to the Florida Senate to fill an unexpired term of the late William Hodges.

In 1941, he purchased The Grove Plantation, the house built by Richard K. Call in Tallahassee across the street from the Governor's Mansion. Re-elected to the Senate in 1942, Collins resigned to join the military for World War II.

Military service

Collins attempted to enlist in 1943, but was rejected by the

After the war, in 1946 he was elected again to the Florida Senate. He was re-elected in 1950, serving until 1954. That year a special election was held to fill the remaining two years in the term of Governor Daniel T. McCarty, who had died in office in 1953.

Collins twice received the title of "Most Valuable Senator" (the first time in 1947 by the Capital Press Corps and in 1953 by fellow lawmakers).^[6]

Governorship

Governor McCarty died on September 28, 1953, just nine months after assuming office, having suffered a debilitating heart attack on February 25.^[7] At that time, Florida had no lieutenant governor, and the president of the Florida Senate, Charley Eugene Johns, became acting governor to serve until a special election.^[8]

Collins challenged Johns in the 1954 Democratic

In the

Although he initially condemned the US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), as did almost all Southern elected officials, he fought with the Florida Legislature to try to prevent them from passing an "interposition" resolution. This 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.

Collins used the little-known provision in Section 10 of Article Four of the state constitution^[9] by unilaterally adjourning the legislature to prevent it from passing the resolution the first time.^{[clarification needed]} After the legislature returned and passed the resolution, he had no power to veto it, as it was not a law but a resolution expressing the sense of the legislature.

When the interposition resolution reached his office, Collins noted on it the following, in his own handwriting:

This concurrent resolution of 'Interposition' crosses the Governor's desk as a matter of routine. I have no authority to veto it. I take this means however to advise the student of government, who may examine this document in the archives of the state in the years to come, that the Governor of Florida expressed open and vigorous opposition thereto. I feel that the U. S. Supreme Court has improperly usurped powers reserved to the states under the constitution. I have joined in protesting such and in seeking legal means of avoidance. But if this resolution declaring the decisions of the court to be '

null and void

' is to be taken seriously, it is anarchy and rebellion against the nation which must remain 'indivisible under God' if it is to survive. Not only will I not condone 'interposition' as so many have sought me to do, I decry it as an evil thing, whipped up by the demagogues and carried on the hot and erratic winds of passion, prejudice, and hysteria. If history judges me right this day, I want it known that I did my best to avert this blot. If I am judged wrong, then here in my own handwriting and over my signature is the proof of guilt to support my conviction.

— "LeRoy Collins, Governor." May 2, 1957.

The document is held by the

In 1955, Collins personally reviewed the case of the Groveland Four, a case that had been unjust to four black men. Two of these men had been murdered during the case, an underage boy was given life in prison, and Walter Irvin was sentenced to death for a rape where there was little to no evidence against him. Collins decided to commute Irvin's sentence to life in prison, explaining: "My conscience told me it was a bad case, badly handled, badly tried ... I was asked to take a man's life. My conscience would not let me do it."^[10]

Collins became Chairman of the Southern Governors' Association in 1957.^[6]

Collins fell just a few votes short of persuading the first Constitution Revision Commission to send an amendment to voters to abolish

Tensions were mounting in Tallahassee as 1960 neared. Bus boycotts and lunch counter sit-ins were taking place in Tallahassee and across Florida. On March 20, 1960, against the advice of his friends, Collins gave an impassioned speech about his conviction that as governor he represented all the people of Florida, "whether that person is black or white, whether that person is rich or poor, or whether that person is influential or not influential."[14] He was the first southern governor to speak so frankly in support of the moral necessity of the end of segregation. His speech generated hundreds of responses, mostly positive, from citizens across the state.

Collins' reputation as a moderate secured him the chairmanship of the

Collins served as chairman of the

A death penalty opponent, Collins participated in a protest against execution of John Spenkelink in 1979.^[19] This was the first post-Furman involuntary execution in the U.S. and the first in Florida since 1964. The protest was held outside the gubernatorial mansion he had once occupied. (Then-Governor Bob Graham let the execution proceed.)

After Collins' defeat in the Senate race, he left his law firm in Tampa and returned to "The Grove" in Tallahassee, where he lived until his death from cancer in 1991. He was called "the greatest Governor of Florida" by such politicians as Florida governors Reubin Askew, Bob Graham, and Jeb Bush, who was a child in Texas at the time of Collins' governorship.^[20]

Family

His son,

.

Legacy and honors

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2019)

• On March 19, 1991, a tribute was entered in the official record of the
  Charles E. Bennett
• His papers are held by the University of South Florida
• The Leon County Public Library is named after him.[21]
• Opening in 2017, the Governor LeRoy Collins Farm Park, situated on 84 acres of now undeveloped land in western Davie, Florida will be a public park devoted to agricultural education and open space. It will provide opportunities for experimental learning about agriculture

Works

• Forerunners Courageous: Stories of Frontier Florida Colcade, Tallahassee, FL, 1971

References