The Florida History Podcast

With the party switch of former Senate Democratic Leader Jason Pizzo, Ryan Ray joins Kartik Krishnaiyer to discuss the history of sitting legislators leaving the Democratic Party since the 1990's and the larger general trends associated with this. Note with Kartik's recent intense focus on Canadian politics, he's applying some of those lessons of the current campaign to Florida as well.

We discuss the Georgia planter turned commander of the mixed-race East Florida Rangers, Thomas Brown.

We take time away from history this week to discuss an important current issue and how it relates to taxpayers. --- Billy Corben whose production credits include Cocaine Cowboys, Dawg Fight, The U, and The U Part 2 needs no introduction to most of you. For those who don’t know, he’s a relentless advocate for government efficiency in southeast Florida and regularly discusses these topics on the Dan...

John Stuart fled from the Carolina's to East Florida in 1775 and began a program of arming Seminoles and Creeks to do battle against the American rebels.

The Royal Governor of East Florida during the American Revolution was the prickly British Major General Patrick Tonyn.

Bernardo de Gálvez is one of the most colorful and intriguing figures of the American Revolution in Florida. We discuss him in this pod.

We're back after a layoff and this week we discuss the book project we're working on with a publisher on the American Revolution.

We do not have a new podcast this week as Robert and Kartik in the final stages of finishing the initial manuscript on a new book which will be published later this year. We hope to be back next week, but for certain we will be back the following week.

One of Florida's most controversial politicians, Charlie Crist won election as Governor in 2006- he was then a Republican but didn't necessarily govern as one and would end his term as an Independent.

Jeb Bush's transformative governorship had a huge impact on the direction of the Sunshine State.

Lawton Chiles had a rocky second term fighting a conservative legislature, and Jeb Bush crushed Buddy MacKay in the 1998 election. But Chiles died suddenly a month later ushering MacKay, who passed last month into a short one-month term as Governor.

The period between Hurricane Andrew and the 1994 Election saw a period in Florida politics characterized by flux and a GOP surge- which would carry us into a 1995 Legislative Session at parity between the parties.

Presumptive Dem nominee Bill Nelson wasn't cutting it, so Lawton Chiles unretired, ran for Governor, beat Bob Martinez and began reforming Florida Government.

Bob Martinez had a troubled Governorship and entered 1990 as an underdog for reelection.

We talk about Bob Martinez's 1986 triumph in the Governor's race.

We discuss Buddy MacKay, former Florida Governor and US Congressman who passed this week at 91. Additionally, we've recorded a 1 hour video discussion about MacKay which is available at the Florida Squeeze's YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/HwO2PRL93Bk

President Jimmy Carter passed away today at age 100. We bring you an encore podcast taped in 2021 honoring him and discussing his links to Florida.

It fits in our Governor's series coincidently right during our holiday break, so here is an encore presentation of our Bob Graham tribute podcast from when he passed away earlier this year.

The Governorship of Reubin Askew was a Golden Age for Florida. We discuss it in this pod.

The emerging Florida Republican majority took a thud in 1970 as Reubin Askew won back the Governorship for the Democrats and ushered in a decade of Dem dominance in the state up-and-down the ballot.

Claude Kirk was oh so close to being on Richard Nixon's 1968 GOP ticket and with the RNC convention in Miami, it seemed written in the stars. But then protests happened and got out of control and Kirk's national ambitions were thwarted.

We discuss Florida's first post-Reconstruction GOP Governor, Claude Kirk who was a colorful populist.

We discuss Leroy Collins massive legacy both in Florida and nationally.

We've discussed Leroy Collins many times on this podcast but never taken quite the deep dive into his Governorship that we do on this episode.

The first Governor from South Florida died tragically in office- but changed the trajectory of Florida politics forever.