LeRoy Collins

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.

In 1932, he married Mary Call Darby, great-granddaughter of Richard K. Call, twice territorial governor of Florida.

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.

Collins attempted to enlist in 1943, but was rejected by the United States Navy because of his age.

In 1944, he was accepted and received his commission as a lieutenant junior grade.

He attended officer training first in Hollywood, Florida, and then in Princeton, New Jersey.

Originally slated for assignment to a unit that would oversee post-war rebuilding of countries previously held by the Japanese, he began training in the Chinese language in Monterey, California.

When the unit was disbanded, Collins was transferred to the Navy's judge advocate general corps.

Collins was discharged from active duty as a lieutenant in March 1946, and returned to Florida to resume his legal and political career.

After the war, in 1946 he was elected again to the Florida Senate.

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).

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.

Collins, "an example of the poor boy made good," was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, son of a "neighborhood grocer".

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.

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.

Governor McCarty died on September 28, 1953, just nine months after assuming office, having suffered a debilitating heart attack on February 25.

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.

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.

Collins challenged Johns in the 1954 Democratic primary election and won the nomination.

Due to the disenfranchisement of most blacks in the South, the Democratic Party dominated regional politics and a primary win nearly guaranteed victory in the general election.

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 by unilaterally adjourning the legislature to prevent it from passing the resolution the first time.

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:

Collins was sworn in as governor on January 4, 1955.

In 1956, he was reelected to serve a regular four-year term, defeating Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr., who ran a one-issue campaign focused on opposition to integration of Florida schools.

Collins was the first governor of Florida to serve two consecutive terms.

In the 1956 election, he made history by becoming the first governor to win election in the first primary election, defeating five other Democratic candidates.

During his term, Collins focused on education, working to strengthen the state's school system.

In the racial unrest due to the Civil Rights Movement seeking enforcement of constitutional rights, he took a moderate course, counseling obedience to the law, though gradually, to avoid disruption.

The state had minimal disorder compared to other states in the Deep South.

He was posted to the 13th Naval District headquarters in Seattle, Washington, where he was assigned as an attorney for Navy boards and courts.