Chiles, Lawton Manor

Chiles was born in Shelf , near Lakeland . His mother Margaret Kate (née Patterson), father - Lawton Minor Chiles.

He studied at a public high school in Lakeland, then at the University of Florida in Gainesville , where he took an active part in student political life, and was eventually included in the Hall of Fame of the University of Florida (the most prestigious award that a student can receive at the University of Florida) and the Society .

He was a member of the fraternity. He graduated from the university in 1952. After university, Chiles participated in the Korean War with the rank of United States Army artillery officer. After the war, Chiles returned to the University of Florida at a law school, which he graduated in 1955; in the same year he passed the state exam in the same year and went into private practice in Lakeland. Married .

In 1958, Chiles, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected to the Florida State House of Representatives. ^[3] This state is still governed by one party, since most African Americans were deprived of their civil rights under the constitution and laws adopted since the beginning of this century ^[4] . Chiles worked in the Florida House of Representatives until 1966, when he was elected to the State Senate, where he worked until 1970. ^[5] While serving in the Senate, Chiles served on the State Law Review Commission since 1968. Chiles continued to work as a lawyer and property developer in Lakeland during his tenure in the state legislature. He was one of the first investors in the restaurant chain. ^[6] He was a member of the Florida Society of the ^[7]

In 1970, Chiles decided to run for the US Senate. Despite spending 12 years at the State Legislature, he was completely unknown outside the county where Lakeland was located. In order to get media coverage and meet people all over the state, Chiles embarked on a 91-day 1003-mile walk in Florida from Pensacola to Key West . The walk brought him the recognition he sought, as well as the nickname that followed him throughout his political career - Walking Lowton. Chiles wrote in his diary that sometimes he walked alone, and sometimes he met ordinary Floridians along the way. In subsequent years, Chiles recalled that the walk allowed him to see the natural beauty of Florida and to look at the problems of the state with a fresh look. Some Florida journalists said that Chiles liked participating in the election campaign much more than actually managing the state ^[8] .

In the main election campaign, Chiles ran into US Rep. William C. Kramer of St. Petersburg , the first Republican in the Florida Congress after the reconstruction of the South . Kramer, a graduate of Harvard Law School, made voters doubt Chiles’s candidacy as a senator with a few questions, for example, one law raised liability rates for vehicle owners by 50% in two years, the other raised school bus insurance premiums, while Chiles insurance agency Lakeland supported the policies of the Polk County School Council, but this “conflict of interest” had little political effect ^[9] .

Kramer portrayed Chiles as arriving with a silver spoon with a net worth of $ 300,000, but the media ignored questions about the prosperity of the candidates. Instead, the journalists focused on Chiles's walk. Before the walk, Chiles had only 5% of the vote; after it received widespread positive recognition ^[11] .

Tallahassee Democrat correctly predicted that Chiles' “aching legs and comfortable hiking boots” would carry the 40-year-old “lawyer” with “boyish friendliness” to victory ^[12] . One night in Miami contrasted sharply when Chiles had a picnic with fried chicken, and the Republicans had a dinner party with a dress code and $ 1,000 per serving. ^[13]

Kramer could not compete with Chiles in public speaking. The observer described Kramer's "charisma" as "a speech in the congressional record." Assistant Kramer said it was difficult to “sell experience. This is not sexy. ” ^[14] In his ad, Chiles called on voters to “Vote for themselves. Chiles walked our streets and highways to hear what you can say. That's why voting for Chiles is the same as voting for yourself. ” ^[13]

Kramer said he should have demanded more debate and beat the tactics of walking: “I could never reach this turn. He was walking, and I was running. But the press was in love with his walks ... Every time he was asked a question where he is, he constantly quoted someone whom he met along the way, what should he do when he got to the Senate ” ^[15] .

With a national environmental issue in 1970, Chiles declared his opposition to the , a project that was initially supported by all members of the Florida Congress. The project, completed by one third, was canceled in early 1971 and is currently protected by a green space corridor. Chiles approved federal funding for the disposal of waste from scouts of Lake in central Florida. In contrast, Kramer received little trust from environmentalists, although he drafted the Water Pollution Control Act of 1956 and supported legislation to protect alligators, stop the erosion of beaches, harbor dredges, and remove oil spills. Instead, Cramer was criticized for his weakened laws against pollution. Kramer questioned Chiles’s opposition on the proposed phosphate mining tax, which particularly affected Tampa Bay. Kramer said that “Liberal Lawton defended the phosphate industry, the only major global pollutant in the state” ^{[15] [16]} .

By 1974, the survey showed a favorable attitude among Floridians to limit development and 60% of those calling for state funding for nature conservation ^[17] .

Only three newspapers in Orlando, Fort Myers, and Pasco County supported Cramer in a race against Chiles. ^[18] In the light of the media opposition, Kramer could not pin the label “liberal” to Chiles, who called himself the rare hybrid term “progressive conservative” ^[19] .

Chiles noted that Kramer had expected to face former governor , who, like in 1968, an opponent of Gurney, had ties to the US President Lyndon Johnson’s administration . “I did not think Kramer would work against him. So he has to lie about me, ”said Chiles ^[18] . Chiles said that “Kramer can bring Nixon , Agnja , Reagan and whom else he wants ... I will draw Holland to my side against them all” ^[20] .

Kramer said a majority on the Republican side in the Senate will remove the controversial Senator James Fulbright , Arkansas , chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee , who has long been opposed to the Vietnam War . Chiles, however, objected that if the Senate were under the control of the Republicans, the Southern Democrats would lose their chairmanship of the committee received by their seniority ^[21] .

Chiles was twice elected to the US Senate - in 1976 and 1982. Chiles, never screaming, was considered a restrained legislator who rarely “waves” muddies the water. He served as chairman 96th Congress (1979-1981), and in the 100th Congress (1987-1989) served as Chairman . Heading the Budget Committee, he played a key role in revising the 1987 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act .

In 1985, Chiles received coronary artery bypass grafting . In December 1987, it was announced that he would not seek re-election next year ^[22] . Chiles made Republican Connie Mack his successor.

After surgery, Chiles developed clinical depression ^[23] and was taking fluoxetine . He resigned from the Senate in 1989 and intended to completely withdraw from politics, however, several supporters persuaded him to run for the 1990 elections for governor of Florida against current Republican Robert Martinez . In a Democratic campaign campaign leader, his rival, Bill Nelson, tried to emphasize Chiles' age and health, a strategy that had unpleasant consequences in a state with a large number of senior citizens.

Chiles campaigned for a “new version” of the state government and defeated Martinez, taking office in 1991. During his first term as governor, Chiles managed to do very little. Although he has developed ambitious health care and tax reforms, none of them have been passed by the state legislature. The first years of his stay were alarmed by the national economic recession, which severely damaged tourism, the foundation of Florida's economy, and Hurricane Andrew, who destroyed Homestead in August 1992.

Chiles ran in the next reelection in 1994 against Jeb Bush . Republican candidate Bush ran a television ad that showed the mother of a teenage girl who was kidnapped and killed many years ago. Mother stated that “Her killer is still on death row, and we are still waiting for justice. We will not receive it from Lawton Chiles, because he is too liberal in relation to crime, "referring to the fact that Chiles did not sign the death sentence for the convicted murderer. Chiles, the governor at the time, replied that he would not sign the death sentence, since the case was still under appeal. In addition, after the failed electrocution by Pedro Medina in 1997, and despite considerable public criticism, Chiles refused to approve the use of lethal injection as a legal form of execution. A new method was introduced under Bush’s leadership in 1999 following the execution of .

Chiles’s second term as governor is known as the first-ever Democratic Governor with a legislature under the control of the Republican Party. Despite this, he had some successes, including a successful lawsuit against him and Attorney General , a lawsuit filed against the tobacco industry , resulting in a $ 11.3 billion bailout for the state. He also received US $ 2.7 billion approval for the state school construction program. In 1995, Chiles received treatment for a neurological problem after he woke up with nausea, slurred speech, and loss of coordination. He fully recovered.

Considering it inappropriate to run for a third time, Chiles supported Vice Governor Kenneth Mackay in the 1998 election race for the position of Governor of Florida against Jeb Bush. However, Bush won an easy victory over Mackay. On December 12 of that year, just three weeks before his long-awaited retirement, Chiles had a fatal heart attack while training on an exercise bike in the gym of the governor's residence.

Funeral services were held at the Presbyterian Faith Church in Tallahassee , after a funeral procession that took part of his walk from the 1970 election campaign from Century to Tallahassee. Chiles was originally buried in a church cemetery in Tallahassee; however, over the course of the year, his wife transported a body of 200 acres along a highway 15 miles east of Tallahassee, a place they named Jubilee ^[24] . Mackay performed his duties until Bush began January 5, 1999.

Democratic Party Primaries to the Florida Senate, 1970

• - 240,222 (32.90%);
• Lawton Chiles - 188,300 (25.79%)
• Fred Schulz - 175,745 (24.07%)
• - 91,948 (12.59%)
• Joel Daves - 33,939 (4.65%)

Democratic Democratic Voting in Florida Senate, 1970

• Lawton Chiles - 474,420 (65.74%)
• C. Farris Bryant - 247,211 (34.26%)

• Lawton Chiles (Democratic Party) - 902,438 (53.87%)
• William C. Kramer (Republican Party) - 772,817 (46.13%)

• Chiles Lawton (Democratic Party) - 1,799,518 (62.98%)
• John Hardy (Republican Party) - 1,057,886 (37.02%)

• Lawton Chiles (Democratic Party) - 1,637,667 (61.72%)
• (Republican Party) - 1 015 330 (38.27%)

Democratic Party Primary Governor of Florida, 1990

• Lawton Chiles - 746 325 (69.49%)
• Bill Nelson - 327,731 (30.51%)

• Lawton Chiles / Kenneth Mackay (Democratic Party) - 1,995,206 (56.51%)
• Robert Martinez / J. Allison DeFour (Republican Party) - 1,535,068 (43.48%)

Democratic Party Primaries as Governor of Florida, 1994

• Lawton Chiles - 603,657 (72.17%)
• - 232,757 (27.83%)

• Lawton Chiles / Kenneth Mackay - 2 135 008 (50.75%)
• Jeb Bush / - 2,071,068 (49.23%)

Legislative and executive programs

Throughout his career, Chiles has been known as an advocate for health and children's rights. He focused on the need for health insurance for the uninsured and led the campaign to create a National Commission for the Prevention of Child Mortality in the late 1980s. In 1994, he fought to create regional healthcare associations across the state that allowed small businesses to channel their money into healthcare and expand their reach while saving money. He also created the Florida Department of Elderly Affairs.

In 1992, Chiles created the Florida Healthy Start program to provide a comprehensive prenatal and infant care program for pregnant women and children throughout the state; since the inception of the program, infant mortality rates in the state have declined by 18% . In 1996, Chiles created the Governor's Commission on Education to study the state of the school system. One of the important recommendations that came from the commission eventually led to the highly controversial 2002 amendment to , which limits class sizes in Florida schools.

In 1997, the advocacy group collected 10,000 signatures and paid the $ 30,000 fee required by state law at the time to apply for a new kind of license plate number. State Senator Tom Lee supported the bill and was passed in both houses of the Florida State Assembly in early 1998; Chiles vetoed him: he stated that license plates are not a "place for debate" on political issues ^{[25] [26]} .

Chalza's niece, former North Carolina Senator Kay Heygan , a Democrat elected in 2008. Hagan - daughter of sister Chiles Jeannette. Chiles' son, Bad Chiles, ran for governor of Florida as an independent candidate. Imitating his father, Bud took a walk around the state, listening and visiting local communities in Florida ^[27] . On September 2, 2010, Chiles dropped out of the race with the comment “Continuing this path will have unpredictable consequences, sharing those who share common goals ...” Chiles spoke out in support of another candidate, Alex Sink ^[28] .

• Hathorn, Billy. Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970. - Florida Historical Quarterly, 1990.

• Biography