Spessard Holland

Spessard Lindsey Holland (July 10, 1892 – November 6, 1971) was an American lawyer and politician. He served as the 28th Governor of Florida from 1941 to 1945, and as a United States Senator from Florida from 1946 to 1971. A Democrat, he was a member of the conservative coalition in Congress.

"Senator Holland" redirects here. For other uses, see Senator Holland (disambiguation).

Spessard Lindsey Holland
United States senator
from Florida
In office
September 25, 1946 – January 3, 1971
Preceded byCharles O. Andrews
Succeeded byLawton Chiles
28th Governor of Florida
In office
January 7, 1941 – January 2, 1945
Preceded byFred P. Cone
Succeeded byMillard Caldwell
Member of the Florida Senate
from the 7th district
In office
1932–1940
Preceded byJohn J. Swearingen[1]
Succeeded byHarry E. King
Personal details
Born(1892-07-10)July 10, 1892
Bartow, Florida
DiedNovember 6, 1971(1971-11-06) (aged 79)
Bartow, Florida
Resting placeWildwood Cemetery
Bartow, Florida
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Mary Agnes Groover Holland
Children4
Alma materEmory College
University of Florida
AwardsDistinguished Service Cross
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
United States Army Signal Corps Aviation Section
RankCaptain
UnitCoast Artillery Corps
24th Flying Squadron
Battles/warsWorld War I

Early life and education
Holland as a football player at Emory.

Holland was born in Bartow, Florida, the son of Benjamin Franklin and Virginia Spessard Holland, a teacher. He attended public schools, entering the Summerlin Institute (now Bartow High School) in 1909. Holland graduated magna cum laude from Emory College (currently Emory University) in 1912, where he was a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Holland would go on to teach high school in Warrenton, Georgia for four years.

In 1916, Holland began attending law school at the University of Florida. There he taught in the "sub-freshman department" (high school) of the university. He also became the first elected student body president and a member of the debating society. During his time at Emory and UF, he participated in track and field, football, basketball, and baseball; on one occasion, he played so well as a pitcher in an exhibition game against the Philadelphia Athletics that Connie Mack (the grandfather of Connie Mack III, who would one day hold the Senate seat Holland once occupied) offered him a contract (he declined).

World War I service

Holland qualified to be a Rhodes Scholar, and was already a junior partner with R.B. Huffaker in the Huffaker & Holland law firm, but his plans were interrupted by World War I. Holland volunteered for service and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps, where he was transferred to France and served in the brigade's JAG Corps as an assistant adjutant. At his request, Holland was later transferred to the 24th Aero Squadron, Signal Corps of the Army Air Corps. Here he served with Lt. George E. Goldwaithe as a gunner and aerial observer, gathering information and taking photographs in reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. At various times he took part in battles at Meuse-Argonne, Champagne, St. Mihiel, and Lunéville, where he downed two enemy planes. On one mission, Holland's plane crash-landed in a crater; on December 11, 1918, Holland was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The citation, signed by John J. Pershing, noted:

First Lieutenant Spessard L. Holland, C.A.C. Observer 24th, Aero Squadron, distinguished himself by extra-ordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States at Bois de Banthville, France, on October 15, 1918 and in recognition of his gallant conduct I have awarded him in the name of the President the Distinguished Service Cross."

Upon resigning his commission in July 1919, Holland was promoted to captain. Once back in the U.S., he toured for the Victory Loan Drive and resumed his law practice in Bartow.

Early political career

After the war, Holland resumed his law practice in Bartow. This however, was short-lived, because Holland accepted an appointment as the Polk County prosecutor later that year. He served two years in the prosecutor's office, but left after being elected to a four-year term as a county judge in 1920. Holland was reelected in 1924, but left after the end of his second term in 1929. Holland returned to private law practice later that year, joining William F. Bevis in the law firm of Holland & Bevis. The firm grew rapidly, eventually becoming a large international law firm that still exists today as Holland & Knight.

In 1932, Holland was elected to the Florida Senate, where he served eight years. During his term, Holland was noted for his strong advocacy for public schools; as a member of the school committee, he drafted and cosponsored the Florida School Code and supported legislation that raised teachers' pay and retirement benefits. Holland also supported worker's compensation, tax cuts, and unemployment insurance. He was strongly opposed to both the sales tax and the poll tax, which he helped repeal in 1937.

Florida governor

Holland was an alternate Florida delegate to the 1940 Democratic National Convention. He was elected governor of Florida and on January 7, 1941 was sworn in for a four-year term. During his time as governor, Holland was noted for reforming the state tax system and supporting cigarette taxes to reduce a $4 million debt in the state budget. New property tax laws enacted during Spessard's term required uniform real estate assessments and only taxed the purchase of property. Early in his term, the teachers' retirement program began, and the financing of public schools became more stable. Spessard also recommended four amendments to the state constitution, all of which were eventually adopted. These four amendments provided for:

When American involvement in World War II began with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Holland promoted new military bases in Florida and coordinated state defenses with the federal government.

At a 1943 governors' conference in Denver, Colorado, Holland promoted new railroad freight prices, helping the Florida economy. Holland was also an outdoorsman and environmentalist. Holland's negotiation of the purchase of Everglades wetland and marshland in 1944 helped lead to the establishment of the Everglades National Park in 1947. Holland's term ended on January 2, 1945, when Millard F. Caldwell took office.

U.S. senator

On September 25, 1946 Holland assumed the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Charles O. Andrews, who had died a week earlier. In November 1946 he defeated Republican J. Harry Schad to win a full six-year term.

Re-elected in 1952, he, along with all other senators from the former Confederate states (except Lyndon B. Johnson, Estes Kefauver, and Albert Gore, Sr.), signed the 1956 "Southern Manifesto", which condemned the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), declaring that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, and promised to resist its implementation.

Up for re-election in 1958, Holland was challenged by former U.S. Senator (and later U.S. Representative) Claude Pepper in the Democratic primary. After fending off Pepper's challenge, he easily defeated his Republican opponent, Leland Hyzer, in November to win a third term.

During the 87th Congress Holland introduced a constitutional amendment prohibiting states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. Approved by both Houses of Congress in August 1962, the amendment was quickly ratified by the required three-fourths of the states (38), and in January 1964 became the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.[2]

He won a fourth term in 1964, this time defeating Republican Claude R. Kirk, Jr.. Then, in November 1969, at the age of 77, Holland announced that he would not seek re-election in 1970. He actively campaigned for Democrat Lawton Chiles, who defeated U.S. Representative William C. Cramer in the November 1970 election. Cramer had the endorsement of U.S. President Richard Nixon, and had handily defeated G. Harrold Carswell (whom Nixon had earlier nominated unsuccessfully to the United States Supreme Court) in the Republican primary. Chiles boasted that Cramer could bring "Nixon, Agnew, Reagan, and anybody else he wants. ... I'll take Holland on my side against all of them."[3]

Retirement

Holland left office in January 1971. His activities were somewhat limited due to an increasingly severe heart condition. Holland died of a heart attack at his Bartow home on November 6, 1971 at age 79.

Family

Holland married Mary Agnes Groover on February 8, 1919 and they were together until his death. Together they had four children. Currently, their youngest daughter, Ivanhoe Craney, is the only one that is still alive. She currently lives in Bartow. Holland's surviving grandchildren reside in New York, Virginia, California, and Florida. His grandson Spessard Lindsey Holland III died August 4, 2014.[4]

Degrees, honors, and affiliations

Throughout his life Holland was involved in multiple civic, fraternal, and collegiate institutions. He received several honorary degrees:

Holland was also a member of several organizations, including:

He was not a member of Phi Delta Phi, although his son, Spessard Lindsey Holland, Jr. was a member. (See PDP Website Search)

Several buildings and public facilities are named after Holland:

  • The Spessard L. Holland Law Center, the administrative building at the University of Florida Law School;
  • The Holland Building in Tallahassee;
  • The Spessard Holland Golf Course, Park, and Community Center, and the Spessard Holland Beaches, North and South, in Melbourne Beach;
  • The Spessard L. Holland Elementary School in his hometown of Bartow;
  • The Spessard L. Holland Elementary School in Satellite Beach, "Home of the Holland Hornets";
  • The Spessard Holland East-West Expressway (State Road 408); and
  • The section of U.S. Highway 17 in Holland's hometown of Bartow is known as the Spessard Holland Parkway.

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20161229053123/http://uflib.ufl.edu/fefdl/florida/Senate18452001.html/
  2. "Spessard L. Holland Dies at 79; Former Senator From Florida". The New York Times. New York City. November 7, 1971. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  3. Billy Hathorn, "Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970", Florida Historical Quarterly (April 1990), p. 419
  4. "Spessard Holland Iii (1955–2014)". Tallahassee Democrat. August 6, 2014.

Finley, Keith M. Delaying the Dream: Southern Senators and the Fight Against Civil Rights, 1938–1965 (Baton Rouge, LSU Press, 2008).

Party political offices
Preceded by
Fred P. Cone		 Democratic nominee for Governor of Florida
1940		 Succeeded by
Millard Caldwell
Preceded by
Charles O. Andrews		 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator from Florida
(Class 1)
1946, 1952, 1958, 1964		 Succeeded by
Lawton Chiles
Political offices
Preceded by
Fred P. Cone		 Governor of Florida
1941–1945		 Succeeded by
Millard F. Caldwell
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
Charles O. Andrews		 U.S. senator (Class 1) from Florida
1946–1971
Served alongside: Claude Pepper, George Smathers, Edward J. Gurney		 Succeeded by
Lawton Chiles
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.