Lawton of Chile

Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr.

Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. (born April 3, 1930 in Lakeland , Florida , † December 12, 1998 in Tallahassee , Florida) was an American politician and the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 to 1998 . Between 1971 and 1989 he represented his state in the US Senate .

Early years and political advancement to the US Senate

Chiles during his march through Florida in 1970

Lawton Chiles attended the University of Florida , where he graduated in law in 1955. In the meantime he fought in the US Army during the Korean War . After he was admitted to the bar, he practiced in his hometown of Lakeland. Lawton Chiles became a member of the Democratic Party . From 1958 to 1966 Chile was a member of the House of Representatives from Florida ; and from 1966 to 1970 he was in the State Senate .

Although he had served as a local MP for twelve years, Chiles was virtually unknown to the general public when he ran for a seat in the United States Senate in 1970 . To gain attention despite its low campaign budget, Chiles went on a walk across the state, from the Florida Panhandle to the Florida Keys . In total, Chiles covered 1033 miles in three months, which the media reported accordingly. In addition, Chiles was able to hold many conversations with ordinary citizens on his tour, so that his down-to-earth manner brought him a lot of recognition and ultimately also votes. It was from this walk that he got his nickname "Walkin 'Lawton", which Chiles kept throughout his life.

He was actually elected to the Senate in 1970, where he remained from January 3, 1971 to January 3, 1989. In the 1976 and 1982 elections, re-elections were held with more than 60% of the votes. There he was the first Senator from Florida to chair the Committee on Budgets, and he was chairman of a special committee that dealt with the problems of aging (Special Committee on Aging) . He founded the National Commission against Child Mortality and became its chairman. In 1988 he wanted to retire from politics because of health problems and decided not to run for the US Senate again. He suffered from heart problems from the 1980s and had to undergo an operation in 1985. In December 1987 he announced that he would not run again for the Senate mandate in the autumn 1988 elections. Especially towards the end of his term in office, he was frustrated with his work in the US Senate because the decisions were not made quickly enough for him.

Florida governor

Governor of Chile in his office while signing documents (exact picture date unknown)

Official portrait as governor

Although Chiles wanted to retire after his tenure as Senator ended, his friends persuaded him to run for Florida governor in 1990. In the Democratic primary elections in the summer of 1990, he prevailed against Bill Nelson . The actual election in November of that year he clearly won against incumbent Robert Martinez with 56.5% of the vote. Republican Martinez had 43.5% of the vote.

After his election success, Chiles was able to take up his new office on January 8, 1991. In his first term in office, the governor had to deal with strong opposition. Some reform proposals in the area of ​​health and taxation were rejected. A general economic crisis in those years and the aftermath of Hurricane "Andrew" led to a sharp decline in its popularity. Successfully Chile was, however, with his request, the bureaucracy dismantle . During his entire time as governor, he deleted several thousand regulations by means of executive orders or replaced them with more informal "guidelines".

Despite his declining popularity, he stood for re-election as governor in 1994. The election campaign was accompanied by a nationwide loss of popularity of his party, which suffered heavy losses in the parallel congressional elections. The gubernatorial election was a head-to-head race with his Republican candidate Jeb Bush , the son of former US President George HW Bush and brother of future President George W. Bush . In the last weeks of the campaign, Chile managed to slightly influence public opinion in its favor again, which was mainly justified by a successful appearance in a television debate. Contrary to the national trend, at the end of the day Chile was able to narrowly prevail against Bush (49.2%) with 50.8% of the vote. Nevertheless, his party lost its majority in parliament . In January 1995 he was sworn in for a second term. His re-election in 1994 remains the last Democratic election victory in a gubernatorial election in Florida to this day (as of 2018 ).

In his second term, his administration managed to win a lawsuit against the tobacco industry that had to pay $ 11.3 billion in compensation for damage caused to the health system by typical smoking diseases. The money was used to build new schools, among other things. Here, however, the governor managed to work with the Republican majority in the state legislature . On socio-political issues, Chiles took both liberal and conservative positions. So was for the right to abortion , as he saw a prohibition as interference in the private lives of women. The governor vetoed an abortion restriction law passed in early 1998 . At the same time, Chiles saw itself as a supporter of the death penalty . There were 18 executions in Florida during his tenure. On the part of the Republicans, however, was criticized for an allegedly too weak attitude towards criminals. As governor, Chile's appeals to the Supreme Court helped shape the state's jurisdiction long after his term of office. Between 1991 and 1998 he appointed a total of five of the seven highest judges. At the end of 1998, after the gubernatorial election, but before the end of his term in office, he reached an agreement with the elected governor Jeb Bush on a common candidate, since the term of office of the previous judge would have ended exactly at the same time as that of the governor. In this way, Chile and Bush wanted to avoid a possible constitutional controversy as to which governor would ultimately have the power to appoint.

For the upcoming gubernatorial elections in 1998, Chile was no longer allowed to stand as a candidate because the constitution did not allow more than two consecutive terms of office. But he stood up for his lieutenant governor Kenneth MacKay , with whom he was also privately friends, as his successor. But this was defeated in the elections on November 3rd against Jeb Bush. On December 12, 1998, a good three weeks before the end of his term in office, Chile suffered a heart attack from which he died in his official residence at the age of 68. This made his deputy McKay governor of Florida until Jeb Bush was sworn in on January 5, 1999.

Private

Lawton Chiles was married to Rhea Chiles, with whom he had four children. Kay Hagan , a former US Senator from North Carolina , is his niece.

Web links

Commons : Lawton Chiles  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Lawton Chiles in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Lawton Chiles in the National Governor Association (English)
• Florida Governor Portraits (English)
• Lawton Chiles in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles Dies Washington Post , December 13, 1998
2. ↑ ^{a b} Gov. Lawton Chiles of Florida, Populist and Former Senator, Dies at 68 , The New York Times , December 14, 1998