Sam Gibbons

Sam Gibbons, around 1995

Sam Melville Gibbons (born January 20, 1920 in Tampa , Florida , † October 10, 2012 there ) was an American politician . Between 1963 and 1997 he represented the state of Florida in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Sam Gibbons first attended HB Plant High School and then served between 1941 and 1945 during World War II in the US Army , where he made it to major. He belonged to an airborne division and had been deployed in France and Germany since 1944. After the war, Gibbons studied law at the University of Florida at Gainesville until 1947 . After his admission as a lawyer in the same year, he began to practice in Tampa in his new profession. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . Between 1953 and 1958 Gibbons was a member of the Florida House of Representatives ; from 1959 to 1962 he was a member of the State Senate . In 1964, 1968 and 1984 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions .

In the 1962 congressional elections Gibbons was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the then newly created tenth constituency of Florida , where he took up his new mandate on January 3, 1963. After 16 re-elections, he was able to complete a total of 17 legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1997 . During this time, the Vietnam War , the Watergate affair and the final phase of the civil rights movement took place . In addition, the 24th , 25th , 26th and 27th amendments were passed. From 1993 to 1995 Gibbons was the chairman of the tax committee.

During his long tenure as a congressman, Gibbons represented various districts in his home state. Until 1967 he was a representative of the tenth electoral district. He then represented the sixth district from 1967 to 1973 as the successor to Paul Rogers . In 1973 he moved to the Seventh District, which he represented for 20 years until 1993 as the successor to James A. Haley in Congress. Since 1993 he ran in the eleventh constituency, which he took over from Jim Bacchus . In 1996, Sam Gibbons declined to run again. Then he retired from political life. He was married twice and had three sons from his first marriage. He spent his old age in Tampa.

Web links

Commons : Sam Gibbons  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sam Gibbons in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sam Gibbons, congressman and 'true American hero,' dies at age 92