Headline Surfer® / YouTube video uploads / DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Reubin Askew, who served as the 37th governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979, died early this morning with family members by his side at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. He was 85.
His death was announced to the media by Ron Sachs, a former aide and family spokesman.
The death of former Governor Askew comes in at No. 41 in the HeadlineSurfer.com countdown of the top 100 local stories of 2014.
Askew's tenure as governor for eight years, beginning in 1971, was during a time in the U.S. of turmoil and change: There was the disgraceful resignation of President Nixon with Watergate to the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War and Askew's earlier successful push in 1972 for desegregation of Florida schools through busing, despite sporadic violence that ensued.
Askew made several stops in Daytona Beach. He attended the 1971 Firecracker race at Daytona International Speedway in 1971.
Askew also attended the Daytona Beach Annual Chamber of Commerce banquet in December of that year. The following year, he was a guest of the National Alumni Assn. of Bethune Cookman College.
Though he was a liberal Democrat on racial issues and crusaded for overhauling the state's tax laws, open government, environmental protection, ethics legislation and streamlining the courts and other governmental agencies, Askew won his party's nomination in 1970 with State Secretary of Florida Thomas Burton Adams, Jr., tabbed as his running mate.
Though he was a liberal Democrat on racial issues and crusaded for overhauling the state's tax laws, open government, environmental protection, ethics legislation and streamlining the courts and other governmental agencies, Askew won his party's nomination in 1970 with State Secretary of Florida Thomas Burton Adams, Jr., tabbed as his running mate.
The Miami Herald said of the Askew-Adams ticket that it had "captured the imagination of a state that plainly deserves new leadership."
The race for governor was ugly at times with incumbent Republican Claude R. Kirk, Jr., ridiculing Askew, describing him as "a momma's boy who wouldn't have the courage to stand up under the fire of the legislators" and a "nice sweet-looking fellow chosen by liberals ... to front for them."
But in the end, it was Askew who had the last laugh over Kirk, winning the governorship by a margin of 57-43 percent.
In 1974, Askew was re-elected, with J.H. Williams as his running mate.
Askew became so popular in such a short period of of time, George McGovern asked him to be his running mate for the 1972 presidential election, but Askew turned him down.
Askew was big on racial and gender equality, integrating the Florida Highway Patrol. He also appointed the first black in 100 years to the Florida Cabinet and the first black justice to the Florida Supreme Court.
Askew also started the practice of using nominating commissions for judicial appointments when vacancies arose and he required appellate and state supreme court justices to face the voters every six years to determine whether they should be retained.
Askew ran for president in 1984, but his candidacy came to an abrupt end after he finished last in the Democratic primary race in New Hampshire.
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The HeadlineSurfer.com Countdown of the Top 100 Local Stories of 2014...
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The Headline Surfer® Countdown of the Top 100 Stories of 2014, is sponsored by Edgewater Towing & Myron's Auto Service of Edgewater, FL. 