Ernest R. Graham (politician)

Ernest R. "Cap" Graham (born in Croswell, Michigan, 1886, died in Florida, 1957) was a political figure in Florida, having served as a member of the Florida Senate from 1937 to 1944, when he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Florida in 1943-44. As a senator, Graham lobbied in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to bring benefits to Miami-Dade County. He proposed the creation of a public university in the county, and although his efforts were unsuccessful during his lifetime, they eventually led to the establishment of Florida International University. The student union at Florida International University is named in honor of Graham, named the Graham Center. In 1948, Graham unsuccessfully sought election to the Dade County Commission. Other than his involvement in politics, Graham worked as a mining engineer in South Dakota and farmer in Florida.

Graham married Florence Morris, originally of Lincoln, Nebraska and later of South Dakota. Their children were Mary Graham (born in 1913), Philip Graham (born in 1915), who later became husband of Katharine Graham and publisher of the Washington Post, and Bill Graham (born in 1924). In 1934, Florence (known as "Floss") died of cancer, and in 1936, Graham married Hilda Simmons, a schoolteacher. They had one child, future Florida Governor and United States Senator Bob Graham.

Famous quotes containing the words ernest and/or graham:

    Put shortly, these are the two views, then. One, that man is intrinsically good, spoilt by circumstance; and the other that he is intrinsically limited, but disciplined by order and tradition to something fairly decent. To the one party man’s nature is like a well, to the other like a bucket. The view which regards him like a well, a reservoir full of possibilities, I call the romantic; the one which regards him as a very finite and fixed creature, I call the classical.
    —Thomas Ernest Hulme (1883–1917)

    Billy, in one of his nice new sashes,
    Fell in the fire and was burnt to ashes;
    —Harry Graham (1874–1936)