Governorship
Governor McCarty died just nine months after accession to the office on September 28, 1953 after suffering a debilitating heart attack on February 25. At that time, Florida had no lieutenant governor, and the president of the Florida Senate, Charley Eugene Johns, became acting governor to serve until a special election.
Collins challenged Johns in the Democratic primary election and won the nomination; due to dominance of the Democratic Party in the South at the time, a primary win nearly guaranteed victory in the general election. Collins was sworn in as governor on January 4, 1955. In 1956, he was reelected to serve a regular four-year term, which made him the first governor of Florida to serve two consecutive terms.
In the 1956 election, he made history by becoming the first governor to win election in the first primary election, defeating five other candidates. During his term, Collins focused on education, working to strengthen the state's school system. In the racial unrest of his time he took a moderate course, counseling progress under law, and the state experienced only minimal disorder.
Although he initially condemned the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, as did almost all Southern elected officials, he fought with the Florida Legislature to attempt to prevent them from passing an "interposition" resolution, which indicated the intent of the legislature to "interpose" itself between the citizens of Florida and the United States government to prevent what the legislature contended was an illegal intrusion upon the right of the state by imposing integration.
He utilized the little-known provision in Section 10 of Article IV of the state constitution by unilaterally adjourning the legislature to prevent it from passing the resolution the first time. After the legislature returned and passed the resolution, he had no power to veto it, because it was not a law but only a resolution expressing the sense of the legislature.
However, as it passed through his office, he wrote upon the interposition resolution, the following statement, in his own handwriting, which is today held by the State Archives of Florida:
| “ | "This concurrent resolution of 'Interposition' crosses the Governor's desk as a matter of routine. I have no authority to veto it. I take this means however to advise the student of government, who may examine this document in the archives of the state in the years to come that the Governor of Florida expressed open and vigorous opposition thereto. I feel that the U. S. Supreme Court has improperly usurped powers reserved to the states under the constitution. I have joined in protesting such and in seeking legal means of avoidance. But if this resolution declaring the decisions of the court to be 'null and void' is to be taken seriously, it is anarchy and rebellion against the nation which must remain 'indivisible under God' if it is to survive. Not only will I not condone 'interposition' as so many have sought me to do, I decry it as an evil thing, whipped up by the demagogues and carried on the hot and erratic winds of passion, prejudice, and hysteria. If history judges me right this day, I want it known that I did my best to avert this blot. If I am judged wrong, then here in my own handwriting and over my signature is the proof of guilt to support my conviction. LeRoy Collins, Governor." May 2, 1957. | ” |
Collins became Chairman of the Southern Governors Association in 1957.
Collins fell just a few votes short of persuading the first Constitution Revision Commission to send an amendment to voters to abolish capital punishment. He recalled about his proposal to end the death penalty in Florida that every time an execution was carried out under his order, it left him feeling nearly as guilty as the murderers. It is noteworthy that his two immediate successors, C. Farris Bryant and Haydon Burns, also opposed the death penalty.
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