Governorship
Broward's biggest push as governor was for Everglades drainage. Early in his governorship Broward was attacked often and by many different people for his drainage program and for the land tax he instituted to pay for it. One newspaper noted that, "The treasury will be drained before the Everglades." As drainage progressed, however, Broward began taking his fiercest opponents for "ocular displays" in the Glades, showing them the work that had been done and how it was progressing. John Beard, one of Broward's most effective opponents, was eventually convinced by one of these trips that the land was fertile and that drainage was working.
It was through this drainage program that Broward gained national prominence. As his administration progressed, Broward became more involved in Washington, getting federal funds for the drainage project and eventually bringing President Roosevelt down to the Glades for a trip through the drainage areas. Roosevelt was an avid supporter of drainage and became an important advocate for the program.
Broward did tackle other problems during his tenure as governor. The state universities were in bad shape and Broward determined that they were not offering an education beyond the high school level. Broward helped guide a reorganization bill through the legislature which closed some of the schools and set up a commission to determine where the remaining schools should be located. A fight ensued about where to locate the major state university, which at the time was in Lake City. The Control Board (consisting of Broward and the cabinet) eventually selected Gainesville, and for many weeks there were accusations by both cities that the commission members had been bought off.
Broward introduced a bill to the legislature in 1905 directing the state to provide life insurance for its citizens and setting up an Insurance Commission and a cabinet-level post to go along with the program, but the legislature was uninterested and voted the bill down with little debate. Broward also supported measures creating a state textbook commission, reforming the state hospital system, and making the state's Railroad Commission permanent.
In December 1908, U.S. Senator Stephen R. Mallory, Jr. died suddenly and Broward appointed William James Bryan, who was his campaign manager and already a candidate for the seat, to fill the vacancy. Newspapers criticized Bryan, then only 31, with the Tampa Tribune saying, "if Mr. Bryan has given any symptoms of being worthy of this distinction then we are utterly at a loss to know it; it must be a weighty secret hidden in the governor's brain."
Read more about this topic: Napoleon B. Broward