War, Law and Politics
After briefly practicing law in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, O'Connell accepted an appointment as the civilian director of physical training for the U.S. Third Air Force in Tampa, Florida, and thereafter entered active duty service with U.S. Army Air Corps when the United States entered World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. During the war, he served with the U.S. Fifth Air Force in Brisbane, Australia and as executive officer of the 312th Bombardment Group in the western Pacific, and completed his war-time service as a major.
O'Connell married Rita McTigue after he returned from the war, and restarted his Fort Lauderdale law practice in 1946. He also became an active member of the Broward County Democratic Party, and participated in the gubernatorial and senatorial campaign organizations of Dan McCarty, George Smathers and LeRoy Collins.
In appreciation of his loyal work on behalf of the Democratic Party, Florida Governor LeRoy Collins appointed O'Connell as a justice the Florida Supreme Court in 1955. His time on the state supreme court followed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, and O'Connell's judicial philosophy was characterized by conservatism and gradualist integration. His fellow justices elected him chief justice of the court in 1967, in which position he would serve only briefly. O'Connell served on the court until the Florida Board of Regents selected him to be the president of the University of Florida later in 1967.
Read more about this topic: Stephen C. O'Connell
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