Napoleon B. Broward
Encyclopedia
Napoleon Bonaparte Broward (April 19, 1857 – October 1, 1910) was the 19th Governor of the U.S. state
of Florida
from January 3, 1905 to January 5, 1909. He also served as the sheriff
of Duval County, Florida
, and in the Florida House of Representatives
.
in Jacksonville
; during the Civil War
the original farm was burned by Union troops that occupied the town. After the war, the Browards had a tough time getting back on their feet; Napoleon's father and mother died when he was still quite young, and he and his brother tended the family farm for a few short years before moving into the city with their uncle.
It was with this uncle that Broward first worked on the river, doing odd jobs on his uncle's steamboat during the summer. In 1876, having graduated high school, Broward became a ship's mate and traveled to New England
, where he stayed for two years, taking odd jobs on ships up and down the New England coast. He returned to Jacksonville in 1878 and took a job working tugboats on the St. Johns River.
Broward married his captain's daughter (Georgiana Carolina "Carrie" Kemp) in January 1883. That spring he applied for a license to lead ships over the St. Johns Bar, a constantly shifting sandbar that stretched across the mouth of the St. Johns, sometimes above water and sometimes many feet below; piloting ships over the treacherous bar was quite lucrative. Broward seemed destined for a life of comfort when in December his wife died during childbirth; Broward's son died a few days later.
Broward withdrew from the river for a while and again traveled north, but by 1885 he was back on the St. Johns, piloting his father-in-law's steamboat Kate Spencer. On the ship he met Annie Isabell Douglass, a frequent passenger.They were married in 1887.
Broward soon took an active part in city politics. In the early 1890s the Democratic Party in Florida was undergoing some internal strife. Two factions developed in Jacksonville that eventually became the major statewide camps, the Antis and the Straightouts. The Antis were conservative and pro-business, whereas the Straightouts were Populists and agrarians; Broward fell in with the Straightout camp.
In the election of 1892, the Straightouts, under Broward's leadership, swept the city offices - Broward's close friends, John N.C. Stockton and John M. Barrs, became city attorney and councilman, respectively, while Broward retained the sheriff's office. The Antis were not dead yet, though; two years later, the split between the two camps was more severe. Antis and Straightouts accused each other of vote fraud, complaining to the secretary of state and the governor; Anti sympathizers held most of the state offices, and the Antis won out. Broward was removed from office and Antis again took over the city.
. Broward was approached by a prominent member of Jacksonville's Cuban community about shipping a load of munitions and some Cuban expatriates from Nassau
to Cuba
. Broward agreed, and in January 1896, The Three Friends shipped out of Jacksonville on her maiden voyage, bound for Cuba.
Broward continued this filibustering
operation until President William McKinley
declared war on Spain. Several times he was nearly caught and destroyed by Spanish gunboats; the Spanish ambassador to the United States
demanded that Broward be stopped and his ship impounded. U.S. authorities attempted to do just that, but Broward managed to thwart them, by loading The Three Friends under cover of darkness in secluded locations, by hiding her behind larger ships as she left the St. Johns, and by picking up Cubans and munitions from other ships at various points near the mouth of the river. Except when trying to evade capture, though, Broward never pretended not to be a filibusterer, and gained notoriety around the state for his deeds.
Law act. Broward had long supported a primary election system to replace the state's convention system, which was controlled by a small clique headed by Flagler. A strong law was drawn up in the House, which Broward enthusiastically supported, but after the Senate weakened the bill substantially Broward withdrew his support. The bill passed anyway.
Broward was not naïve when it came to politics. As a Straightout and supporter of the "common man," Broward would have been naturally opposed to Flagler's control of the party nominating system in the state. It tended to produce Democratic candidates from the Anti faction, and as Florida was at the time a one-party state, it also ensured Anti control of the state government. Broward was smart enough to sponsor Flagler's requested divorce bill, but still wanted power out of the big man's hands.
. During the summer of 1903, he decided to run for the governorship. He had been approached numerous times during the spring and the summer about running for the office, and, hard pressed to find another liberal candidate, agreed to do so. Broward was never wealthy, and in fact frequently found himself in debt for one reason or another. The liberal forces in the state did not have great financial backing, while the conservative forces controlled most of the money and most of the newspapers in the state, as well as the major cities. Broward said of his chances,
Broward began campaigning immediately. His strongest opponent was Robert W. Davis
, the railroad (and hence Flagler) candidate; two other candidates presented smaller threats. Broward hit Davis early and throughout the election for being a railroad man; Davis and the city newspapers generally derided Broward as a liberal whose time had passed and an idiot.
The greatest issue in the campaign was Everglades
drainage, a program first examined by the sitting governor, William S. Jennings. Broward came out strongly in favor of drainage, calling the ground "the fabulous muck" and carrying with him an elevation map of the various parts of the Glades; when Broward found that he was losing an argument over drainage, he would point to his map and say, "Water will run downhill!"
Davis and Broward easily moved ahead into the second primary, and the campaign grew fiercer, with Davis at one point saying, "Mr. Broward is a man of but little ability and no intellectual brilliance whatever?" Broward used Davis' Congressional record to hit him for his railroad ties again and again. Broward appealed to few urban voters and no business interests, while Davis could not win support among farmers or rural voters. On election day, Broward's rural voters gave him the victory by only 600 votes out of 45,000. The general election some weeks later was uneventful, and Broward was inaugurated on January 3, 1905.
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."
to the post. Milton pledged not to run for the seat in November, and Broward soon announced that he was a candidate. He was roundly criticized for this, but nonetheless took to the stump against his opponents, among them his old adversary John Beard and a former political ally, Jacksonville mayor Duncan U. Fletcher
. Beard and Fletcher attacked Broward throughout the campaign, but Broward prevailed in the first primary, and entered the second primary campaign against Fletcher. Broward's friend John Stockton also advanced to the second primary in the governor's race with General Albert Gilchrist of Fort Myers
. Fletcher was an old liberal, and though now more conservative than Broward, the two men still agreed on many things. Gilchrist, however, was much feared as a railroad man, and Broward worked as much for Stockton as he did for himself.
Despite all his work, Broward and Stockton both lost. Newspapers statewide loudly proclaimed the end of the Broward era, and the drainage project seemed doomed. But Broward was not through. The 1908 Democratic National Convention
was to be held shortly in Denver
, and Broward planned to attend. He had been mentioned for months in newspapers throughout the South as a potential candidate for the Vice Presidency, and he was nationally known through his drainage work and for his earlier filibustering. Upon his arrival in Denver he was greeted by banners reading' "Bryan, Broward, and Bread," and an editorial in the Denver Post spoke very favorably of him, concluding that he was an excellent choice for the position. But presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan
telegraphed from his home that he wanted a Midwesterner, rather than a Southerner. Although the crowd at the convention continued to back Broward, Bryan was able to name his own candidate.
The 1908 election was not all bad for Broward. Fletcher was an old friend and still a mild progressive, and Gilchrist proved to be much more liberal than anyone had believed, becoming an avid supporter of drainage and greatly furthering the program.
In 1910 James Taliaferro
's Senate seat was up for election. Big city newspapers endorsed Taliaferro for re-election, but Broward soon entered the race against him. The race, expected to be an exciting showdown, proved to be such a bore that election news was pushed off the front page by coverage of Halley's Comet. Broward and Taliaferro entered the second primary after a quiet election.
The second primary campaign proved scarcely more interesting, though Broward took to the stump, travelling throughout the state. After an exciting election eve rally at which Broward's supporters got so carried away that Taliaferro left in disgust, Broward pulled out a victory.
Exhausted by the campaign, Broward retired with his family to the beach at Fort George. Late in September Broward took ill with gallstones, which had been a concern for some months though Broward had been too busy for surgery. He languished in the hospital for a few days, and died just before he was to enter surgery. He was buried on October 4. The Florida Times-Union wrote,
Broward remains one of the very few Florida politicians to achieve any lasting national recognition, and was for many years after his death the one Florida politician whose name was still known by many in the state (Claude Pepper
being one of the others). As recently as the 1950s, Floridians still referred to the Broward Era and to Browardism—remarkable staying power in a state that changed as much and as quickly as did Florida.
The main aspect of his legacy was the draining of the Everglades- opponents have argued this damaged the Everglades more than helped, while pro-Broward, and pro-Floridan supporters have recognized the long-term agritarian effects his efforts had on the Florida citrus industry making it into the international powerhouse it is today. Broward remains a rather bright and fascinating star in Florida's admittedly questionable political constellation.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
from January 3, 1905 to January 5, 1909. He also served as the sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Duval County, Florida
Duval County, Florida
Duval County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2010, the population was 864,263. Its county seat is Jacksonville, with which the Duval County government has been consolidated since 1968...
, and in the Florida House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
.
Early life
Broward spent his childhood on a series of family farms along the St. Johns RiverSt. Johns River
The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...
in Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
; during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
the original farm was burned by Union troops that occupied the town. After the war, the Browards had a tough time getting back on their feet; Napoleon's father and mother died when he was still quite young, and he and his brother tended the family farm for a few short years before moving into the city with their uncle.
It was with this uncle that Broward first worked on the river, doing odd jobs on his uncle's steamboat during the summer. In 1876, having graduated high school, Broward became a ship's mate and traveled to New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
, where he stayed for two years, taking odd jobs on ships up and down the New England coast. He returned to Jacksonville in 1878 and took a job working tugboats on the St. Johns River.
Broward married his captain's daughter (Georgiana Carolina "Carrie" Kemp) in January 1883. That spring he applied for a license to lead ships over the St. Johns Bar, a constantly shifting sandbar that stretched across the mouth of the St. Johns, sometimes above water and sometimes many feet below; piloting ships over the treacherous bar was quite lucrative. Broward seemed destined for a life of comfort when in December his wife died during childbirth; Broward's son died a few days later.
Broward withdrew from the river for a while and again traveled north, but by 1885 he was back on the St. Johns, piloting his father-in-law's steamboat Kate Spencer. On the ship he met Annie Isabell Douglass, a frequent passenger.They were married in 1887.
Political beginnings
Broward had become quite well known about town as a good pilot and captain. In January 1888, a major prison break disgraced the city's sheriff and he was removed from office. The county Democratic leadership got together to nominate a new sheriff, and quickly settled on Broward as the best man for the job. The governor appointed him to the post on February 27. It took Broward less than a month to gain statewide notoriety for busting up gambling operations in the city.Broward soon took an active part in city politics. In the early 1890s the Democratic Party in Florida was undergoing some internal strife. Two factions developed in Jacksonville that eventually became the major statewide camps, the Antis and the Straightouts. The Antis were conservative and pro-business, whereas the Straightouts were Populists and agrarians; Broward fell in with the Straightout camp.
In the election of 1892, the Straightouts, under Broward's leadership, swept the city offices - Broward's close friends, John N.C. Stockton and John M. Barrs, became city attorney and councilman, respectively, while Broward retained the sheriff's office. The Antis were not dead yet, though; two years later, the split between the two camps was more severe. Antis and Straightouts accused each other of vote fraud, complaining to the secretary of state and the governor; Anti sympathizers held most of the state offices, and the Antis won out. Broward was removed from office and Antis again took over the city.
Cuban involvement
In 1895, Broward, his brother, and an associate began building a new steamboat, The Three Friends. The builder was John Joseph Daly. During the construction, Cuban insurrectos began fighting for independence from SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Broward was approached by a prominent member of Jacksonville's Cuban community about shipping a load of munitions and some Cuban expatriates from Nassau
Nassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Broward agreed, and in January 1896, The Three Friends shipped out of Jacksonville on her maiden voyage, bound for Cuba.
Broward continued this filibustering
Filibuster (military)
A filibuster, or freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution...
operation until President William McKinley
William McKinley
William McKinley, Jr. was the 25th President of the United States . He is best known for winning fiercely fought elections, while supporting the gold standard and high tariffs; he succeeded in forging a Republican coalition that for the most part dominated national politics until the 1930s...
declared war on Spain. Several times he was nearly caught and destroyed by Spanish gunboats; the Spanish ambassador to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
demanded that Broward be stopped and his ship impounded. U.S. authorities attempted to do just that, but Broward managed to thwart them, by loading The Three Friends under cover of darkness in secluded locations, by hiding her behind larger ships as she left the St. Johns, and by picking up Cubans and munitions from other ships at various points near the mouth of the river. Except when trying to evade capture, though, Broward never pretended not to be a filibusterer, and gained notoriety around the state for his deeds.
Return to politics
In 1896 the Straightouts attempted to nominate Broward for sheriff, but he was busy with his filibustering operation and declined. In 1900, the war over and his filibustering days behind him, Broward was nominated for the State House and elected almost without opposition. In the House, Broward supported many progressive initiatives, including a state dispensary bill and a law allowing insanity as grounds for divorce (at the request of powerful developer Henry Flagler), but the most important was the state's Primary ElectionPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
Law act. Broward had long supported a primary election system to replace the state's convention system, which was controlled by a small clique headed by Flagler. A strong law was drawn up in the House, which Broward enthusiastically supported, but after the Senate weakened the bill substantially Broward withdrew his support. The bill passed anyway.
Broward was not naïve when it came to politics. As a Straightout and supporter of the "common man," Broward would have been naturally opposed to Flagler's control of the party nominating system in the state. It tended to produce Democratic candidates from the Anti faction, and as Florida was at the time a one-party state, it also ensured Anti control of the state government. Broward was smart enough to sponsor Flagler's requested divorce bill, but still wanted power out of the big man's hands.
Road to the Governor's Mansion
Broward did not run for the House again in 1902, because he was busy with a salvage operation in the KeysFlorida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
. During the summer of 1903, he decided to run for the governorship. He had been approached numerous times during the spring and the summer about running for the office, and, hard pressed to find another liberal candidate, agreed to do so. Broward was never wealthy, and in fact frequently found himself in debt for one reason or another. The liberal forces in the state did not have great financial backing, while the conservative forces controlled most of the money and most of the newspapers in the state, as well as the major cities. Broward said of his chances,
- "I don't intend to go after the cities. Their newspapers are against me and they don't take me seriously. But I'm going to stump every crossroads village between FernandinaFernandina Beach, FloridaFernandina Beach is a city in Nassau County in the state of Florida in the United States of America and on Amelia Island. It is a part of Greater Jacksonville and is among Florida's northernmost cities. The area was first inhabited by the Timucuan Indian tribe...
and PensacolaPensacola, FloridaPensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
and talk to the farmers and the crackersFlorida crackerFlorida cracker refers to original colonial-era English and American pioneer settlers of what is now the U.S. state of Florida, and their descendants. The first Florida crackers arrived in 1763 when Spain traded Florida to Great Britain...
and show them their top ends were meant to be used for something better than hatracks. I'm going to make 'em sit up and think. They won't mind mistakes in grammar if they find I'm talking horse sense."
Broward began campaigning immediately. His strongest opponent was Robert W. Davis
Robert Wyche Davis
Robert Wyche Davis was a United States Representative from Florida.Born near Albany, Georgia, Davis attended public schools. He enlisted in 1863 in the Fifth Georgia Regiment of the Confederate States Army at the age of 14...
, the railroad (and hence Flagler) candidate; two other candidates presented smaller threats. Broward hit Davis early and throughout the election for being a railroad man; Davis and the city newspapers generally derided Broward as a liberal whose time had passed and an idiot.
The greatest issue in the campaign was Everglades
Everglades
The Everglades are subtropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large watershed. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissimmee River, which discharges into the vast but shallow Lake Okeechobee...
drainage, a program first examined by the sitting governor, William S. Jennings. Broward came out strongly in favor of drainage, calling the ground "the fabulous muck" and carrying with him an elevation map of the various parts of the Glades; when Broward found that he was losing an argument over drainage, he would point to his map and say, "Water will run downhill!"
Davis and Broward easily moved ahead into the second primary, and the campaign grew fiercer, with Davis at one point saying, "Mr. Broward is a man of but little ability and no intellectual brilliance whatever?" Broward used Davis' Congressional record to hit him for his railroad ties again and again. Broward appealed to few urban voters and no business interests, while Davis could not win support among farmers or rural voters. On election day, Broward's rural voters gave him the victory by only 600 votes out of 45,000. The general election some weeks later was uneventful, and Broward was inaugurated on January 3, 1905.
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
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
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
Lake City, Florida
Lake City is the county seat of Columbia County, Florida, in the United States. In 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the city's population at 12,614. In addition, it is the Principal City of the Lake City Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is composed of Columbia County, and had an...
. The Control Board (consisting of Broward and the cabinet) eventually selected Gainesville
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
, 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
William James Bryan
William James Bryan was a U.S. Senator from Florida who served as a Democrat. He was the brother of U.S. Senator Nathan P...
, 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."
Post governorship
In February 1909, Senator Bryan got sick with typhoid fever, shocking the state. Broward appointed William Hall MiltonWilliam Hall Milton
William Hall Milton was a US Senator from Florida who served as a Democrat.Born near Marianna, Jackson County, Florida; attended the public schools of Jackson County, Marianna Academy, and the Agricultural and Mechanical College, Auburn, Alabama; city clerk and treasurer of Marianna 1885-1893;...
to the post. Milton pledged not to run for the seat in November, and Broward soon announced that he was a candidate. He was roundly criticized for this, but nonetheless took to the stump against his opponents, among them his old adversary John Beard and a former political ally, Jacksonville mayor Duncan U. Fletcher
Duncan U. Fletcher
Duncan Upshaw Fletcher was an American lawyer and politician of the Democratic Party. Senator Fletcher was the longest serving U.S. Senator in Florida's history.-Early life and career:...
. Beard and Fletcher attacked Broward throughout the campaign, but Broward prevailed in the first primary, and entered the second primary campaign against Fletcher. Broward's friend John Stockton also advanced to the second primary in the governor's race with General Albert Gilchrist of Fort Myers
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
. Fletcher was an old liberal, and though now more conservative than Broward, the two men still agreed on many things. Gilchrist, however, was much feared as a railroad man, and Broward worked as much for Stockton as he did for himself.
Despite all his work, Broward and Stockton both lost. Newspapers statewide loudly proclaimed the end of the Broward era, and the drainage project seemed doomed. But Broward was not through. The 1908 Democratic National Convention
1908 Democratic National Convention
The 1908 Democratic National Convention was the quadrennial Democratic National Convention, the presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party. It took place from July 7 to July 10, 1908 at Denver Auditorium Arena in Denver, Colorado....
was to be held shortly in Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, and Broward planned to attend. He had been mentioned for months in newspapers throughout the South as a potential candidate for the Vice Presidency, and he was nationally known through his drainage work and for his earlier filibustering. Upon his arrival in Denver he was greeted by banners reading' "Bryan, Broward, and Bread," and an editorial in the Denver Post spoke very favorably of him, concluding that he was an excellent choice for the position. But presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan was an American politician in the late-19th and early-20th centuries. He was a dominant force in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, standing three times as its candidate for President of the United States...
telegraphed from his home that he wanted a Midwesterner, rather than a Southerner. Although the crowd at the convention continued to back Broward, Bryan was able to name his own candidate.
The 1908 election was not all bad for Broward. Fletcher was an old friend and still a mild progressive, and Gilchrist proved to be much more liberal than anyone had believed, becoming an avid supporter of drainage and greatly furthering the program.
In 1910 James Taliaferro
James Taliaferro
James Piper Taliaferro was a US Senator from Florida who served as a Democrat from 1899 to 1911.-Biography:...
's Senate seat was up for election. Big city newspapers endorsed Taliaferro for re-election, but Broward soon entered the race against him. The race, expected to be an exciting showdown, proved to be such a bore that election news was pushed off the front page by coverage of Halley's Comet. Broward and Taliaferro entered the second primary after a quiet election.
The second primary campaign proved scarcely more interesting, though Broward took to the stump, travelling throughout the state. After an exciting election eve rally at which Broward's supporters got so carried away that Taliaferro left in disgust, Broward pulled out a victory.
Exhausted by the campaign, Broward retired with his family to the beach at Fort George. Late in September Broward took ill with gallstones, which had been a concern for some months though Broward had been too busy for surgery. He languished in the hospital for a few days, and died just before he was to enter surgery. He was buried on October 4. The Florida Times-Union wrote,
- Today there are thousands who, like the Times-Union, always opposed the big man so recently crowned with laurel and now clothed in a shroud, who see so clearly the qualities that all admired, that past differences refuse to intrude, and the opponent craves a place among the mourners.
Broward remains one of the very few Florida politicians to achieve any lasting national recognition, and was for many years after his death the one Florida politician whose name was still known by many in the state (Claude Pepper
Claude Pepper
Claude Denson Pepper was an American politician of the Democratic Party, and a spokesman for left-liberalism and the elderly. In foreign policy he shifted from pro-Soviet in the 1940s to anti-Communist in the 1950s...
being one of the others). As recently as the 1950s, Floridians still referred to the Broward Era and to Browardism—remarkable staying power in a state that changed as much and as quickly as did Florida.
The main aspect of his legacy was the draining of the Everglades- opponents have argued this damaged the Everglades more than helped, while pro-Broward, and pro-Floridan supporters have recognized the long-term agritarian effects his efforts had on the Florida citrus industry making it into the international powerhouse it is today. Broward remains a rather bright and fascinating star in Florida's admittedly questionable political constellation.
Legacy
- The "Napoleon Bonaparte Broward - Dames Point BridgeDames Point BridgeThe Dames Point Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, Florida on State Road 9A. Construction began in 1985 and it was completed in 1989. The main span is 1300 feet, and is 175 feet high...
" in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
is officially named for Governor Broward - There are over thirty roads in FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
named for him - A residence hall at Florida State UniversityFlorida State UniversityThe Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
is named after him and a residence hall at University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
is named for his wife Annie Isabell Broward - Broward County, Florida is named for Governor Broward; Broward County is the second most populous and with the second largest school system in the State of Florida
See also
- "Napoleon" as a first name