Editing Reubin Askew (section)

==Governorship==
{{Further|1970 Florida gubernatorial election|1974 Florida gubernatorial election}}
[[File:Askew inaugural address.jpg|thumb|Askew delivers his first inaugural address as [[Governor of Florida|Florida governor]] in January 1971]]
[[File:Jimmy Carter and wife with Reubin Askew and his wife.jpg|thumb|Askew and his wife with [[Jimmy Carter]] and his wife [[Rosalynn Carter]] in [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] in April 1971]]
[[File:Reubin Askew signs a bill.jpg|thumb|Askew signs a bill into law]]
Askew won the Democratic nomination for governor in 1970. [[Secretary of State of Florida]] [[Thomas Burton Adams Jr.|Thomas Burton Adams, Jr.]], was his running-mate for lieutenant governor. In its endorsement of the Askew-Adams ticket, the ''[[Miami Herald]]'' reported that Askew had "captured the imagination of a state that plainly deserves new leadership." During the campaign, the incumbent Republican governor, Claude R. Kirk Jr., ridiculed his opponent Askew as "a momma's boy who wouldn't have the courage to stand up under the fire of the legislators" and a "nice sweet-looking fellow chosen by liberals...to front for them."<ref>''[[Miami Herald]]'' and ''[[Tallahassee Democrat]]'', October 30, 1970</ref> Such rhetoric helped to reinvigorate the Democratic coalition. Mike Thompson, who managed the 1970 Republican gubernatorial primary campaign waged by state representative [[Skip Bafalis|L. A. "Skip" Bafalis]], sat out the general election between Kirk and Askew. Thompson later said that the often acerbic Kirk had demolished "the coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats who elected him in 1966. ... The trail from [[Tallahassee, Florida|Tallahassee]] to [[Palm Beach, Florida|Palm Beach]] is littered with the bodies of former friends, supporters, and citizens -- all of whom made the fatal mistake of believing the words of Claude Kirk."<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970," ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' (April 1990), p. 416</ref>

With 57% of the vote, Askew and Adams unseated Kirk and Lieutenant Governor [[Ray C. Osborne]]. From 1887 to 1969, the Florida Constitution did not provide for a lieutenant governor. The change allowed the top two positions to be filled by running mates from the same political party.

In 1974, Askew was re-elected, with [[Jim Williams (Florida)|J. H. Williams]] as his running mate. He is one of seven Florida governors to have been elected for two terms (the others were [[LeRoy Collins]], [[Bob Graham]], [[Lawton Chiles]], [[Jeb Bush]], [[Rick Scott]], and [[Ron DeSantis]]). Askew was the first governor to serve two full four-year terms.

Through his two terms, Askew worked on tax reform. In 1971, he gained passage of the state's first corporate income tax.<ref name="top50"/> He also gained an increase in the homestead exemption.

Askew argued for transparency in government. He tried three times to get the legislature to pass a bill requiring financial disclosure by public officials. When they did not, he used a provision of the 1968 constitution, collecting sufficient signatures to put the measure on the ballot in 1976.<ref name="fsne.org"/> The voters passed the "Sunshine Amendment" by 78%, the first time the constitution was amended due to citizen action. It calls for full financial disclosure by public officials and candidates, a ban on gifts to legislators, and prohibits former officials from lobbying for two years after leaving office.<ref name="fsne.org"/>
At a time of government scandals, he established a reputation for personal integrity and was known as "Reubin the Good." According to a political foe, "He has established a kind of morality in office that causes people to have faith" in government.<ref name="top50"/>

In addition to dealing with state issues, Askew pursued collaboration with other governors: he chaired the Education Commission of the States (1973–1974), the Southern Governors' Conference (1974–1975), and the Democratic Governors' Conference (1976–1977).<ref name="nga"/> Governor Askew was chairman of the National Governors' Conference in 1977.<ref name="nga"/>

===Civil rights issues and the New South===
[[File:Askew and Hatchett.jpg|thumb|Askew with the family of [[Joseph Woodrow Hatchett]], who Askew nominated to become the first Black justice on the [[Florida Supreme Court]] in September 1975]]
Askew was one of the first of the [[New South governor]]s, elected in the same year as governors Jimmy Carter of Georgia, [[Dale Bumpers]] of [[Arkansas]], who defeated [[Orval Faubus]], and [[John C. West]] of [[South Carolina]]. They were later joined by [[Bill Clinton]] of Arkansas. Askew supported school [[desegregation]] and the controversial idea of busing to achieve racial balance (mandatory [[racial integration|integration]]).

He expressed a progressive model in his appointments, naming the first black Justice of the State Supreme Court, [[Joseph Woodrow Hatchett]].<ref name=FT /> He appointed [[M. Athalie Range]] as Secretary of the Department of Community Affairs; she was the first black person appointed to state government since [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]] and the first woman to head a state agency in Florida. In 1978, Askew appointed [[Jesse J. McCrary Jr.]] as secretary of state; he was the first black person to hold a [[Florida Cabinet|cabinet-level office]] in Florida in the modern era.

===Capital punishment===
After the 1972 [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] decision in ''[[Furman v. Georgia]]''  effectively overturned existing state laws for [[capital punishment in the United States]], Florida was the first state to enact a new death penalty statute,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state|title=State by State|website=Death Penalty Information Center|access-date=December 1, 2020}}</ref> which Governor Askew signed despite personally believing that the death penalty was appropriate only in rare cases.<ref>[http://www.floridacapitalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/COLUMNIST03/807030309 Askew's view on capital punishment], ''Florida Capital News'', July 3, 2008</ref> Afterward the Supreme Court accepted new state death-penalty laws in ''[[Gregg v. Georgia]]''. Immediately after the ruling, which effectively reinstated the use of the death penalty in the United States, Governor Askew began signing death warrants.<ref>Craig Brandon, ''The Electric Chair: An Unnatural American History'', McFarland, 1999, {{ISBN|0-7864-0686-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7864-0686-9}}</ref> Executions were not resumed until the administration of his successor, Bob Graham.

Based on issues related to the cases of two life-sentenced inmates, [[Pitts and Lee v. Florida|Wilbert Lee and Freddie Pitts]], Askew ordered a new investigation, which found they had been wrongfully convicted of murder in 1963. Askew participated in part of the inquiry and in 1975 [[pardon]]ed both inmates, who had been removed from death row after the Supreme Court's decision halting capital punishment.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100715145315/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913486,00.html "Law: Twelve Years to Justice"], ''Time'' magazine, September 29, 1975</ref>

===Presidential politics===
Askew's national stature in the Democratic Party grew, and in 1972, he was the keynote speaker at the [[Democratic National Convention]] in [[Miami Beach]]. For the [[1972 United States presidential election|1972 presidential election]], he was offered the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket with presidential nominee George McGovern, but he turned it down.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}} He later accepted an appointment under President Jimmy Carter as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Ambassadorial Appointments.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

===Trade representative===
[[Image:ReubinAskew.JPG|thumb|Askew in 1983]]
Limited to two terms as governor by the Florida Constitution, Askew looked for his next opportunity. In 1979, he accepted President Jimmy Carter's invitation to serve as United States Trade Representative, continuing until Carter's term ended in January 1981. Askew was the first trade representative who held the title ''United States Trade Representative'', not ''Special Trade Representative'', as his predecessors were called.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ustr.gov/Who_We_Are/United_States_Trade_Representatives,_1962_-_Present.html?ht=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185628/http://www.ustr.gov/Who_We_Are/United_States_Trade_Representatives,_1962_-_Present.html?ht=|url-status=dead|title=USTR – United States Trade Representatives, 1962 – Present<!--Bot-generated title-->|archive-date=September 30, 2007|access-date=December 1, 2020}}</ref>

===Presidential candidacy in 1984===
{{Further|1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries}}
Askew joined a [[Miami]] law firm and at the same time began to organize a bid for the [[1984 Democratic Party presidential primaries|1984 Democratic presidential nomination]]. He announced his candidacy on February 23, 1983, after making visits to all 50 states. The first serious presidential candidate from Florida{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}}, Askew never gained traction within the national Democratic Party. Although progressive on civil rights, he generally was more conservative than other candidates. Askew was against abortion, believing life began at birth, and favored a constitutional amendment to overturn ''[[Roe v. Wade]]''. On other issues, he supported the ERA but was against gay rights, supported a nuclear freeze but opposed arms control, supported both gun control and the death penalty, and called for pulling American Marines out of Beirut but supported President Ronald Reagan's [[United States invasion of Grenada|invasion of Grenada]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harvey |first=Gordon E. |title=The Politics of Trust: Reubin Askew and Florida in the 1970s |publisher=University of Alabama Press |year=2015 |isbn=9780817318826 |pages=151}}</ref> Askew withdrew on March 1, 1984, after he finished last in the [[New Hampshire presidential primary|New Hampshire primary]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shapiro |first=Margaret |date=1984-03-02 |title=Askew, Hollings Retire to Sidelines |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/03/02/askew-hollings-retire-to-sidelines/f5eeab31-6918-4b3a-8723-ffcf0e7f1202/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240127010054/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1984/03/02/askew-hollings-retire-to-sidelines/f5eeab31-6918-4b3a-8723-ffcf0e7f1202/ |archive-date=2024-01-27 |access-date=2024-01-07 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref>

===U.S. Senate candidacy in 1988===
[[File:Reubin Askew acknowledges applause by lawmakers at the opening of a joint session of the Legislature.jpg|thumb|Askew addressing the opening of a joint session of the [[Florida Legislature]] in April 2009]]
In 1987, Askew declared his candidacy for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fiedler |first=Tom |date=1987-12-22 |title=Askew's Senate bid now official |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sbpNAAAAIBAJ&dq=reubin+askew+senate+bid+1987&pg=PA29&article_id=2934,3861427 |access-date=2024-01-27 |work=Lakeland Ledger |pages=1B}}</ref> But in May 1988, he withdrew from the contest, citing the need for perpetual fundraising.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dunkelberger|first1=Lloyd|title=Former Gov. Askew's legacy outlives him|url=http://politics.heraldtribune.com/2014/03/13/former-fla-gov-reuben-askew-dies/|work=The Herald-Tribune|date=March 13, 2014}}</ref> At the time of his withdrawal, he had lead in the polls. He endorsed Congressman [[Buddy MacKay|Buddy McKay]] afterwards.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Flores |first=Ike |date=1988-05-08 |title=ASKEW QUITS SENATE RACE DESPITE LEAD IN POLLS |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1988/05/08/askew-quits-senate-race-despite-lead-in-polls/939ee73c-a155-4b30-bc55-aadaef83a5da/ |access-date=2024-01-27 |newspaper=Washington Post}}</ref> Three days after dropping out, he resigned from his law firm, reportedly due to discontent from partners who had raised large amounts of money for Askew.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1988-05-10 |title=Askew resigns From Law Firm |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgsqAAAAIBAJ&dq=reubin+askew+senate+bid+1988&pg=PA32&article_id=3072,7042430 |access-date=2024-01-27 |work=Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal |pages=1A |agency=Associated Press}}</ref>