Type of Document	Dissertation
Author	Weitz, Seth A.
URN	etd-04052007-183052
Title	Bourbon, Pork Chops, and Red Peppers: Political Immorality in Florida, 1945-1968
Degree	Doctor of Philosophy
Department	History, Department of
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title James P. Jones Committee Chair Edward D. Wynot Committee Member Maxine Jones Committee Member Patrick O'Sullivan Committee Member
Keywords	Florida Politics Pork Chop Gang McCarthyism NAACP
Date of Defense	2007-03-16
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract While Florida was a member of the “solid South”, it differed from the rest of the region in that the state experienced a population boom, transforming the peninsula from a backwater, poor, insignificant state into one of the largest states by 1965. Many of the new Floridians brought with them political beliefs alien to the Deep South. These principles threatened to undermine the deeply entrenched system dominated by the Pork Chop Gang, a group of conservative, states’ rights, segregationist Democrats from rural Northern and Central Florida. They held a stranglehold over the Legislature due to archaic apportioning which had been mandated by the Constitution of 1885. The Pork Choppers took their cue from Senator Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism in Florida, commencing at the end of the Senator’s national reign of terror, proved a methodical and orderly assault on all opponents of the region, whether they be Communists, African-Americans, homosexuals or liberals. The perceived threats against morality, white supremacy and the concocted communist hazard were used as an excuse and disguise to purge Florida of its enemies and more importantly maintain the power of the Pork Chop Gang in the face of its growing political enemies.
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