Daniel T. McCarty
31st Governor of Florida
In office
January 6, 1953 – September 28, 1953
Preceded byFuller Warren
Succeeded byCharley E. Johns
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
In office
1937–1941
Personal details
Born(1912-01-18)January 18, 1912
Fort Pierce, Florida, U.S.
DiedSeptember 28, 1953(1953-09-28) (aged 41)
Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Resting placePalms Cemetery, Ankona, Florida, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Olie Brown
​
(m. 1940)​
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
RankColonel
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsBronze Star
Purple Heart
Legion of Merit
Croix de Guerre

Daniel Thomas McCarty (January 18, 1912 – September 28, 1953) was an American politician who served in the Florida House of Representatives and served as its speaker. He briefly served as the 31st Governor of Florida from January 6, 1953 until his death of September 28, 1953.

Early life

Dan McCarty was born on January 18, 1912, in Fort Pierce, Florida and was the son of Daniel Thomas McCarty and Frances Lardner Moore.[1] His grandfather, Charles "C.T." Tobin McCarty would begin an operation growing pineapples during the 1880s in St. Lucie County. C.T. would be killed during a real estate dispute when he was leaving a barber shop in Fort Pierce on January 30, 1907.[2][3]

His family was described as being prominent and he grew up in a large house on Indian River Drive just south of the present courthouse in downtown Fort Pierce.[4] He attended the local public school in the area, Delaware Avenue School. While attending high school he would be the captain of the school's football team, editor-in-chief of the school yearbook and serve as vice president of his class.[5] After high school he would go to the University of Florida. While at the University of Florida he was extremely active within Florida Blue Key, Student Government, the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and ROTC.

After finishing his education in 1934, McCarty became a cattleman and citrus grower in Fort Pierce. He married Olie Brown with whom he had three children.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army, was promoted to the rank of colonel, and was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, the Legion of Merit, and the French Croix de Guerre. During World War II, he distinguished himself by being among those who landed on D-Day with the Seventh Army in the South of France.[4]

Political career

He began his political career when in 1937, he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where he served until 1941. During the 1941 session, he served as speaker of the house. In 1948 he was the runner up for the Democratic nomination for governor. Four years later in 1952, he ran for governor again, and this time was successful in winning the office. During his tenure, he reformed purchasing and hiring practices by the state government, boosted teachers' salaries and created scholarships for teacher training, opposed oil exploration in the Everglades, and instituted aid programs for the disabled. A chain smoker, McCarty's health was already weakened by the end of the 1952 Gubernatorial contest.[6]

On February 25, 1953, shortly after assuming the governorship, he suffered a debilitating heart attack. For months McCarty struggled to regain his strength, spending most of his days working in the Governor's mansion. Finally in early September he contracted a severe case of pneumonia and died on September 28, 1953, in Tallahassee. After a large funeral at his lifelong parish church, the old Carpenter Gothic St. Andrew's Episcopal Church across the street from his boyhood home in Fort Pierce, he was buried in the Palms Cemetery three miles south on Indian River Drive in Ankona. The beginning of the bumper-to-bumper funeral procession reached the small cemetery before the last cars had left the church area.

Honors

Dan McCarty Middle School, in St. Lucie County, was named in his honor.

A sabal palm tree was planted on the grounds of the Florida State Capitol in honor of him as he would sign a bill as governor making the sabal palm the official state tree.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Daniel Thomas McCarty". Little Chute Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  2. ↑ "PSL GETS A BIG CHUNK OF HISTORY WITH THE MCCARTY RANCH". Port St. Lucie Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  3. ↑ "Charles Tobin McCarty". Little Chute Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
  4. 1 2 Allen Morris, The Florida Handbook at 331 (1997-1998 ed.)
  5. ↑ "Daniel T. McCarty". Saint Lucie Historical Society. Archived from the original on 2021-08-05. Retrieved 2021-08-04.
  6. ↑ "Thursday Bookshelf – Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies – The Florida Squeeze". The Florida Squeeze. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  7. ↑ Hamp, Dunn (1960). "Florida's state tree planted on the Capitol grounds in memory of Governor McCarty - Tallahassee, Florida". Florida Memory (Photograph). Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved August 27, 2021.

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