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Record Group Number: 000102
Series/Collection Number: .S 776
Creator: Florida. Governor (1955-1961 : Collins)
Title, Dates: Correspondence, 1955-1961.
Amount: 75.50 cubic ft.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Subdivided into (1) First term of office, 1955 -1957; and (2) Second term of office, 1957-1961. Alphabetical.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     LeRoy Collins was born on March 10, 1909 in Tallahassee, Florida.  He attended Eastman School of Business in Poughkeepsie, New York, and received a law degree from Cumberland University.  He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives from Leon County in 1934, 1936, and 1938.  He was elected to the Florida Senate in 1940 and 1942, resigned to serve in the navy during World War II, and was reelected to the Senate in 1946 and 1950.

    Collins was the first Governor to be elected to consecutive terms.  He was first elected in 1954 to complete the two-year unexpired term of the late Governor McCarty and was reelected in 1956 for a regular four-year term.  As governor, Collins promoted the growth of Florida's economy by the establishment of the State Development Commission, and worked to strengthen and modernize Florida's school systems from grade schools through the universities.  He served simultaneously as chairman of the Southern Governors' Conference and the National Governors' Conference.

    After leaving office he became president of the National Association of Broadcasters.  In 1964 he was appointed by President Johnson as first Director of Community Relation Services under the 1964 Civil Rights Acts.  He resigned in 1966 to practice law in Tampa.  He won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 1968 but was defeated in the general election.  He retired to Tallahassee to practice law.
Summary:     The series contains the official correspondence of LeRoy Collins, thirty-third governor, from 1955 to 1961.  The records reflect the official, constitutional, and political duties of the Office of the Governor.  The series consists mainly of incoming and outgoing correspondence filed by general subject area, agency or organizational name, or county name.
Finding Aids: Folder listing available.
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note:
Location of Originals/Duplicates: BOX 148 contains microfilmed duplicates of paper records in series.
Associated Materials: Personal papers located at Special Collections Dept., University of South Florida, Tampa, Fla.
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History:
Publication Note:
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Machine-readable artifacts. aat
Added Entries Collins, LeRoy, 1909-