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Florida Governors

With over 50 governors to date, Florida’s executive branch has had a rich history. 

This guide explores books, documents and more for each of Florida’s governors. 

Materials are generally available through interlibrary loan from the circulating collection of the State Library. 

Links within the bibliographies take you to information in our State Library catalog or to more information on external sites.

• General resources
• 1821-1845
• 1845-1877
• 1877-1914
• 1914-1945
• 1945-1968
• 1968-present

General resources 

• Benton, J. Edwin, ed. Government and Politics in Florida. 3rd ed. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2008. 
• Buccellato, Robert. Florida Governors: Lasting Legacies. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2015. 
• Clements, Patricia Lasche. Legacy of Leadership: Florida Governors and Their Inaugural Speeches. Tallahassee, FL: Sentry Press, 2005.  
• Colburn, David R. From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and Its Politics Since 1940. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2007. 
• Colburn, David R., and Lance DeHaven-Smith. Government in the Sunshine State: Florida Since Statehood. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1999.  
• Colburn, David R., and Richard K. Scher. Florida’s Gubernatorial Politics in the Twentieth Century. Tallahassee, FL: University Press of Florida, 1980.   
• Morris, Allen Covington. Florida Handbook. Tallahassee, FL: Florida House of Representatives, 1947-present. 
• Murphree, R. B., Taylor, R. A., & Martínez, R. (2020). The Governors of Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida.
• Parker, Daisy. An Examination of the Florida Executive. Diss. University of Virginia, 1974.   
• State Archives of Florida. “A Guide to Florida Governors and the Florida Cabinet.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services. 
• Uguccioni, Ellen J. First Families in Residence: Life at the Florida Governor’s Mansion. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Governor’s Mansion Foundation, 2006.    

1821 - 1845 

• Denham, James M. Florida Founder William P. Duval: Frontier Bon Vivant. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2015.   
• Doherty, Herbert J. Richard Keith Call, Southern Unionist. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press, 1961.  
• Eaton, John Henry. The Life of Andrew Jackson, Major-General in the Service of the United States. Cincinnati, OH: Hatch & Nichols, 1827.   
• Haywood, Marshall De Lancey. John Branch, 1782-1863. Raleigh, NC: Commercial Printing Company, 1915.   
• Reid, Robert Raymond. Diary of Robert Raymond Reid, 1833, 1835. Tallahassee, FL: Statewide Rare Books Project, 1940.  
• State Archives of Florida. “Richard Keith Call Papers.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services. 
• U.S. Congress (24th, 2nd session). Calls for Volunteers or Militiamen: Copies of Orders Issued by the War Department. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1837.   

1845 - 1877 

• Bittle, George C. “Florida Frontier Incidents During the 1850s.” Florida Historical Quarterly 49.2 (1970): 153–160. 
• Brown, Canter. Ossian Bingley Hart: Florida's Loyalist Reconstruction Governor. Diss. Louisiana State University, 1994. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest LLC, 2012.
• Brown, Thomas. Tom Brown’s Memoirs. Reprint. Bellair, FL: 1863. 
• Cotterill, R.S. “David Shelby Walker.” Tallahassee Historical Society Annual (PDF) 1 (1934): 56–60. 
• Flory, Claude R. “Marcellus L. Stearns Florida’s Last Reconstruction Governor.” Florida Historical Quarterly 44.3 (1966): 181–192. 
• Knetsch, Joe. A New Look at Madison Starke Perry, Florida’s Fourth Governor. Micanopy, FL: Micanopy Historical Society, 1997. 
• Moseley, William. “Inaugural Address of Governor Moseley.” Florida Historical Quarterly 23.4 (1945): 212–219. 
• Murphree, Ridgeway Boyd. Rebel Sovereigns: The Civil War Leadership of Governors John Milton of Florida and Joseph E. Brown of Georgia, 1861-1865. Diss. Florida State University, 2006. 
• Reed, Harrison, ed. The Semi-Tropical: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to Southern Agriculture, Horticulture, Immigration, etc. Jacksonville, FL: Chas. W. Blew, 1875-1878. 
• State Archives of Florida. “Governor Milton Letterbooks.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
• State Archives of Florida. Records relating to Abraham K. Allison. Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
• State Archives of Florida. Records relating to William Marvin. Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
• Stearns, Marcellus L. History of Election in Florida in 1876. 

1877 - 1914 

• Carson, Ruby Leach. “William Dunnington Bloxham: The Years to the Governorship.” Florida Historical Quarterly 27.3 (1949): 207–236. 
• Church, George B. The Life of Henry Laurens Mitchell, Florida’s 16th Governor. New York, NY: Vantage Press, 1978.   
• Feibelman, Herbert U. Life of Edward Aylsworth Perry, Brigadier-General, C.S.A., Governor of Florida, 1885-9. 1949.   
• “In Memoriam: Francis Philip Fleming.” Florida Historical Quarterly 2.1 (1909): 1–8. 
• Jennings, William Sherman. Governor Jennings Replies to Senator Taliaferro: And Presents the Record and Shows That Senator Taliaferro Misrepresents Him and Makes Unfounded Claims. Tallahassee, FL: 1904.   
• Kabat, Ric A. “‘Everybody Votes for Gilchrist’: The Florida Gubernatorial Campaign of 1908.” Florida Historical Quarterly 67.2 (1988): 184–203. 
• Proctor, Samuel. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Florida’s Fighting Democrat. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1950.   
• Williamson, Edward C. “George F. Drew, Florida’s Redemption Governor.” Florida Historical Quarterly 38.3 (1960): 206–215.

1914 - 1945 

• Carlton, Doyle Elam. Message of Governor Doyle E. Carlton to the Twenty-Third Legislature of the State of Florida, April 8, 1931. Tallahassee, FL: Office of the Governor, 1931. 
• Cox, Merlin G. “David Sholtz: New Deal Governor of Florida.” Florida Historical Quarterly 43.2 (1964): 142–152. 
• Evans, Jon S. Weathering the Storm: Florida Politics During the Administration of Spessard L. Holland in World War II. Diss. Florida State University, 2011. 
• Flynt, J. Wayne. Cracker Messiah, Governor Sidney J. Catts of Florida. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1977.   
• Hardee, Cary A. Proclamation of Governor Cary A. Hardee on State Adopted Elementary Text-Books: For Use in the Public Schools of Florida. Tallahassee, FL: Office of the Governor, 1924. 
• Kerber, Stephen. Park Trammell of Florida: A Political Biography. Diss. University of Florida, 1979. 
• McDonell, Victoria H. “Rise of the ‘Businessman’s Politician’: The 1924 Florida Gubernatorial Race.” Florida Historical Quarterly 52.1 (1973): 39–50. 
• Nelson, David. “A New Deal for Welfare: Governor Fred Cone and the Florida State Welfare Board.” Florida Historical Quarterly 84.2 (2005): 185–204. 

1945 - 1968 

• Bryant, Farris Cecil Farris, and Junius Elmore Dovell. The Government and Politics of Florida. Gainesville, FL: Florida Bookstore, 1957.   

• Burns, Haydon. Florida Forward: The Administration of Governor Haydon Burns, January 5, 1965 - January 3, 1967. Tallahassee, FL: 1967.  
• Colburn, David R., and Richard K. Scher. “Florida Gubernatorial Politics: The Fuller Warren Years.” Florida Historical Quarterly 53.4 (1975): 389–408. 
• Dyckman, Martin A. Floridian of His Century: The Courage of Governor LeRoy Collins. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2006.   
• Mormino, Gary R. Millard Filmore Caldwell: Governing on the Wrong Side of History. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2020.
• Poucher, Judith G. State of Defiance: Challenging the Johns Committee’s Assault on Civil Liberties. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2014.   
• State Archives of Florida. “Gov. Farris Bryant Addresses Senate Commerce Committee.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services.
• State Archives of Florida. Records relating to Dan McCarty. Florida Memory. Florida Division of Library and Information Services.

1968 - present 

• Bush, Jeb. Reply All: A Governor’s Story, 1999-2007. Middletown, DE: J. Bush, 2015.
• Coggin, John Dos Passos. Walkin’ Lawton. Cocoa, FL: Florida Historical Society Press, 2012. 
• Corrigan, Matthew T. Conservative Hurricane: How Jeb Bush Remade Florida. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2014.   
• Crist, Charlie. The Party’s Over: How the Extreme Right Hijacked the GOP and I Became a Democrat. New York, NY: Dutton, 2014.   
• Date, Shirish V. Quiet Passion: A Biography of Senator Bob Graham. New York, NY: Penguin, 2004.   
• Dyckman, Martin A. Reubin O’D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2011.   
• Florida Inaugural Committee. Inauguration of Bob Graham as Governor of Florida and Wayne Mixon as Lieutenant Governor of Florida: January 2, 1979. Tallahassee, FL: 1979. 
• Harvey, Gordon E. The Politics of Trust: Reubin Askew and Florida in the 1970’s. Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 2015.
• Kallina, Edmund F. Claude Kirk and the Politics of Confrontation. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1993.  
• MacKay, Buddy. How Florida Happened: The Political Education of Buddy Mackay. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2010.   
• State Archives of Florida. “Bob Graham’s Workdays.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services. 
• State Archives of Florida. “Claude Roy Kirk, Jr. (1926-2011).” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services. 
• State Archives of Florida. “Florida During the Bush Years.” Florida Memory.  Florida Division of Library and Information Services.