Florida Governors in World War II

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Spessard Holland served as Florida Governor during the majority of World War II.

Photo Credit: Florida State Archives

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Millard Caldwell succeeded Spessard Holland as Florida Governor during the closing months of World War II.

Photo Credit: Florida State Archives

The men in office during World War II and the servicemen who would later become governor.

Spessard Holland and Millard Caldwell served as Florida's wartime governors, guiding the state through the greatest conflict of the 20th century. Holland, a native of Bartow, served in the air service in France during World War I and began his political career after the war. He won the 1940 Democratic primaries, and faced no organized Republican opposition in the general election. During the war, Holland oversaw the activities of the State Defense Council, which administered all civil defense activities within Florida. Holland also worked with the federal government in the establishment of dozens of military installations throughout the state. In 1946, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate, a position he held until 1971.

In 1945, Millard Caldwell succeeded Holland as governor in the closing months of the war. Born near Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1897, Caldwell arrived in Florida during the 1920s. He served in both the Florida and the United States House of Representatives before running for governor. After close victories in the 1944 Democratic primaries, he easily defeated Republican Bert Acker in the general election and took office in January 1945. Caldwell subsequently oversaw Florida's explosive postwar development, and served as president of the Council of State Governments. In 1962, he was appointed a justice on the Florida Supreme Court and was elected Chief Justice in 1967. Caldwell died in Tallahassee in 1984.

Several future Florida governors served in World War II. Fuller Warren, who served as governor from 1945 to 1949, was a Navy gunnery officer in the Atlantic, while Daniel McCarty, who was elected governor in 1952 and died in office in 1953, earned the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Croix de Guerre with the 7th Army in Europe. LeRoy Collins completed Daniel McCarty's term from 1954 to 1955, was reelected in 1956 and served until 1960. He was a naval officer during the war, as was Haydon Burns, governor from 1965 to 1967. Claude Kirk, Jr., enlisted in the United States Marine Corps after high school in 1943 and was later commissioned a second lieutenant. He served as governor from 1967 to 1971. Wayne Mixson enlisted in the Navy in 1942 and served aboard blimps on antisubmarine patrols. He served as governor for three days in 1987 when Bob Graham resigned to take the oath of office in the United States Senate.