James C Clark

Presidents in Florida: How the Presidents Have Shaped Florida and How Florida Has Influenced the Presidents James C Clark

Whether it is fighting wars, playing golf or going fishing, Presidents have come to Florida.  

• Andrew Jackson launched a covert military operation to steal Florida from the Spanish. 
• Thomas Jefferson set out to buy Florida, but ended up making the Louisiana Purchase instead.
  
• Herbert Hoover loved to fish in Florida and held the Florida record for largest bonefish.
  
• Hoover came to Florida to spend time with his friends, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone.
  
• Days before his inauguration, an assassination attempt was made on Franklin Roosevelt as he spoke in a Miami park.
  
• Roosevelt?s yacht was anchored at Fort Lauderdale when a massive hurricane swept it inland. Roosevelt tried to sell it as a hunting lodge.
  
• Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders sailed to glory from Tampa, but nearly missed the boat.
  
• Abraham Lincoln launched a military mission in Florida to help his 1864 reelection chances. 
• Harry Truman launched a campaign to defeat a Florida Senator.
  
• George W. Bush launched his political career in Florida, working for a successful Senate candidate. And of course it was the contested Florida vote, with its ?hanging-chad? ballots, that gave him reelection in 2000. 
• After winning election, Richard Nixon purchased a home in Florida and was there during the Watergate burglary.
  
• Nixon killed the Cross Florida Barge Canal, becoming a hero to environmentalist.