The 57 Club: My Four Decades in Florida Politics.

• Author: Zimmer, Jessica

The 57 Club: My Four Decades in Florida Politics

By Frederick B. Karl

Frederick Karl's odyssey through Florida's political landscape explains how legislators worked to modernize the state's legal and legislative systems in the mid-twentieth century. The title refers to the group of state legislators, all white men, who were elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1957. Karl, in turn an attorney, state representative, and Florida Supreme Court justice, explains that complex instruments and legislation such as turnpike bonds and workers' compensation were created to serve a state that was becoming more heavily populated and economically powerful.

Karl's book is divided into four sections: the people, the issues, the campaigns, and the operators. Karl weaves humorous stories and personal anecdotes about voters, journalists, and politicians into every section. The most valuable portions of the book illustrate where public opinion stood in the mid-twentieth century. These portions show how much work it took to change the tide. Karl shows that racial discrimination was an extremely controversial issue. In 1957, segregationists put their full support behind the Last Resort Bill. This bill would have shut down public facilities, such as schools, if integration was made law. The bill passed both houses. The bill was vetoed by former Governor LeRoy Collins. Only with a great effort was the legislature able to rally the votes needed to sustain the veto.

Karl reveals why it was necessary to reform Article V, the judicial article of the state constitution. Before the reform in 1968, a variety of specialty courts were presided over by men who often did not have legal training. Karl tells of presenting a case before a justice of the peace in his hometown, Daytona Beach. The...