Bob Graham Center for Public Service

A Samuel Proctor Oral History Program event

Former Florida Gov. Buddy MacKay discussed his life in politics and the political, economic and environmental outlook for the Sunshine State during a visit Sept. 23 to the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service.

A former state lawmaker, U.S. representative, governor and diplomat, Kenneth Hood “Buddy” MacKay was one of Florida’s most successful leaders during a career that spanned from the 1970s to the turn of the century.

MacKay was introduced by former Sen. and Florida Gov. Bob Graham, and was interviewed about his latest book, “How Florida Happened: The Political Education of Buddy MacKay,” by UF Provost Emeritus David Colburn, a professor emeritus of history and executive director of the Reubin O’D. Askew Institute on Politics and Society.

Known as a reform-minded political progressive and an environmentalist, MacKay was one of key Democrats who led Florida from backwater status to its place today as the fourth most populous state in the nation. After three terms in Congress, MacKay was elected as Florida’s lieutenant governor in 1990. In 1998, after the sudden death of Gov. Lawton Chiles, MacKay briefly served as Florida’s governor. He later served as President Bill Clinton’s special envoy to the Americas and was a law school professor.

MacKay describes his book as “one participant’s recollection of events in the final four decades of the twentieth century—the period in which Florida became an out-of-control growth engine.” The book offers a critical look at the failures as well as the successes that leaders had over the last half-century in trying to manage gargantuan growth while preserving what makes the state great: its beautiful coastlines and pristine Everglades.

“Florida should have matured politically as its population soared and its economic muscle grew,” MacKay writes. “In my view, that has largely failed to happen. Florida still suffers from the adolescent’s inability to sacrifice short-term satisfaction to achieve long-term goals.”

There were two major struggles during his career, MacKay writes. First, there was the fight to bring the state out of the Jim Crow era and make it part of the modern American South. The second struggle was to somehow manage an economy that relied largely on construction and runaway growth that cut deeper and deeper into its unique environment.
“Much of my story is about these two parallel struggles,” MacKay writes. “We were largely successful in reforming and modernizing Florida’s outmoded government, but somehow we never succeeded in balancing environmental protection with the desire to stimulate growth and economic development. In many respects, this is the story of the paradox of Florida. It is all the more fascinating because no one knows yet how it will end.”

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