The New Deal in Old Florida

Abstract

Chapter 8 follows Governor Fred Cone’s failed attempt in 1937 to circumnavigate the federal restrictions over welfare funding in order to control state spending and patronage. This effort arose out of not only political motives but also as a way to directly challenge and reverse the efforts to commercialize Florida. Cone and others saw the power shift that the New Deal had brought: from North to South Florida, from rural and agrarian interests to urban and commercial, and finally from native Floridians to newly transplanted Floridians.