Claude Roy Kirk Jr. (January 7, 1926 – September 28, 2011) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 36th governor of Florida from 1967 to 1971. A Republican for most his career, he was the first Republican governor of Florida since Reconstruction.
Early life
Kirk was born in San Bernardino, California. Claude R. Kirk Jr.'s father, Claude Kirk Sr. was a businessperson and later a governmental official in Alabama and Florida. He lived in Chicago, Illinois, and Montgomery, Alabama, where he attended Sidney Lanier High School. After graduating at age seventeen, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps reserve and rose to the rank of second lieutenant, having served stateside during World War II. He briefly attended Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, before he transferred to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Kirk was accepted at the University of Alabama School of Law in Tuscaloosa and graduated in 1949. He was recalled to the Marines for the Korean War and was initially assigned to the 1st Marine Division. He later served aboard the battleship USS New Jersey and was discharged as a first lieutenant in 1952.
Business
Kirk worked as an insurance salesman and sold building supplies before partnering with W. Ashley Verlander in 1956 to start the American Heritage Life Insurance Company in Jacksonville, Florida. He had very little money of his own, so he recruited investors and his brother-in-law to bankroll the venture. The firm catered to the wealthy and quickly became one of the most successful in the industry, earning Kirk a fortune. Six years later, he left American Heritage Life and purchased a partnership in the New York securities firm, Hayden Stone, selling investments to Floridians.
Early political career
In 1960, Kirk switched his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and headed the "Floridians for Nixon" campaign, which helped the Republican Party win the state's then ten electoral votes for the third consecutive time.
In 1964, Kirk ran as a Republican against veteran Democratic US Senator Spessard Holland, a former governor and epitome of the Florida Democratic establishment. He was considered a placeholder on the ballot, with Republican presidential nominee Barry M. Goldwater losing Florida to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. Kirk polled 36.1 percent of the vote.
Thereafter, Kirk became embroiled in an intraparty squabble with US Representative William C. Cramer of St. Petersburg. Cramer recalled Kirk having "begged me" to allow him to address meetings held during the 1964 delegate and national committeeman races. Thus, Kirk became acquainted with Republican activists who could be helpful to him his later career.
Governor
In 1966, Kirk ran for governor and defeated the Democratic candidate, Robert King High, the mayor of Miami. High had unseated incumbent governor Haydon Burns, a Conservative Democrat, in the Democratic primary. In the general election, Kirk won a majority of the vote in 56 of the state's 67 counties.
One of the major themes of Kirk's campaign was his strong support for capital punishment, in contrast to Collins', Bryant's and Burns' opposition to capital punishment. Kirk promised to resume executions (the last had taken place in Florida in 1964), but no executions occurred during his administration, mostly because of an informal nationwide moratorium. Kirk made headlines when, during the campaign, he visited Florida State Prison and, after shaking hands with several death row inmates, said, "If I'm elected, I may have to sign your death warrants."