William C. Cramer

William Cato Cramer Sr. (August 4, 1922 – October 18, 2003), was an American attorney and politician, elected in 1954 as a member of the United States House of Representatives from St. Petersburg, Florida. He was the first Florida Republican elected to Congress since 1880, shortly after the end of Reconstruction. He was re-elected, serving without interruption until 1970.

In Congress, Cramer became a ranking member of the Roads subcommittee of the Committee on Public Works, and influenced national highway policy at a time of major expansion, ensuring that Interstates were kept toll-free. He gained extra funding to link Tampa and Miami, in a federal interstate project built in Florida.

He was instrumental in the revival of the Republican Party in Florida through the mid-20th century, taking advantage of the state's changing demographics and new Republican migrants from the Northern United States and the Midwestern United States, and attracting Cuban Americans and other minorities to the party. Beginning in 1964, Cramer represented the state for 20 years on the Republican National Committee and served as its counsel for six years.

The long absence of Republican officials from state office and weakened condition of the party were due to suppression of black and Republican voting in the 19th century, and the disenfranchisement of African Americans at the turn of the century, as they had constituted the majority of the Republican Party. Most were not able to vote for decades. They re-entered the political system by gaining the power to vote after passage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Background

Cramer was born in Denver, Colorado; when he was three years old, his parents relocated the family to St. Petersburg, Florida. Located on the Gulf Coast in Pinellas County, in the early 21st century it has become the fourth-largest city in the state. Cramer attended the public segregated schools and graduated from St. Petersburg High School, where he waged his first political campaigns by running for student government. He attended St. Petersburg Junior College, the first public community college in Florida. Cramer grew up with a strong work ethic: as a teenager, he worked a variety of jobs. Before entering the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to complete a 4-year degree, he worked as a bellhop at a resort hotel in North Carolina.

In 1943, Cramer enlisted in the United States Navy. With his degree, he was commissioned as a gunnery officer and fought to liberate France during World War II. After the war, he served in the United States Naval Reserve until 1946.William C. Cramer, ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress'', p. 697 That same year, Cramer graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina. In 1948, he graduated from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and returned to St. Petersburg. He entered the private practice of law.

As part of getting established, Cramer married Alice of Dothan, Alabama. They had three children together before divorcing decades later.

In 1949, Cramer switched his partisan affiliation from Democratic to Republican at the urging of his law partner, Herman Goldner. He later was elected as mayor of St. Petersburg. At the time, statewide voter registration in Florida was some fourteen-to-one Democratic, largely because of disenfranchisement of African Americans as voters since the turn of the century by discriminatory application of the state constitution and subsequent laws. They had comprised the majority of the Republican Party at that time. The party was hollowed out in the state and across the South, as all the other states also achieved disenfranchisement of African Americans, which withstood early court challenges.

Florida political divisions

Florida had an uneven population distribution and unusual shape. Democratic factions lost dominance of the Pinellas County area as state demographics changed. The state attracted new migrants from the North and its urbanization also resulted in change: urbanites have been unwilling to accept domination by a few party leaders. V.O. Key, Jr., the political scientist, described Florida elections in the years prior to these changes as "personality-oriented within narrow ideological boundaries." In the one-party Democratic state, competitive races occurred only in the primaries.

In the 1940s and 1950s, new Republicans settled in the state, mostly white migrants, often retirees, from the American Midwest or the northeastern states. They challenged Democratic domination in Pinellas County and other locations known for their concentration of retirees.Billy Hathorn, "Cramer v. Kirk: The Florida Republican Schism of 1970"
''The Florida Historical Quarterly'', LXVII, No. 4 (April 1990)

The migration of such business executives and senior citizens began to change the partisan profile of the Pinellas County area, and other popular destinations, such as Miami on the Atlantic coast. In 1928, Republican presidential nominee Herbert C. Hoover helped to carry Pinellas County Republicans to victory in county races for sheriff, county judge, assessor, and for state senator. In 1948, Republican Thomas E. Dewey won Pinellas, Sarasota, Palm Beach, Broward, and Orange counties and a third of the statewide vote.

Shifts in the larger state were reflected in presidential voting in 1952 and 1956, when the ticket of Eisenhower-Nixon carried the state. In 1960, 1968, and 1972, Nixon prevailed in Florida as the presidential nominee, attracting votes from many who still voted Democratic for local and state positions. Following passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which provided for federal enforcement of rights, African Americans were able to register and vote again.and did so in increasing numbers. They generally affiliated with the national Democratic Party. Texan Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won the state in 1964, as did Jimmy Carter of neighboring Georgia in 1976. Carter also gained votes as a Southern favorite son, and attracted blue-collar and historically Democratic voters, and African Americans.

State legislative service

In 1950, Cramer ran for the Florida House of Representatives. He was also the campaign manager for the Pinellas County Republican slate, none of whose fourteen members had previously sought office. The Republicans decried inefficient government and "boss-type" politics, organized the grassroots, and offered a unified ticket. All but one of the GOP candidates were elected. Cramer became the de facto "titular head" of the Pinellas County party. Nearly a quarter century later, in 1974 the Florida Republican State Executive Committee honored Cramer as Florida's "Mr. Republican," a designation once given at the national level to U.S. Senator Robert A. Taft of Ohio."Cramer v. Kirk", p. 405 In 1967, the ''Tampa Tribune'' humorously paraphrased the biblical Book of John to emphasize Cramer's role in the state GOP: "In the beginning there was the party, and the party was with Bill Cramer, and the party was Bill Cramer."

When Cramer's two Republican legislative colleagues in 1951 named him minority leader, the Democrats teased them for "caucusing in a phone booth." Because the Florida legislature operates under the rules of the United States House of Representatives, Cramer was able to assert political "minority rights;" he raised his personal and the party visibility in state politics. In the state House, Cramer defended junior colleges from challenges waged by the four-year institutions. Having attended a two-year institution, Cramer considered junior colleges essential to lower-cost educational opportunities for state residents. Cramer worked to establish the state's first anti-crime commission, but the Democrats refused to name any Republicans to the panel.

Run for Congress

In 1952, Cramer ran for a seat in the U.S. House against Courtney W. Campbell, a Democratic businessman from Clearwater and a former member of the state highway board. There was no incumbent in the race, so it was open. Having spent $25,000 in a handshaking tour of Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, and Hernando counties, Cramer benefited from the national Eisenhower-Nixon ticket but lost by 0.7 percent. He was appointed as the Pinellas County attorney, serving for two years.

In 1954, with a stronger organization, Cramer ran again and unseated Campbell by the same 0.7 percent margin by which he had lost in 1952. Cramer found that the $40,000 he spent in 1954 was insufficient for advertising in the still new medium of television, but the state party had contributed several thousand dollars to his campaign."Cramer v. Kirk", p. 406

Tenure

U.S. Representative Robert L. F. Sikes of Crestview depicted his fellow Democrat Courtney Campbell as "hard-working, dedicated, and capable" but ineffective in public speaking. He noted, "Cramer was articulate, a successful lawyer, and he already enjoyed some recognition in public life. In my effort to help Campbell, I said that Cramer, serving in a Democratic Congress, would be like a lost ball in high weeds. Bill never let me forget that statement, although subsequently we became good friends."

Cramer represented Florida's 1st congressional district from 1955 to 1963. Reapportionment placed him in the 12th district from 1963 to 1967. Another reapportionment assigned him to the 8th district for his final two terms in office, 1967 to 1971.

Civil rights

Cramer had a mixed record on civil rights during his time in congress. In 1957, Cramer joined four other southern Republican House colleagues, including Bruce Alger of Texas and Joel T. Broyhill of Virginia, in seeking a conference with President Eisenhower to discuss the Little Rock Integration Crisis. They wanted to persuade the president to remove federal troops that he had sent there to maintain order, but Eisenhower kept troops in the city for the remainder of the 1957-1958 school year. Despite this, Cramer had been one of the few Southern Congressmen not to sign the 1956 anti-desegregation Southern Manifesto. Cramer voted in favor of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Civil Rights Act of 1968. These contrasted with Cramer’s earlier votes against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964. Cramer did not vote on the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

In time, Cramer became the ranking minority member on the then-named House Public Works Committee. He was a ranking member of the Roads subcommittee and was influential in federal highway policy at a time of extensive expansion of federal investment. Cramer addressed corruption in highway politics, worked to keep Interstates toll-free, and ensured that highway funds were kept to invest in roads. He battled proponents of the Sunshine State Parkway in Florida. As it was constructed parallel to designated Interstate routes, it threatened to draw off traffic and make the highways unfeasible. Using his influence on a federal project in the state, Cramer secured funding for the additional mileage to provide a link between Tampa Bay and Miami. It had not been authorized in the original federal project and funding. This route passed through St. Petersburg so he got his hometown covered.

Cramer was also vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, which became more influential as representation increased from southern states.

Republican National Committee

In 1964, after nine years in the House, Cramer was elected to the Republican National Committee, a position that he held for 20 consecutive years, including 14 years after he left Congress. In 1964, he also headed the presidential delegate slate pledged to U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater of Arizona. Cramer said that Goldwater asked him to circumvent the party "regulars" led by Harold Alexander and Tom Brown of Tampa because the state leadership had been too passive in trying to develop the party. The Republican primary was competitive, but the "regulars" narrowly won over Cramer and his insurgents.

Cramer was a delegate or alternate delegate to each Republican National Convention from 1952 to 1984. As a 20-year RNC member, he also served as the committee's general counsel for six years.

Edward Gurney was a transplanted New Englander who settled in Winter Park. He was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House in 1962. He initially joined Cramer and the insurgents during the primaries but then withdrew his backing. The Brown regular forces narrowly won the primary in 1964. Cramer said that the insurgents might have won if Goldwater had continued to back them."Cramer v. Kirk", p. 407

Dispute with Kirk

In Florida, 1964 was the year when a Republican candidate for U.S. Senator polled 36.1% in the general election, another sign of changing politics. It was a strong showing for relative newcomer Claude R. Kirk, Jr., a Democrat-turned-Republican from California, as he ran against veteran Democratic U.S. Senator Spessard Holland, a former governor and head of the Florida Democratic establishment. Trying to build up recognition and support, Kirk appealed to Cramer to address meetings held during the delegate and national committeeman races, and thus became acquainted with Republican party activists.

In 1966, Kirk returned for another campaign and scored a huge upset to become governor, defeating Democrat Miami Mayor Robert King High. Kirk won majorities in 56 of the 67 counties. During this campaign, a schism developed between Cramer and Kirk. Years later, in a 1988 interview, Kirk said that Cramer had not given him any assistance in either the 1964 or 1966 campaigns. He thought it was because Cramer wanted the gubernatorial nomination. The two men offered conflicting interpretations of these times."Cramer v. Kirk", p. 408

Cramer said that he urged Kirk to merge his gubernatorial campaign in Pinellas County with the regular Republican party organization. But, Kirk organized a separate entity in order to maximize crossover support from Democrats unhappy with the nomination of Mayor High. Cramer recalled this disagreement over strategy as the "first indication that Kirk intended to do his own thing and attempt to form his own organization within the Republican Party in Florida. I didn't get the signal at the time, but it became very obvious later, particularly when he attempted to defeat me as national committeeman in 1968."

Despite Cramer's aid, Kirk overlooked him when planning his inauguration. He asked U.S. Representative Edward Gurney to serve as chairman of the inauguration, although Gurney had played no role in Kirk's campaign. In 1968, Governor Kirk dispatched his staff to the Republican state convention in Orlando to push for Cramer's ouster as national committeeman. As governor, he believed he was leader of the party and wanted his own man representing the state to the national committee."Cramer v. Kirk," p. 409 Cramer said, "I was about the only person at the time who stood in his way from taking total control."

Cramer believed he had earned the loyalty of the state's organizational Republicans: "I had proved myself an effective congressman. I was on the House leadership as vice chairman of the Republican Conference and was ranking member on the House Public Works Committee."

1968 Senate election

In 1968 three-term US Representative Edward Gurney sought the Florida U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democrat George Smathers. Former Governor LeRoy Collins, an ally of retiring President Lyndon B. Johnson, was the Democratic nominee. Cramer and Gurney were prospective primary opponents until Cramer yielded to Gurney. They based this on an understanding that Gurney would thereafter back Cramer for the other Senate seat, which was expected to be vacated by Spessard Holland in 1970. According to Cramer, Gurney "pledged his support to me, and I did to him, and we shook hands.""Cramer v. Kirk," p. 410

Cramer's former law partner Herman Goldner, former mayor of Saint Petersburg, opposed Gurney in the primary but received few votes. Gurney defeated Democrat Collins for the US Senate in the general election, having carried all but four counties. Gurney and Cramer crisscrossed the state to work on building the Republican Party.

Cramer and Gurney had worked well as colleagues but were not friends. Kirk named Gurney's Orlando law firm as the counsel for the Florida Turnpike Authority, at a $100,000 annual retainer. Cramer's law firm received no state business.

1970 Senate election

In the fall of 1969, Cramer declared his candidacy for the Senate; Holland announced his retirement as expected. President Nixon encouraged Cramer's candidacy in 1970: "Bill, the Senate needs you, the country needs you, the people need you–now run."

In April 1970 the Senate rejected Judge G. Harrold Carswell of Tallahassee as Nixon's second consecutive conservative nominee to the United States Supreme Court. He had been newly appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans