Reubin O'Donovan Askew

Reubin O'Donovan Askew (born September 11, 1928) is an American politician. He served as the Democratic Governor of Florida from 1971 to 1979.

Askew was born in Muskogee, Muskogee County, Oklahoma. In 1937 he and his mother moved to Pensacola, Florida. In 1946 he entered the U.S. Army as a paratrooper and in 1948 was discharged in the rank of Sergeant; he attended Florida State University and the University of Florida and served in the Air Force during 1951-3. In 1956 Askew was elected as Assisant County Solicitor of Escambia County, Florida. In 1958 he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives and in 1962 to the Florida Senate, in 1969-70 he served as President Pro Tempore of the Florida State Senate.

In 1970 Askew was elected as Governor, and re-elected in 1974 (the first Florida incumbent Governor to be re-elected to a four-year term). As Governor, Askew was one of the first of the 'New South' Governors (at the same time as Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia and later Bill Clinton of Arkansas). He supported school desegregation and the controversial idea of busing to achieve racial balance; in addition he named the first black Justice of the State Supreme Court, the first woman to the State Cabinet as well as the first black to the State Cabinet in a hundred years.

Askew's national stature in the Democratic party grew, and in 1972 he was keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Miami—at the same time he turned down Democratic Presidential Nominee George McGovern's offer of the Vice Presidential spot on the ticket. In President Carter's cabinet, Askew was appointed as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Ambassadorial Appointments. In 1979, after stepping down as Governor, Askew assumed the role of United States Trade Representative, serving until Carter left office in 1981.

He joined a Miami law firm and at the same time began to organize a Presidential bid. He withdrew early when in February 1984 he came last in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary. In 1987 he declared his candidacy for the U.S. Senate; however, in May 1988 he withdrew from the contest citing lack of fundraising.

Askew now teaches government at a number of Florida Universities.