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Florida: A President's Best Friend and Worst Enemy

http://www.drjimclark.com/

The  Miami Book Fair International is happening through the weekend , and all week, we're hearing from some of the Florida authors appearing at Miami-Dade College for the fair.

Professor James C. Clark's new book Presidents in Florida: How the Presidents Have Shaped Florida and How Florida Has Influenced the Presidentsexamines the unique role the Sunshine State has played in the presidency, from the Revolutionary War--to the Civil War---to today. 

Did you know that Florida's two colonies (East Florida and West Florida in those days) were rooting for the British during the Revolutionary War and were a thorn in the side of George Washington? Or that Abraham Lincoln tried to wrangle the state back into the union for the 1864 election because he needed its electoral votes? Or, that Franklin Delano Roosevelt came inches away from never taking office after an assassination attempt in Miami in 1933?

Professor Clark, who appears at the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, even leaves us with a couple of trivia questions to ponder:

  • Which president sat in the Miami Herald newsroom and said he'd always wanted to be a reporter?

  • Since the 1950s, every president has stayed in this Miami Beach hotel. Which hotel?

Submit your answers in the comments section below! And listen to the complete interview above. 

  

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