Walkin' Lawton

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• published: 02 Apr 2013
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1970: Lawton Chiles Walks Across Florida Hey everybody, it's Pascua Florida Day! On April 2, 1513 Juan Ponce de León, having departed from Puerto Rico and sailed by the Bahamas, sighted an unfamiliar land mass and named it "Pascua Florida," thus finding and naming the Sunshine State in one fell swoop. In the 16th Century photo ops were limited to say the least, so we're sharing historic footage of a more contemporary Floridian, born on April 3, 1930 -- Lawton Chiles, who served in the Florida Legislature, represented Florida in the U.S. Senate for eighteen years, and was Governor of Florida from 1991 to 1998. Chiles is really famous for walking more than one thousand miles across Florida during his 1970 Senate campaign. His ninety-one day walk transformed Chiles from little-known to well-known and garnered lots of free media coverage for his underfunded campaign. The candidate also got to speak to lots of ordinary people, taking the pulse of the state and finding out what was on everybody's mind. We've put together a couple of WTVJ clips from the station's coverage of Chiles' campaign. First up: Reporter Fred Francis catches up with Chiles on his long walk. Francis' lead, describing the walking campaign as "Lawton Chiles' bag," lets you know that this is the Seventies. In addition to walking and talking with Francis, Chiles talks to shoppers. The second clip, aired on October 2, 1970, captures Chiles in Miami -- actually on the line between Miami and Coral Gables, at Southwest Eighth Street and Douglas Road, across the street from the Trail theater, thanking voters for their support. Chiles won a Senate seat about one month later. Florida is recognizing the five-hundredth anniversary of Ponce de León's arrival all year long -- visit "Viva Florida 500" online to see what's happening. This video and audio is copyrighted/owned by the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives. Subscribe to the Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives' YouTube channel and tune in to the fascination and fun of Miami and Florida's past, captured on film and video and preserved by the Wolfson Archives at Miami Dade College.