Gov. Reuben Askew: A true liberal lion.

[jaysunb]

Last edited Fri Mar 14, 2014, 12:53 AM - Edit history (2)

As the saying goes, "they don't make em like that anymore"

Reubin Askew dies at 85; '70s Florida governor led school integration
In his eight years as governor, Reubin Askew crusaded for government reform, and racial and gender equality. He helped defeat antibusing forces and briefly ran for president.


Former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, who guided the state through a period of school busing to achieve integration in the 1970s, died early Thursday at a Tallahassee, Fla., hospital. He was 85.

Ron Sachs, a former aide and family spokesman, confirmed his death. Over the last three months Askew was recovering from hip surgery, had suffered from aspiration pneumonia and, most recently, a stroke.

Askew rose from obscurity in the Florida Legislature to become the Democrats' surprise gubernatorial nominee in 1970 and then beat the incumbent Republican, Claude Kirk.

His eight years in office coincided with the end of the Vietnam War, Watergate and dramatic social change across the nation. He was a liberal on racial issues and crusaded for overhauling the state's tax laws, open government, environmental protection, ethics legislation and streamlining the courts and other governmental agencies.

http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-mew-reubin-askew-20140314,0,1659126.story#ixzz2vuI872np


http://www.latimes.com/obituaries/la-mew-reubin-askew-20140314,0,1659126.story#ixzz2vuHhExaN

[Cha]

1. RIP Gov Rueben Askew ~

thanks jay