the primary. He then faced James Brailey Odham, who’d
become known for his radio talkathons in question-andanswer
sessions with voters. McCarty beat Odham in the
runoff and went on to win the general election in November.
When McCarty was inaugurated in January, Register
remembers the tremendous celebration. “When he was
inaugurated, we went up there and got the royal treatment
from John
McCarty’s brother
all the way. We
stayed at the Duvall
Hotel and watched
the parade from
there. Dan, in typical
McCarty fashion,
was wearing a
stovepipe hat and
took it off and
waved it at us
because he knew we
were up at
the hotel.”
Register said he
attended a small
gathering at the mansion after the inauguration, and some
days or weeks later, a large party for the new governor,
hosted by the water skier Dick Pope at Cypress Gardens. It
was the last time Register saw McCarty in good health.
Less than two months after being sworn into office, the
new governor suffered a massive heart attack.
POLITICAL HISTORY
THE LAST DAYS
“He thought he was too much of a man to think he had a
heart attack,” John McCarty said in a 1983 interview for a
News-Tribune story on the 30th anniversary of Dan
McCarty’s death. “He went to a meeting after he had it, and
he even walked himself up the stairs that night.”
John McCarty, one of his brother’s chief campaigners and
an unpaid aide in his administration, ran unsuccessfully for
governor in 1960. At the time of his brother’s illness, the
press often viewed him as the man-behind-the-scenes running
the administration.
But McCarty aide Warren Blackmon said in the 1983 story
that Dan McCarty retained control over state government
throughout his brief administration. “There was not a time
… that Dan McCarty wasn’t aware and in control of his decisions,
except for the week after his heart attack and a few
days before his death.”
THE FRONT DOOR
Though his administration was brief, McCarty was credited
with reforming state purchasing and hiring practices,
boosting teacher salaries and creating scholarships for
teacher training, instituting aid programs for the disabled
and blocking oil exploration in the Everglades.
McCarty spent months recuperating. On the verge of
regaining his health, in September he participated in a
Shriners’ parade – his first public appearance since his heart
attack. He rode in an open car at the front of the parade and
caught pneumonia, complicating his heart ailment. Two
weeks later he died.
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59
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OFFICE: (772) 464-6688
CELL: (772) 577-1111
FAX: (772) 464-1632
E-mail: joe@krchnak.com
http://JoeKrchnak.Realtor.com
Former Board Member of St. Lucie Association of Realtors.
Former Board Member of St. Lucie Chamber of Commerce
Two-term chairman of Quality of Life Committee
Paul Harris Fellow - Rotary International
Rotary Board of Directors
Friend of Scouting and former volunteer, Boy Scouts of America
Two-term Commodore and Life Member of Ft. Pierce Yacht Club
Former Board Member of Pelican Yacht Club, Ft. Pierce, Florida
Dan McCarty recuperates after suffering a
heart attack in February 1953.
>>
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