Duncan Upshaw Fletcher (January 6, 1859June 17, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician of the Democratic Party. Senator Fletcher was the longest-serving

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

in Florida's history. He also served two terms as

Mayor of Jacksonville The Mayor of Jacksonville is the chief executive for the city of Jacksonville, Florida, and the administrator of Duval County. Jacksonville currently utilizes the strong mayor form of government in which the mayor currently has significant pow ...

and served in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

Early life and career

Born near Americus, Georgia, Fletcher studied law at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. He graduated in 1880 and was admitted to the bar the following year. He set up a law practice in the city of

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. He was a founding member of the Jacksonville Bar Association and its first president. He was an early investor in in the area now called Fort Lauderdale, more specifically Wilton Manors, to start the company known then as Florida Fiber, a sisal hemp farming operation. He was general counsel for several railroads, including the

Florida East Coast Railroad The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a p ...

, which was operated by

Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founder ...

, formerly president of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

. In 1896, Fletcher was one of three attorneys appointed to administer the bar examination to

James Weldon Johnson James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871June 26, 1938) was an American writer and civil rights activist. He was married to civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson. Johnson was a leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ...

, who in addition to his many other accomplishments was the first African American admitted to the Florida Bar by examination. It was Senator Fletcher who moved that Johnson be admitted to the bar over the objection of another examiner.

Political career

Fletcher became active in municipal politics and was elected to the city council in 1887 and served as

from 1893 to 1895 and from 1901 to 1903. He rebuilt Jacksonville after the devastating Great Fire of 1901. In 1893, he was elected to the

. From 1900 to 1907, Fletcher chaired the Board of Public Instruction of Duval County. In 1908, he served as president of the Gulf Coast Inland Waterways Association and later, the Mississippi to Atlantic Waterway Association.

Senate career

In 1909, the Florida Legislature elected Fletcher, a Democrat, to the United States Senate, where he served and was re-elected for four consecutive terms. In 1913, President

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...

appointed him chairman of the United States commission to investigate European land-mortgage banks, cooperative rural credit unions, and the betterment of rural conditions in Europe. President Wilson also appointed Fletcher as a delegate to the International High Commission. Senator Fletcher served on a number of government committees, including the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, where he was chairman from 1916 to 1919, the Committee on Commerce subcommittee investigating the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' disaster, the high-profile chairmanship of the United States Senate Senate Banking and Currency Committee in 1932, with a mandate to examine the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. His committee, generally known as the

Pecora Commission The Pecora Investigation was an inquiry begun on March 4, 1932, by the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency to investigate the causes of the Wall Street crash of 1929. The name refers to the fourth and final chief counsel for t ...

, began a major process of reform of the American financial system and resulted in the passage of the

Securities Act of 1933 The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and afte ...

and the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (also called the Exchange Act, '34 Act, or 1934 Act) (, codified at et seq.) is a law governing the secondary trading of securities (stocks, bonds, and debentures) in the United States of America. A land ...

that instituted disclosure laws for corporations seeking public financing plus the 1935 formation of the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

as a mechanism to enforce the provisions of the new Acts. In 1928, Senator Fletcher introduced legislation to create the

Everglades National Park Everglades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the Un ...

, which was signed into law by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

in 1934. Senator Fletcher also was responsible for locating funding for Tampa's Gandy Bridge and founded property for McDill Air Force Base among many of the WPA projects of the time. Fletcher died of a heart attack in Washington, D.C., and was interred in the Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville. Senator Fletcher was a trustee of John B. Stetson University and of St. Luke's Hospital Association at Jacksonville. He was vice president of the Children's Home Society of Florida and honorary president of the Southern Commercial Congress. He also was a member of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

and the Florida State Bar Association and president of the Florida Society. In 1907, Senator Fletcher founded the First Unitarian Church in Jacksonville, Florida.

Views

Fletcher was a staunch supporter of the Confederate cause. In 1931 he delivered a speech to the United Daughters of the Confederacy: "The South fought to preserve race integrity. Did we lose that? We fought to maintain free white dominion. Did we lose that? The States are in control of the people. Local self-government, democratic government, obtains. That was not lost. The rights of the sovereign States, under the Constitution, are recognized. We did not lose that. I submit that what is called “the Lost Cause” was not so much “lost” as is sometimes supposed."

Honors

* Duncan U. Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida * Duncan U. Fletcher Middle School in Jacksonville Beach * Phi Alpha Delta Fletcher Chapter at UF Law * Duncan U. Fletcher Hall at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

*During World War II the

Liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

was built in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98 in Florida, U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

, and named in his honor. *Fletcher Ave. in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

United States Senate Elections

Florida United States Senate election, 1908 * Duncan U. Fletcher (D) was nominated for the United States Senate in a primary election on June 16, 1908, and elected by the legislature in its next convening. Florida United States Senate election, 1914:DIRECT ELECTIONS TO THE UNITED STATES SENATE 1914–98
/ref> * Duncan U. Fletcher (D) (inc.) – (99.5%) Florida United States Senate election, 1920 * Duncan U. Fletcher (D) (inc.) – (69.5%) * John M. Cheney (R) – (26.0%) * M.J. Martin (Soc.) – (2.5%) * G. A. Klock (R-White) – (2.0%) Florida United States Senate election, 1926 * Duncan U. Fletcher (D) (inc.) – (77.9%) * John M. Lindsay (I) – (12.8%) Florida United States Senate election, 1932 * Duncan U. Fletcher (D) (inc.) – (99.8%)

Notes

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Duncan U. 1859 births 1936 deaths 19th-century mayors of places in Florida Democratic Party United States senators from Florida Florida lawyers Mayors of Jacksonville, Florida People from Americus, Georgia Vanderbilt University alumni Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Jacksonville, Florida, city council members School board members in Florida Neo-Confederates Phi Delta Theta members 20th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Florida Legislature