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 time I think about it.

 W.D.V.: Specifically, how did he do that?

 Thomas: Well, he was .

 W.D.V.: I've heard that before, but I just ..

 Thomas: Yeah, well, the worst thing he did we had a guy in Florida

 who in my estimation deserves more credit than anybody for building the

 Republican party in Florida and starting the two party system really

 fervently in the South, because he went all over and spoke. He was in

 Congress for sixteen years, his name is Bill Cramer. He's a Washington

 attorney now, has offices in Washington and Miami. And at our state

 meeting a week from this Saturday, we are going to honor him by naming

 him the Father of the Florida Republican Party. He's one of the finest

 Congressmen that ever went to Washington, one of the most brilliant. I

 mean, he graduated from Harvard Phi Beta Kappa. Just a great guy, just

 a brilliant lawyer, probably knows more about Congressional rules than

 any man alive. And still a great assest to the Republican party because

 he was chairman of the rules committee at the '72 convention and he is

 legal counsel now for the RNC under rule 29, which I'm sure that you are

 familiar with. Just a great guy, but anyway, after he got out of the

 Navy, finished at North Carolina, graduated with honors there, went to

 Harvard to Law School, came back to Pinellas County, his home, and

 served a couple of years as a city judge or something like that. Then

 he ran for the legislature and was elected to the Florida house, the

 first Republican. I believe that it was 1954. He served a couple of

 terms in the House and then ran for Congress .

 W.D.V.: Would you say that 1954 is really the start of the Republican

 party in Florida?




From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview 4-4~ in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.