Bob Sikes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida | |
| In office January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1979 | |
| Preceded by | Himself |
| Succeeded by | Earl Hutto |
| Constituency | 3rd district (1945–1963) 1st district (1963–1979) |
| In office January 3, 1941 – October 19, 1944 | |
| Preceded by | Millard Caldwell |
| Succeeded by | Himself |
| Constituency | 3rd district |
| Member of theFlorida House of Representatives | |
| In office 1937–1941 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Lee Fulton Sikes (1906-06-03)June 3, 1906 Isabella Station,Georgia, U.S. (now Sylvester) |
| Died | September 28, 1994(1994-09-28) (aged 88) Crestview,Florida, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | [citation needed] |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Georgia (BS) University of Florida (MS) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1944 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | U.S. Army Air Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Robert Lee Fulton Sikes (June 3, 1906 – September 28, 1994) was an American politician of theDemocratic Party who represented theFlorida Panhandle in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1979, with a brief break in 1944 and 1945 for service during World War II.
During his tenure inCongress, Sikes supportedracial segregation in the United States.[1][2][3][4][5][6] He served during a long period in which Florida was effectively a one-party state dominated by Democrats, due todisfranchisement of African Americans by racist policies andJim Crow laws.
In 1975, Sikes was accused byCommon Cause of financial misconduct and was investigated and censured by the House in 1976. He did not seek re-election in 1978.
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Sikes entered the publishing business inCrestview, in theFlorida Panhandle nearDestin andFort Walton Beach, working in that field from 1933 to 1946.
He soon became active in politics, joining theDemocratic Party, which was effectively the only party for whites in the state in the early part of his career. At the turn of the century, the Democratic-dominated legislature had passed a new constitution and laws thatdisenfranchised most African Americans, crippling the Republican Party, of which they had been the majority.[7] Sikes was elected in 1936 to theFlorida House of Representatives, during theGreat Depression and a landslide year for the Democrats, aligned with the popular PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt. Sikes was re-elected, serving until 1940.
Sikes was elected in 1940 to theSeventy-seventh Congress from what was then the 3rd District, and was re-elected to a second term in theSeventy-eighth Congress. His victory followed a bitter Democratic primary campaign.[8][9][10][11] As Florida was then essentially a one-party state, most races were effectively decided in the Democratic primary.
Sikes served from January 3, 1941, until his resignation on October 19, 1944, to enter theUnited States Army during World War II. He was commissioned as a major.[12] As a Congressman, Sikes had pressed for development in the state, including ofEglin Field as a test facility of theUnited States Army Air Forces, and later, theU.S. Air Force.
WhenPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt ordered all legislators on active duty to return to Washington, Sikes ran for his old seat in 1944 and won. He served in the79th and sixteen succeeding Congresses. After the war, Sikes was selected as a delegate to the Interparliamentary Conference inWarsaw,Poland, in 1959.
Sikes was a signatory to the 1956Southern Manifesto[1] that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court inBrown v. Board of Education. Sikes voted against theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,[2]1960,[3]1964,[13] and1968[4] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[5] and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.[6]
Sikes was a colleague of representativesCourtney W. Campbell, a fellow Democrat, andWilliam C. Cramer ofSt. Petersburg, who defeated Campbell in 1954 to become the firstRepublican elected in Florida to the House delegation since 1880 after Reconstruction.
Sikes's district, which was renumbered as the 1st District in 1963, began moving away from itsYellow Dog Democratic roots after World War II. The district's voters began splitting their tickets as early as the 1950s, and voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 1964 onward, except when the segregationist third-party candidacy ofGeorge Wallace won a majorityin 1968. However, Sikes remained very popular at home. He never won less than 80 percent of the vote, and usually faced "sacrificial lamb" Republican challengers on the occasions he faced any opposition at all. In 1964, for instance, Sikes was reelected unopposed even asBarry Goldwater won the district by such a large margin it almost pushed Florida into the Republican column.
In Congress, Sikes became one of the most powerful men in Washington; he was often called "Florida's third Senator". He used his seniority to help build fourteen military bases in the Panhandle. He also had a reputation for strong constituent service, which garnered him the nickname "the He-Coon". Sikes said the nickname was derived from a Panhandle legend about a maleraccoon that not only knew where food and water were, but also fended off his enemies and looked after his territory. As Sikes put it, a he-coon was expected to "look after those around him."[14]
Along with Republican congressmenJack Edwards ofAlabama andTrent Lott ofMississippi, Sikes helped originate theGulf Coast Congressional Report onWKRG-TV inMobile, Alabama (the CBS affiliate for most of his district) in 1973. He left the program in 1979 upon his retirement.
In 1975,Common Cause, a public-affairs lobbying group, accused Sikes of using his office for personal gain. He owned stock in First Navy Bank atNaval Air Station Pensacola, a bank that had been established by government officials at his urging, as well as in military contractorFairchild Industries, which benefited from government contracts. He failed to disclose his interest in both these companies in the requisite financial reports. Sikes was reprimanded by a 381-3 vote of the House of Representatives on July 26, 1976, for the financial misconduct. Sikes, a strongconservative, believed "flaming liberals" had conspired against him.[14]
Sikes did not seek reelection in 1978 to Congress, having never lost an election in 45 years as an elected official. Upon his political retirement, Sikes returned to Crestview and devoted himself to his business interests. He died on September 28, 1994.[15]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 3rd congressional district 1941–1944 | Succeeded by Himself |
| Preceded by Himself | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 3rd congressional district 1945–1963 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromFlorida's 1st congressional district 1963–1979 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
