Fuller Warren was a one-term governor whose activism in building a state highway system put his name on the bridge spanning the St. Johns in downtown Jacksonville.
Warren lived and died a politician.
Born in Blountstown in 1905, he became one of the youngest members ever of the State House of Representatives when he was elected at age 21 while a student at the University of Florida.
He moved to Jacksonville in 1929 to practice law, served three terms on the city council (1931-37), and was elected to the 1939 House of Representatives.
Warren was a Navy gunnery officer in World War II, crossing the Atlantic 20 times. He wrote three books, including “How to Win in Politics.”
In 1948, he beat Fort Pierce businessman Dan McCarty for the governor’s office and embarked on projects that included new quality-control programs for Florida citrus fruit, a model reforestation program and preliminary plans for the Florida Turnpike. The road planning caught the fancy of Jacksonville politicians, and the Warren Bridge was a key component in the expressway system that, at the time, was ultra-modern.
Warren was dogged by allegations that his big road contracts were directed to organized crime figures and, in 1952, McCarty beat him in a rematch.
Warren moved to Miami and practiced law there. He made one more try for the state’s highest office but couldn’t get the Democratic nomination for governor in 1956 and quit politics.
He died in Miami in 1973.
Source: State of Florida archives