Changes

After 1940 Florida saw a contest between the Old South and the New South, as northerners poured in with very different values. The Old South defenders resisted, but numbers were against them, as Yankee retirees, Cuban refugees, Latin American businessmen, Haitian refugees, liberal Jews from New York and and fiscal conservatives from the frostbelt poured in at 500 a day, every day, for years. Miami became a bastion of liberalism, drugs and crime, as well as the financial capital of much of Latin America.

[[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]] had been popular in north Florida, and was opposed in the south, which became a haven for speakeasies and run-runners in the 1920s. During 1928-32 a broad coalition of judges, lawyers, politicians, journalists, brewers, hoteliers, retailers, and ordinary wet Floridians came together around the idea of repealing the ban on alcohol. When the federal government legalized near beer and light wine in 1933, the wet coalition launched a successful campaign to legalize these beverages at the state level. Floridians subsequently joined in the national campaign to repeal the 18th Amendment, which succeeded in December 1933. The following November, state voters repealed Florida's constitutional ban on liquor and gave local governments the power to legalize or outlaw alcoholic beverages.<ref> John J. Guthrie, Jr., "Rekindling The Spirits: From National Prohibition to Local Option in Florida: 1928-1935," ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' 1995 74(1): 23-39. 0015-4113 </ref>

The New Deal (1933-401933–40) changed and reaffirmed the physical, environmental, and intellectual landscape of south Florida. It ranged from the many hum-drum sewers, roads and schools built by the Works Progress Administration ([[WPA]]) to the haunting photographs of rural poverty by the Farm Security Administration ([[FSA]]), from the Treasury sponsored post office murals to the work camps for the younf men of the Civilian Conservation Corps ([[CCC]]), and finally to welfare state created by the Social Security program, which brought so many retirees to Florida.

To get Walt Disney World, Orlando beat out St Louis and several other sites for this experiment in family fun. Disney World opened in 1971 and immediately became Florida's best known attraction, pulling in tems of millions of visitors a year, spinning off other attractions and vast tracts of housing. Disney forced Florida to broaden its social outlook by offering entertainment to all, without regard to race or language. Despite protest from conservative churches, the company has embraced gay and lesbian patrons who descend on the park for the yearly "Gay Day," organized through private travel organizations. Meanwhile , Disney tickets rose from $5.25 in 1975, to $60.00. Tourism does not pay high wages, however, and Orlando has one of the weakest infrastructures in the state; its schools are falling apart.<ref> Richard Foglesong, ''Married to the Mouse: Walt Disney World and Orlando'' (2001); Mormino (2005) </ref>

Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane, smashed into the area south of Miami in August 1992, leaving forty people dead, 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than a million people left without electricity, and damages of $20-30 20–30 billion. Much of South Florida's sensitive vegetation was severely damaged. The region had not seen a storm of such awesome power in decades. Andrew destroyed complacency and erased any sense of benign ignorance toward hurricanes among South Florida residents.

* Colburn, David R. ''From Yellow Dog Democrats to Red State Republicans: Florida and Its Politics since 1940.'' (2007) 272pp[http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.php?id=14680 online review]

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