State Web Site

Military Service: Navy

War(s) Served:  World War II

FULLER WARREN, Florida's 30th Governor, was born in Blountstown, Florida, on October 3, 1905. He graduated from the University of Florida in 1926. Warren entered politics as a college senior, winning his first election to the Florida House of Representatives. After serving one term in the legislature, he returned to his education, earning a law degree from Cumberland University in 1930. Returning to public service in 1931, Warren was elected to Jacksonville's city council, a position he held until 1937. He also served again in the 1939 session of the Florida House of Representatives. During World War II, he served in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, as a U.S. Navy gunnery officer. In 1948 Warren won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination and was elected Governor of Florida. During his tenure, he advocated for amending citrus regulations, for establishing a flood control system, and for restricting cattle from roaming freely on highways. The initial designs for the Florida turnpike were finished and a prototype reforestation program was initiated. After leaving office on January 6, 1953, Warren returned to his law practice, and ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1956. Governor Fuller Warren died on September 23, 1973, and is buried at the Nettle Ridge Cemetery in Blountstown, Florida.

Sources:

Florida State Archives holds the official papers of Governor Fuller Warren.

• S. 235 Governor Fuller Warren, Correspondence, 1949-1953

Florida State University: Fuller Warren papers, 1927-1973. Florida State University, Special Collections.

Museum of Florida History: Florida Governors' Portraits

The Political Graveyard

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.