Claude Roy Kirk Jr. (January 7, 1926 – September 28, 2011) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 36th governor of Florida from 1967 to 1971.

After graduating at age seventeen, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps reserve and rose to the rank of second lieutenant, having served stateside during World War II.

Six years later, he left American Heritage Life and purchased a partnership in the New York securities firm, Hayden Stone, selling investments to Floridians.

He was considered a placeholder on the ballot, with Republican presidential nominee Barry M. Goldwater losing Florida to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Cramer recalled Kirk having "begged me" to allow him to address meetings held during the 1964 delegate and national committeeman races.

[5] In 1966, Kirk ran for governor and defeated the Democratic candidate, Robert King High, the mayor of Miami.

"[7] Burns's refusal to support High was a major factor in Kirk's decisive victory in the general election.

The Florida Education Association (FEA), a union for teachers in the state wanted to increase salaries along with school budgets during the 1967 legislature session.

This would lead to Kirk getting angry and in 1971 he would tell state agencies to cease purchasing from Tang's owner, General Foods.

"[15] During Kirk's term, the Dade County Port Authority began secretly buying land in the Everglades to build an airport.

Kirk was a strong supporter of what would have been the world's largest airport despite evidence that it would destroy the water-recharge area South Florida needed.

He would arrive in Bradenton (the county seat) on April 6 and suspended the district superintendent, Dr. Jack Davidson along with the school board in an attempt to stop halt it.

[19] He quipped that the pro-busing judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, based in New Orleans, were "drinking in the French Quarter and reading dirty books".

"[23] Kirk claimed that Cramer wanted the 1966 gubernatorial nomination himself after Burns, the primary loser, refused to endorse Mayor High, an ally of U.S.

However, Kirk maintained a separate entity in the hope of maximizing crossover support from conservative Democrats unhappy with the nomination of Mayor High.

In 1968, Governor Kirk dispatched his staff to the Republican state convention in Orlando to push for Cramer's ouster as national committeeman.

"[24] Cramer said that Kirk was attempting to be "not only the governor but the king of the party, and I was about the only person at the time who stood in his way from taking total control.

"[24] Despite Kirk's opposition, Cramer attributed his retention in 1968 as national committeeman to the loyalty of organizational Republicans: "I had proved myself an effective congressman.

"[24] In 1988, Cramer recalled a visit 21 years earlier to Kirk's office when a former state legislator was denied an appointment with the governor even though the man was a stalwart Republican.

According to Cramer, "Kirk made it very clear that he got a great deal of joy in making sure that this guy didn't get an appointment. ...

[24] Walter Wurfel, a Floridian who was later U.S. President Jimmy Carter's deputy press secretary, termed Kirk's election in 1966 as "the worst thing that could have happened to the Republicans.

Eyeing the vice presidency in 1968, Kirk stood alone in the Florida delegation at the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach by supporting Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York, rather than the clear frontrunner, Richard Nixon.

[26] In 1970, Kirk was challenged in the primary by drug store magnate Jack Eckerd of Clearwater and state senator and later US Representative L. A.

[28] In the general election, Kirk lost 57%-43% to Democrat state senator Reubin O'Donovan Askew, from Pensacola.

In that same 1970 general election, William Cramer, Kirk's intraparty nemesis, lost to Democrat Lawton Chiles (himself a future Florida governor) of Lakeland for the U.S. Senate seat that Spessard Holland finally vacated.

Cramer had defeated Kirk's preferred Senate choice, Fifth Circuit Court Judge G. Harrold Carswell of Tallahassee.