- Edward J. Gurney
Infobox_Senator
name=Edward J. Gurney
jr/sr=United States Senator
state=Florida
term_start=January 3 ,1969
term_end=December 31 ,1974
preceded=George Smathers
succeeded=Richard Stone
date of birth=birth date|1914|1|12|mf=y
place of birth=Portland, Maine
date of death=death date and age|1996|5|14|1914|1|12|mf=y
place of death=Winter Park, Florida
spouse=
religion=Congregationalist
party=Republican|Edward John Gurney (
January 12 ,1914 –May 14 ,1996 ) was anAmerican politician fromFlorida , where he served as a Representative and a United States Senator. He was a member of the Republican Party.Gurney was born in
Portland, Maine . He attended public schools and went on toHarvard Law School in 1938. He was admitted to the Bar of New York the following year and began practicing law inNew York City .After U.S. entry into
World War II , Gurney enlisted as a private in the army and saw action in the European theater of conflict. In 1946 he was discharged as a lieutenant colonel. Gurney enteredDuke Law School , and he received a degree in 1948. He then moved toWinter Park, Florida .In 1952 Gurney was elected city commissioner and served until his election as city attorney for
Maitland . He completed his career in local office with service asmayor during 1961 to 1962.Gurney was elected to the
United States Congress in 1962, 1964, and 1966. In 1968, he was elected to the United States Senate for the seat of retiring DemocratGeorge Smathers . The election coincided withRichard Nixon 's victory in the presidential race that year. Gurney's victory can be attributed to the Republican campaign'sSouthern Strategy . Gurney defeated his opponent, former GovernorLeroy Collins , with 55.9 percent of the vote to Collins' 44.1 percent. Many supporters of third-party presidential candidate George C. Wallace, Sr., voted for Gurney and hence provided him a coalition of growing Republicans in Florida allied with a declining number of conservative Democrats.In 1970, Congressman William C. "Bill" Cramer ran as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the retiring Democrat
Spessard Holland . Gurney and then GovernorClaude R. Kirk, Jr. opposed Cramer's nomination and supported an intraparty rival, formerU.S. Supreme Court nominee George Harrold Carswell. Cramer easily defeated Carswell for the Senate nomination but was then defeated in the fall, when a divided GOP worked to the benefit of the Democratic senatorial nominee, then State SenatorLawton Chiles of Lakeland.In 1973 Gurney was named to the Senate committee under
Sam J. Ervin investigating theWatergate scandal. He was the Nixon administration's strongest supporter on the committee. Gurney was embroiled in aninfluence peddling scandal in 1974, which caused him to resign onDecember 31 ,1974 . He was indicted and tried on seven counts of bribery and related offenses. During the first trial, he was found not guilty of five counts, and the jury could not reach a verdict on two counts. Later, he was retried on those two counts and was also found not guilty. He ran for Congress in 1978, but was heavily defeated by now U.S. SenatorBill Nelson .Gurney retired to resume the practice of law in Winter Park, where he died.
External links
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000531 Biographical Directory of the US Congress]
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