Edward J. Gurney

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Edward John Gurney (January 12, 1914 – May 14, 1996) was an American politician from Florida, 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 to Harvard Law School in 1938. He was admitted to the Bar of New York the following year and began practicing law in New 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 entered Duke Law School, and he received a degree in 1948. He then moved to Winter 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 as mayor 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 Democrat George Smathers. The election coincided with Richard Nixon's victory in the presidential race that year. Gurney's victory can be attributed to the Republican campaign's Southern Strategy. Gurney defeated his opponent, former Governor Leroy 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 Governor Claude R. Kirk, Jr. opposed Cramer's nomination and supported an intraparty rival, former U.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 Senator Lawton Chiles of Lakeland.

In 1973 Gurney was named to the Senate committee under Sam J. Ervin investigating the Watergate scandal. He was the Nixon administration's strongest supporter on the committee. Gurney was embroiled in an influence peddling scandal in 1974, which caused him to resign on December 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. Senator Bill Nelson.

Gurney retired to resume the practice of law in Winter Park, where he died.

[edit] External links

• Biographical Directory of the US Congress

v • d • e United States Senators from Florida Class 1: Yulee • Mallory, Sr. • Welch • Gilbert • Jones • Pasco • Taliaferro • N. Bryan • Trammell • Loftin • Andrews • Holland • Chiles • Mack • Nelson Class 3: Westcott • Morton • Yulee • Osborn • Conover • Call • Mallory, Jr. • W. Bryan • Milton • Fletcher • Hill • Pepper • Smathers • Gurney • Stone • Hawkins • Graham • Martinez