Born on an Alabama plantation in 1863, Sidney Johnston Catts was named after a fallen Confederate general. In 1886, he became awakened by the spiritual and profitable side of the southern Baptist church. As a Born-again pastor, and a controversial figure in history, Catts increased his notoriety by taking advantage of the terrifying spike in racial violence during that decade. Once when a black man threatened him with a knife, Catts killed him with a shotgun blast. This act of violence did little to harm Catts’s political clout among white voters
When Catts moved to the panhandle, the region was becoming consumed with prohibition, a movement deftly led by the Anti-Saloon League and Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Protestant preachers, and First lady Jennings. Across Florida and the South, county by county, the drys were crushing the wets at the ballot box. It was an atmosphere that seemed tailor made for a Sidney Catts, and it didn’t take long for this outlandish man to make a stab in politics.
A political unknown (His Campaign ad featured on the right) in Florida, he campaigned for the office of governor by walking miles and miles covering Florida with a Bible in one hand and carrying a loaded revolver in the other. He often flamboyantly stood on a stump preaching a political sermon to his supporters while wiping sweat from his ruddy red face with a large handkerchief or cooling himself with a palmetto fan. It is said that he based his political truths on "Religion, Race, and Rum." That is he believed that winning elections in the south was all about traditional religious values, white’s fears about African Americans, and public appearance of being against liquor. As his personal and professional record would later reveal he was not a true believer and only used the movement as an opportunity for advancement.
Legend has it that what sparked Catts interest in the Governorship was his discovery that once elected, the governor can live in the Executive mansion rent free. His campaign was historic for its use of both an automobile and a loudspeaker which he would use to travel extensively to rural areas. It was in this race that a form of campaigning now referred to as “Barn storming” was born. Catts’ major opponent in the Democratic Primary was state comptroller William Knotts. Catts won the Democratic ticket by a close margin, but Knotts challenged the win in court. Knowing that the courts would back Knotts against him, Catts took to the roads in his Model T in an attempt to turn the race into a populist revolt against the corrupt establishment of state government. The state supreme court ordered a recount and Catts lost by just a few votes.
Infuriated, Catts went to the Florida Prohibition Party leadership and requested their endorsement, which was given. Catts proceeded to trounce the regular Democratic candidate at the general election. On Election Day in 1916, Sidney Catts became the 22nd Governor of Florida with 43% of the vote and the remaining candidates dividing the rest. He was one of only two candidates from the Prohibition Party to ever obtain such a high position in government; the other was Charles Hiram Randall of California, who served in Congress 1915 to 1921. Despite this feat Catts was always a true Democrat
Sidney Catt’s Inauguration was the first ever recorded on film and Catts, a former Pastor, made sure that it was an eventful ceremony. His Inaugural address would layout an agenda that was both anti-Catholic and prejudice, claiming that Pope Benedict XV was secretly trying to take over Florida. The new Governor would later not attend his own Inauguration over his own fear that the punch would be spiked. He was fine winning as a Prohibitionist candidate. Yet, the second he won, he returned to the Democrats. Despite being a stated defender of sobriety, he shocked many of his most diehard followers by supporting legalized gambling and, his administration was attacked with charges of counterfeiting. In fact during his single four year term, he did nearly nothing for the prohibitionist cause. When it looked like statewide prohibition was going to be a reality, only then did he put his full support behind it. Once out of the Governor's mansion, Catts for a time established a short-lived business of making patent medicines, such as Catts' Hog Tonic, which was full of booze.
After many long years of battling each other it was the temperance forces that had won the day and the writing was clearly on the wall. Still the brewer and distillers were big business. They spent plenty on money to preserve their operations. Anheuser Busch helped bankroll the United Brewers Association to counter lobby legislators who had been brew beat by the anti-saloon league. While their efforts may have proved far too little and much too late. The momentum was with a national repeal. Luckily for many brewery owners, they had an ace up their sleeve - smuggling.
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