Ernest R. "Cap" Graham was a political figure in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, having served as a member of the Florida Senate

Florida Senate

The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....

 from 1937 to 1944, when he unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination

Nomination

Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to an office, or the bestowing of an honor or award.In the context of elections for public office, a candidate who has been selected by a political party is normally said to be the nominee of that party...

 for Governor of Florida in 1943-44. As a senator, Graham lobbied in Tallahassee and Washington D.C. to bring benefits to Miami-Dade County. He proposed the creation of a public university

Public university

A public university is a university that is predominantly funded by public means through a national or subnational government, as opposed to private universities. A national university may or may not be considered a public university, depending on regions...

 in the county, and although his efforts were unsuccessful during his lifetime, they eventually led to the establishment of Florida International University

Florida International University

Florida International University is an American public research university in metropolitan Miami, Florida, in the United States, with its main campus in University Park...

. The student union at Florida International University is named in honor of Graham, named the Graham Center. In 1948, Graham unsuccessfully sought election to the Dade County Commission. Other than his involvement in politics, Graham worked as a mining engineer in South Dakota and farmer in Florida.

Graham married Florence Morris, originally of Lincoln, Nebraska

Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

 and later of South Dakota. Their children were Mary Graham (born in 1913), Philip Graham

Phil Graham

Philip Leslie Graham was an American publisher and businessman. He was the publisher and co-owner of The Washington Post...

 (born in 1915), who later became husband of Katharine Graham

Katharine Graham

Katharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon...

 and publisher of the Washington Post, and Bill Graham (born in 1924). In 1934, Florence (known as "Floss") died of cancer, and in 1936, Graham married Hilda Simmons, a schoolteacher. They had one child, future Florida Governor and United States Senator Bob Graham

Bob Graham

Daniel Robert "Bob" Graham is an American politician. He was the 38th Governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senator from that state from 1987 to 2005...

.

External links

• Papers of Ernest Graham at the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History