Robert King High
Encyclopedia
Robert King High was a reform Mayor of Miami, Florida from 1957 until his death, and the Democratic Party
nominee for governor of Florida in 1966.
, where his father was a carpenter and farmer. With the coming of the Great Depression
, the High family moved to Chattanooga
. High began delivering newspapers when he was five years old. When he was ten he bought a lawn mower on credit and paid for it by mowing lawns and delivering groceries and milk. He later worked as a soda jerk
and organized a band in which the members played in their ROTC
uniforms until they could afford to buy tuxedos.
After graduating from high school, High attended vocational school where he trained to be a welder
. He then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to work in a shipyard. With the United States entry into World War II, he lost his job at the shipyard and went to work in a women's shoe store, and soon was promoted to assistant manager of the chain's store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
. At the end of 1942, he left Baton Rouge to enter the University of Chattanooga. He left school soon after, however, to enlist in the Army Air Corps
. High seriously injured his back during basic training
, and a steel plate was placed to reinforce his back. He spent nearly a year in a military hospital after the operation.
When High was discharged from the Army in 1944, he moved to Miami. He attended the University of Miami
and then the Law School of Stetson University
. With his law degree, High began practicing law in Miami. He soon was doing well enough to purchase a Cadillac
, a speed boat and a house.
In 1957, Abe Aronovitz
, who had been Mayor of Miami in 1953–55, asked High to run for mayor. With Aronovitz's backing, High ran on a platform of promising nothing but honest government. He did not accept any campaign contributions of more than US$250.00. Unable to afford the billboards and television advertising that other candidates were using, High supporters would stand outside the Orange Bowl
with home-made campaign banners on every Friday night that the University of Miami football team played a home game. High placed second out of five candidates in the primary
, and beat the incumbent mayor, Randy Christmas
, in the runoff.
s in the company of a reporter, leading to a series of reports of how the bars were cheating customers. He dressed in old clothes and, again accompanied by a reporter, bought bolita
(an illegal lottery) tickets on the street. High won re-election in 1959, and was joined by new, reform-minded city commissioners.
High's reform efforts drew national attention, and he was named one of a hundred outstanding young Americans by Life
magazine. With a new majority on the city commission, the city's insurance business was reformed. Previous practice had been for each commissioner to give a share of the city's insurance to whomever they chose. In order to ensure that each commissioner could disburse an equal share of the insurance business, buildings were divided into parts insured by different companies. High and the new commissioners put all the city's insurance out to competitive bid. High also led a state-wide campaign to force Florida Power & Light
to lower its rates. After the City of Miami started a study of Southern Bell telephone rates, the Florida Public Service Commission
ordered major reductions in those rates. High also led a fight to force the Florida East Coast Railway
to pay the arrears in its assessed property taxes. While High was Mayor, Miami adopted a $10,000 spending limit for city elections.
High spoke Spanish well, and made a number of goodwill trips to Latin America. He exchanged visits with several heads of state of Latin American countries. Working with City Manager Melvin Reese, High established the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami as a symbol of relations between Miami and Latin America. In 1959 High was sent to Cuba
as part of a delegation trying to re-establish tourism between the United States and Cuba. The delegation was snubbed by Fidel Castro
, who failed to keep several appointments with them. The delegation eventually gave up and returned to the United States. As Castro's revolution proceeded, Cuban refugees flooded into the United States, and High worked to accommodate 200,000 Cuban refugees in Miami.
High was a strong supporter of civil rights. As Mayor he set up a panel to hear job grievances from blacks. High was involved in the successful effort to integrate lunch counters in Miami. He publicly backed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964
while campaigning for governor. Although he had received threats that he would be killed if he spoke in Pensacola
, High told a crowd there that, "Segregation
is wrong. It is evil and un-American."
In 1963 Mayor High had a heart attack at age 39. He soon recovered and returned to his duties as mayor.
mayor Haydon Burns
, who became governor (Florida had elected only Democratic governors since the end of Reconstruction).
In June, 1965 High helped convince the American Football League
to place an expansion franchise in Miami, which became the Miami Dolphins
. Also in 1965, Governor Burns proposed a large highway construction bond issue for Florida. High campaigned vigorously against the road bond measure, and it was defeated. The same year High was reelected to his fifth term as Mayor of Miami.
High ran for governor again in 1966 under the slogan, "Integrity is the issue". Governor Burns charged that Robert F. Kennedy
was behind High's campaign, pointing to three High campaign aides that had previously worked for Sargent Shriver
, but Kennedy denied taking sides. High had been close to John F. Kennedy
, as he had been the first elected official in Florida to support Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign
. Burns claimed to have the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson
and Vice President Hubert Humphrey
, but the White House
denied taking sides.
During the 1966 primary campaign, a seat became vacant on the Miami city commission. High appointed M. Athalie Range
, a black woman, to the seat. Range had led in the primary for a seat on the commission in the 1965 election, but lost to a white man in the run-off by a small margin after her race was made an issue in the election. Range was the first black person to serve on the Miami city commission. She went on to twice win reelection on her own, and later served as the first black to head a Florida state agency.
As had happened in the 1964 campaign, attempts were made to arouse segregationist white sentiments against High as the 'black' candidate. 'Throwaways', handouts with no attributed source, were circulated. One showed a pregnant black woman in a rocker, with the caption, "I went all the way with Robert King High". Another had pictures of Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and Robert King High, and was labeled, "A poker hand one joker and a pair of Kings." A photograph of High playing pickup football with some black newsboys was widely circulated.
High again came in second in the primary, behind Burns. Scott Kelly, a conservative politician from rural northern Florida, who came in third in the primary, agreed to endorse High for the runoff, but did not plan to actively campaign. Governor Burns, however, charged that Kelly had offered to sell his support to Burns for $500,000, and that High had bought Kelly's support. The Miami News pointed out that High had raised only $140,000, while Burns had raised one million dollars for the campaign. Burns had spent $2.19 for each vote he had received, while Kelly had spent $1.40, and High had spent just 38 cents per vote. Kelly called Burns' charge "The Big Lie", and actively campaigned for High in the runoff.
High won the run-off by a sizable margin, even getting 43% of the vote in Burns' hometown of Jacksonville. Kelly continued to actively support High in the general election campaign, but Burns refused to support High. The High and Kelly campaign staff, and after the run-off, that part of the Burns campaign staff that joined the campaign, did not mix very well. In September Don Petit, High's campaign manager, quit over differences with Kelly. The campaign was seen as faltering and in disarray.
The Republican
candidate for governor was Claude Kirk, who attacked High repeatedly. Kirk charged that under High, Miami had become the number two crime or sin city in country. One television advertisement showed a flashlight at the window of a dark room, and a woman screaming. Kirk called High an "ultra-liberal" and "a rubber stamp for Washington, backed by the ultra-liberals". Kirk started asking campaign crowds if they wanted "open housing". A new handout from a "Committee for Integrity in Government" showed a cartoon of High with the caption, "Black power is with you 100 percent, Bob, let's march." Just before the election, Burns charged that the Dade County
Grand Jury
was withholding indictments and information detrimental to High, which would have a direct bearing on the election. However, the grand jury foreman said there were no unissued indictments. Claude Kirk won the general election by about 160,000 votes, the first Republican to be elected governor of Florida in almost a century. Robert King High died of a heart attack less than a year later, on August 30, 1967.
Robert King High has been memorialized in Miami by the Robert King High Park and the Robert King High Tower Public Housing Facility.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
nominee for governor of Florida in 1966.
Early years
Robert King High was born in Flat Creek, TennesseeTennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, where his father was a carpenter and farmer. With the coming of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, the High family moved to Chattanooga
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
. High began delivering newspapers when he was five years old. When he was ten he bought a lawn mower on credit and paid for it by mowing lawns and delivering groceries and milk. He later worked as a soda jerk
Soda jerk
A soda jerk was a person — typically a youth — who operated the soda fountain in a drugstore, often for the purpose of preparing and serving ice cream soda. This was made by putting flavored syrup into a specially designed tall glass, adding carbonated water and, finally, one or two scoops of ice...
and organized a band in which the members played in their ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
uniforms until they could afford to buy tuxedos.
After graduating from high school, High attended vocational school where he trained to be a welder
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
. He then moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to work in a shipyard. With the United States entry into World War II, he lost his job at the shipyard and went to work in a women's shoe store, and soon was promoted to assistant manager of the chain's store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
. At the end of 1942, he left Baton Rouge to enter the University of Chattanooga. He left school soon after, however, to enlist in the Army Air Corps
United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
. High seriously injured his back during basic training
Basic Training
Basic Training may refer to:* Basic Training, a 1971 American documentary directed by Frederick Wiseman* Basic Training , an American sex comedy* Recruit training...
, and a steel plate was placed to reinforce his back. He spent nearly a year in a military hospital after the operation.
When High was discharged from the Army in 1944, he moved to Miami. He attended the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
and then the Law School of Stetson University
Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
. With his law degree, High began practicing law in Miami. He soon was doing well enough to purchase a Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
, a speed boat and a house.
In 1957, Abe Aronovitz
Abe Aronovitz
Abraham "Abe" Aronovitz was a Jewish American lawyer and Mayor of Miami.Aronovitz was one of six sons of Romanian immigrants, David and Kate Aronovitz. He was raised in Key West, Florida and graduated from Palm Beach High School. He also graduated from Stetson University...
, who had been Mayor of Miami in 1953–55, asked High to run for mayor. With Aronovitz's backing, High ran on a platform of promising nothing but honest government. He did not accept any campaign contributions of more than US$250.00. Unable to afford the billboards and television advertising that other candidates were using, High supporters would stand outside the Orange Bowl
Miami Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl, formerly Burdine Stadium, was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida, west of downtown in Little Havana. Considered a landmark, it was the home stadium for the Miami Hurricanes college football team...
with home-made campaign banners on every Friday night that the University of Miami football team played a home game. High placed second out of five candidates in the primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
, and beat the incumbent mayor, Randy Christmas
Randy Christmas
Randall Norton "Randy" Christmas was the Mayor of Miami from 1955–1957. He had served previously on the Miami City Commission from 1953–1955....
, in the runoff.
Mayor
Once in office, High began tackling corruption. With most of the City Commissioners opposing him, he could do little as Mayor, but he began pushing to publicize problems. He visited strip clubStrip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
s in the company of a reporter, leading to a series of reports of how the bars were cheating customers. He dressed in old clothes and, again accompanied by a reporter, bought bolita
Bolita
Bolita , is a type of lottery which was popular in the latter 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida's working class Hispanic, Italian, and black population. In the basic bolita game, 100 small numbered balls are placed into a bag and mixed thoroughly, and bets are taken on which...
(an illegal lottery) tickets on the street. High won re-election in 1959, and was joined by new, reform-minded city commissioners.
High's reform efforts drew national attention, and he was named one of a hundred outstanding young Americans by Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
magazine. With a new majority on the city commission, the city's insurance business was reformed. Previous practice had been for each commissioner to give a share of the city's insurance to whomever they chose. In order to ensure that each commissioner could disburse an equal share of the insurance business, buildings were divided into parts insured by different companies. High and the new commissioners put all the city's insurance out to competitive bid. High also led a state-wide campaign to force Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light
Florida Power & Light Company, the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. , commonly referred to by its initials, FPL, is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility which serves roughly 4.4 million customers in Florida. FPL Group holds power generation assets in more than 20 U.S...
to lower its rates. After the City of Miami started a study of Southern Bell telephone rates, the Florida Public Service Commission
Florida Public Service Commission
Florida Public Service Commission is a regulatory agency serving the public of Florida by managing its public utilities, including telecommunications, electricity, natural gas, water, and wastewater....
ordered major reductions in those rates. High also led a fight to force the Florida East Coast Railway
Florida East Coast Railway
The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...
to pay the arrears in its assessed property taxes. While High was Mayor, Miami adopted a $10,000 spending limit for city elections.
High spoke Spanish well, and made a number of goodwill trips to Latin America. He exchanged visits with several heads of state of Latin American countries. Working with City Manager Melvin Reese, High established the Torch of Friendship in downtown Miami as a symbol of relations between Miami and Latin America. In 1959 High was sent to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
as part of a delegation trying to re-establish tourism between the United States and Cuba. The delegation was snubbed by Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, who failed to keep several appointments with them. The delegation eventually gave up and returned to the United States. As Castro's revolution proceeded, Cuban refugees flooded into the United States, and High worked to accommodate 200,000 Cuban refugees in Miami.
High was a strong supporter of civil rights. As Mayor he set up a panel to hear job grievances from blacks. High was involved in the successful effort to integrate lunch counters in Miami. He publicly backed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
while campaigning for governor. Although he had received threats that he would be killed if he spoke in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, High told a crowd there that, "Segregation
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
is wrong. It is evil and un-American."
In 1963 Mayor High had a heart attack at age 39. He soon recovered and returned to his duties as mayor.
Candidate for governor
Since the last part of the 19th century, Florida governors had been limited to a single four-year term, and were elected in the same year as presidential elections. In the early 1960s, Florida moved the election years for governors to fall between presidential elections. For the transition, the governor elected in 1964 would serve only two years, but would be eligible to run again in 1966 for a full four-year term. High entered the race for governor in 1964. He announced that he would refuse to accept large campaign donations, and traveled the state in a DC-3. The Miami News was the only newspaper in the state to endorse High. High came in second out of five contenders in the Democratic primary, but lost the run-off to JacksonvilleJacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
mayor Haydon Burns
W. Haydon Burns
William Haydon Burns was the 35th Governor of Florida from 1965 to 1967. He was also Mayor of the city of Jacksonville, Florida from 1949 to 1965.-Early life:...
, who became governor (Florida had elected only Democratic governors since the end of Reconstruction).
In June, 1965 High helped convince the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
to place an expansion franchise in Miami, which became the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. Also in 1965, Governor Burns proposed a large highway construction bond issue for Florida. High campaigned vigorously against the road bond measure, and it was defeated. The same year High was reelected to his fifth term as Mayor of Miami.
High ran for governor again in 1966 under the slogan, "Integrity is the issue". Governor Burns charged that Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
was behind High's campaign, pointing to three High campaign aides that had previously worked for Sargent Shriver
Sargent Shriver
Robert Sargent Shriver, Jr., known as Sargent Shriver, R. Sargent Shriver, or, from childhood, Sarge, was an American statesman and activist. As the husband of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, he was part of the Kennedy family, serving in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations...
, but Kennedy denied taking sides. High had been close to John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
, as he had been the first elected official in Florida to support Kennedy's 1960 presidential campaign
United States presidential election, 1960
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th American presidential election, held on November 8, 1960, for the term beginning January 20, 1961, and ending January 20, 1965. The incumbent president, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, was not eligible to run again. The Republican Party...
. Burns claimed to have the support of President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and Vice President Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, but the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
denied taking sides.
During the 1966 primary campaign, a seat became vacant on the Miami city commission. High appointed M. Athalie Range
M. Athalie Range
M. Athalie Range was a civil rights activist and politician who was the first African-American to serve on the Miami, Florida City Commission, and the first African-American since Reconstruction and the first woman to head a Florida state agency, the Department of Community...
, a black woman, to the seat. Range had led in the primary for a seat on the commission in the 1965 election, but lost to a white man in the run-off by a small margin after her race was made an issue in the election. Range was the first black person to serve on the Miami city commission. She went on to twice win reelection on her own, and later served as the first black to head a Florida state agency.
As had happened in the 1964 campaign, attempts were made to arouse segregationist white sentiments against High as the 'black' candidate. 'Throwaways', handouts with no attributed source, were circulated. One showed a pregnant black woman in a rocker, with the caption, "I went all the way with Robert King High". Another had pictures of Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy and Robert King High, and was labeled, "A poker hand one joker and a pair of Kings." A photograph of High playing pickup football with some black newsboys was widely circulated.
High again came in second in the primary, behind Burns. Scott Kelly, a conservative politician from rural northern Florida, who came in third in the primary, agreed to endorse High for the runoff, but did not plan to actively campaign. Governor Burns, however, charged that Kelly had offered to sell his support to Burns for $500,000, and that High had bought Kelly's support. The Miami News pointed out that High had raised only $140,000, while Burns had raised one million dollars for the campaign. Burns had spent $2.19 for each vote he had received, while Kelly had spent $1.40, and High had spent just 38 cents per vote. Kelly called Burns' charge "The Big Lie", and actively campaigned for High in the runoff.
High won the run-off by a sizable margin, even getting 43% of the vote in Burns' hometown of Jacksonville. Kelly continued to actively support High in the general election campaign, but Burns refused to support High. The High and Kelly campaign staff, and after the run-off, that part of the Burns campaign staff that joined the campaign, did not mix very well. In September Don Petit, High's campaign manager, quit over differences with Kelly. The campaign was seen as faltering and in disarray.
The Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
candidate for governor was Claude Kirk, who attacked High repeatedly. Kirk charged that under High, Miami had become the number two crime or sin city in country. One television advertisement showed a flashlight at the window of a dark room, and a woman screaming. Kirk called High an "ultra-liberal" and "a rubber stamp for Washington, backed by the ultra-liberals". Kirk started asking campaign crowds if they wanted "open housing". A new handout from a "Committee for Integrity in Government" showed a cartoon of High with the caption, "Black power is with you 100 percent, Bob, let's march." Just before the election, Burns charged that the Dade County
Miami-Dade County, Florida
Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the state of Florida. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 2,496,435, making it the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States...
Grand Jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
was withholding indictments and information detrimental to High, which would have a direct bearing on the election. However, the grand jury foreman said there were no unissued indictments. Claude Kirk won the general election by about 160,000 votes, the first Republican to be elected governor of Florida in almost a century. Robert King High died of a heart attack less than a year later, on August 30, 1967.
Robert King High has been memorialized in Miami by the Robert King High Park and the Robert King High Tower Public Housing Facility.