The definitive biography of Sidney J. Catts—Florida's fiery governor who fused pulpit rhetoric with populist politics in the early twentieth century.
Cracker Messiah by Wayne Flynt is a riveting portrait of Sidney J. Catts, one of the most controversial figures in Southern political history. Catts rose from Baptist pulpits and Chautauqua stages to Florida's governor's mansion in 1916, riding a wave of rural populism, prohibition fervor, and anti-Catholic rhetoric. His fiery oratory and outsider persona electrified "Florida crackers" at a time when industrial and urban forces were reshaping the South. Yet Catts was more than a demagogue. His administration championed progressive reforms—good roads, penal improvements, vocational education, and even women's political participation—while his career oscillated between idealism and opportunism.
Wayne Flynt's meticulously documented biography illuminates this complicated politician, tracing Catts's battles with the Democratic establishment, his failed Senate bid, and his later flirtations with gambling and real estate during Florida's boom years. Drawing on interviews, archival sources, and legislative records, Cracker Messiah illuminates the tensions between nativism and reform, faith and hypocrisy, populism and progressivism in the early twentieth-century South. This new edition will appeal to readers of Southern history, political biography, and Progressive Era studies, as well as anyone interested in the roots of American populism and the enduring complexities of cultural and political identity in the Deep South.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Chapter 1. Sitting Like Frogs Waiting for the Rain
Chapter 2. Peddling God, Insurance, and Sidney J.
Chapter 3. Protestant Rednecks and Catholic Fishermen
Chapter 4. The Crackers' Three Friends
Chapter 5. Taking Care of Friends
Chapter 6. Stirring up Dry Bones
Chapter 7. Waging War and Peace in Florida
Chapter 8. Failures of the Mind, Successes of the Heart
Chapter 9. The Politics of Disquietude
Chapter 10. The Eulogies of a Tomcat
Chapter 11. Let Old Acquaintance Be Forgot
Chapter 12. From Messiah to Pariah
Chapter 13. The Failure and the Hope
Critical Essay on Authorities
Index
Illustrations
Governor Sidney Catts in inaugural parade
Governor Catts reads inaugural address
Florida state Chautauqua headquarters
The Catts home in DeFuniak Springs
Governor Sidney Johnston Catts
Joe L. Earman
J.B. Hodges
Maps
1916 General Election
1916 Democratic Primary
1920 Senatorial Primary
1924 Gubernatorial Primary
1928 Gubernatorial Primary
1928 Presidential Primary
About the Author :
Wayne Flynt, Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Auburn University, is one of the foremost historians of the American South. A fourth-generation Alabamian, he taught for forty years, authored or co-authored eleven books—two Pulitzer-nominated—and won numerous awards, including the Lillian Smith Prize. Past president of the Southern Historical Association, Flynt is celebrated for his scholarship on Southern politics, poverty, and culture, and for his lifelong commitment to public history and education.
Review :
"The indefatigable author has turned over archives, sought out family memorabilia, conducted numerous interviews, and reconstructed with surprising detail the life of the obscure Catts. . . . Catts's career offers a unique insight into the world of the Southern demagogue." —Journal of American History
"Flynt has made effective use of primary sources, including interviews with family members and political participants. The end result is a fine narrative of Sidney J. Catts." —North Carolina Historical Review
"Wayne Flynt . . . demonstrates that Catts's entire life—almost exclusively devoted to a search for the main chance, whether in business, politics, or personal affairs—essentially repeated the 1916 strategy. . . . Cracker Messiah . . . conforms faultlessly to the standards of historical scholarship." —Journal of Southern History
