Former Florida Governor Thomas LeRoy Collins has been awarded the 1991 Medal of Honor for a Lawyer in recognition of his outstanding contributions to improving the administration of justice as governor of Florida at a turning point in history for the country and his beloved state. In the aftermath of the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Thomas LeRoy Collins was faced, in his own words, with anarchy and rebellion against the nation, and stood courageously against the tide and appealed for reason and decency.
When other political leaders stood mute, Governor Collins showed himself a true statesman, and with rare political courage declared his personal view that segregation was morally wrong and unjust. Not willing merely to survive politically, he accepted the personal and political consequences of his convictions. Unwavering in his belief that the very rightness of the issues ultimately would lead the way to the political change, he labored long and hard for change in Florida’s cruelly malapportioned legislature, for civil rights and constitutional reform. Although the fruit of his labor did not come swiftly, it laid a foundation on which the United States Supreme Court would rest its decision to enter the fray.
Only Governor Collins’ presence with us would add to our pride and joy in bestowing upon him this award. For the strides we have made in extending the protections of government and the rule of law, we acknowledge our debt and express our deepest thanks to Governor Thomas LeRoy Collins.
