Conservative Hurricane ─ How Jeb Bush Remade Florida

“A timely reminder that Jeb Bush was and remains a deep-dyed conservative who was not reluctant to magnify and use all the powers of his office.”—Martin A. Dyckman, author of Reubin O’D. Askew and the Golden Age of Florida Politics

“A detailed look at how Jeb Bush used enhanced constitutional executive powers, the first unified Republican state government elected to Tallahassee, and the force of his own personality and intellect to enact significant conservative political and policy changes in Florida.”—Aubrey Jewett, coauthor of Politics in Florida, Third Edition

Against the backdrop of the Tea Party–dominated GOP, former Florida governor Jeb Bush may appear comparatively moderate, but his record tells a different story. In Conservative Hurricane, Matthew Corrigan probes beyond the mild veneer, the sound bites, and the photo ops to examine the real evidence of Bush’s political leanings—his policies, politics, and legacy as the state’s most powerful governor.

After remaking himself from a strident ideologue into a restrained conservative policy wonk, Bush became Florida’s first two-term Republican governor. The small-government conservative—who in his second inaugural address dreamed of an idyllic Tallahassee free of government employees—was unstoppable. He presided over the largest accumulation of executive branch authority in the state’s history and advanced a multitude of social and economic reforms, the effects of which are still felt in the Sunshine State today. It was the beginning of a new kind of conservative activism, one that has only gained strength in the years since Bush left office.

From the culture wars to the management of state government, Corrigan examines the governor’s indelible mark on Florida. He demonstrates how the issues most closely associated with Bush’s leadership, including education reform, end-of-life decisions, and gun rights, would guide Republican governors in other states as they rode the rising tide of conservative populism.
For anyone curious about a potential Jeb Bush presidency, this book is required reading.

Matthew T. Corrigan is chair and professor of political science at the University of North Florida. He is the author of several books, including Race, Religion, and Economic Change in the Republican South and American Royalty: The Bush and Clinton Families and the Danger to the American Presidency.