W. Haydon Burns
| W. Haydon Burns | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 35th Governor of Florida | |
|
In office January 5, 1965 – January 3, 1967 |
|
| Lieutenant | None |
| Preceded by | C. Farris Bryant |
| Succeeded by | Claude R. Kirk, Jr. |
| 35th Mayor of Jacksonville | |
|
In office 1949–1965 |
|
| Preceded by | Frank Whitehead |
| Succeeded by | Lou Ritter |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Haydon Burns March 17, 1912 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | November 22, 1987 (aged 75) Jacksonville, Florida |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mildred Burns |
| Profession | Politician, business consulting |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United States
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Battles/wars | World War II |
William Haydon Burns (March 17, 1912 – November 22, 1987) was the 35th Governor of Florida from 1965 to 1967. He was also Mayor of the city of Jacksonville, Florida from 1949 to 1965.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Haydon Burns' family moved to Jacksonville in 1922, where he attended Andrew Jackson High School before going on to attend Babson College in Massachusetts. Before the outbreak of World War II he was an appliance salesman and a flight school operator. During the war, he joined the U.S. Navy and was posted as a technical officer in the office of the Secretary of the Navy. Following the war, he returned to Jacksonville and began a public relations and business consulting firm and worked selling appliances.
In 1949 Burns announced his intention to run for Mayor of Jacksonville against incumbent C. Frank Whitehead. He defeated Whitehead in the Democratic Party primary, and then faced Jacksonville businessman William Ashley, a Democrat running as a political independent, in the general election – an unusual occurrence, as Democrats had been dominant in city politics for decades. On June 21, 1949, Burns defeated Ashley to become the mayor of Jacksonville.
Burns' first term was an abbreviated two-year stint; he was thereafter re-elected four times, the longest consecutive stint of any mayor in the city's history. During his time in the mayor's office, he oversaw massive growth in Jacksonville. He promoted the city around the world in an attempt to lure international investments and to get corporations to relocate offices to the city. He commissioned the production of a slide show called "The Jacksonville Story". Hundreds of audiences around the world saw it. The American National Exhibit showed a film version in the Soviet Union. Burns personally made presentations at The Hague and in Israel. He made "The Jacksonville Story" known from coast to coast, and so was Jacksonville's mayor.
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