William Cotton IV

William Charles Cotton IV (born December 5, 1923) is an American politician, author, historiographer, and archivist. He served in the Florida legislature as a member of the Democratic Party, after which he founded the National Institute for the Preservation of United States History.
Early life
Cotton was born in coastal Charleston County, South Carolina on December 5, 1923 to Mary Rhodes Cotton (1894-1979) and William Charles Cotton III (1888-1985). One of four siblings, the Cotton family’s ancestral home in Charleston was destroyed by the Great Okechobee Hurricane in 1928, after which they moved to rural Milligan in Okaloosa County, Florida. Cotton served in the Pacific Theater in World War II, most notably fighting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the liberation of the Philippines, for which he earned a Bronze Star.
Education
Upon returning from the war, Cotton attended Yale University to study political science, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1948. His undergraduate thesis was titled "Demographic Transitions and Racial Dialectic", and was completed under the supervision of professor Hugh L. George. He then studied law at the University of Alabama, completing his Juris Doctor in 1951. In 1956 he obtained his Ph.D. in ethnography and anthropology from the University of Florida, on the subject of the "Ascendance of the Multiethnic Civilizations", under the supervision of renowned anthropology professor J. Stuart Goddard.
Political career
In 1952 Cotton sought election to the Florida House of Representatives when 10-term incumbent Donald F. Bradley retired. Given that at the time Florida was still a one-party Democratic state, the Democratic primary was the real election. Cotton won a three-way Democratic primary, and then defeated his Republican challenger Marty Thompson in the general election. He ran unopposed for three more terms. In the House, Cotton was a New-Deal liberal Democrat on economic issues, and markedly liberal for his time on racial issues, quietly supporting racial integration and civil rights for African-Americans.
In 1960, Cotton decided to run for the 2nd district of the Florida Senate, as the incumbent retired again. This time, the Cotton soundly defeated his primary challengers, and once again soundly defeated the Republican in the general. However, in 1964, Cotton had to beat back the first serious Republican challenge to Democratic dominance in this region, due to conservative blowback over the passage of civil rights legislation. As a result, Cotton became significantly more racially conservative in an attempt to appease conservative white voters who made up the majority of his district’s electorate. In 1965, expressing opposition to Florida's state-level implementation of the Voting Rights Act passed in Congress that year, Cotton declared: "This voting rights act, laid before us by the sanctimonious crusade of militant liberalism, will mark the death of American democracy if passed. I must, and I will fight for our state's right to run our own elections, against tyrannical judicial activists hell bent on destroying our way of life." Cotton won subsequent elections in 1968 and 1972.
In 1976, he decided to retire and prepare for a future run to the United States House of Representatives. Once conservative white voters accepted that they could no longer resist the civil rights movement, Cotton once again supported civil rights and full integration in an attempt to incorporate newly enfranchised African-American constituents into larger North Florida society.
Later career
During his time in the legislature, Cotton opened a law practice in Pensacola, in neighboring Escambia County. He made a name for serving African-American clients at a time when many Florida lawyers would not. After his political and legal life, Cotton founded and presides over the National Institute for the Preservation of United States History to conserve and protect older American cultural artifacts. He also serves on the board of the Council for Economic Freedom and Individual Liberty, a conservative-libertarian economic think tank directed by longtime friend George McHugh.
Personal life
Cotton met and married Jane Scarlett in 1952. They have five children, William Cotton V (born 1956), Lucy Cotton (born 1958), Edmund Cotton (born 1961), Susan Cotton (born 1963), and Virginia Cotton (born 1968). William and Jane Cotton still reside in Milligan, Florida.
Electoral history

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