On Wednesday night, the Tampa Bay History Center hosted a special birthday celebration for former Tampa Congressman Sam Gibbons.  The longtime Democrat, who served in Congress representing the Tampa area for 34 years, has just turned 90.

Moments before the ceremony was to begin, Gibbons sat down to talk with CL.  In the second part of our interview, we began by asking Gibbons about something we found curious about his record.  That is, how he had voted for the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but against the 1964 Civil Rights Act.  Gibbons said that he worked with members supporting the civil rights legislation.  “They were so glad to have somebody from the South that was working with them. When we got to the final vote, they just said,  ‘Sam, you just wait and if we don’t need your vote, just vote no, because we want you to come back.’  So I had helped them with the amendment process, and that’s what they were worried about.  They were afraid that people would amend it to death on the floor and they wouldn’t have anything when they came to the final vote…They knew they would have plenty of votes for the final vote and they did.”

But in 1966, Democrats paid a steep price for those progressive pieces of legislation, and many Democrats were swept out of office.  Gibbons remembers that time vividly.  “There is no doubt in my mind that the Civil Rights Act disturbed a lot of people in the Democratic Party.  There were lots of Republicans that voted for that Civil Rights Act.  But they were not principally from the South and that’s what happened.  The South really went Republican after that.”

Regarding working with Ronald Reagan, Gibbons agreed with the proposition that the era of his rule swept back much of the progress the country had gone through in the 1960’s and 70’s.  “Reagan was a charming, interesting fellow, ” he acknowledges.  “And I worked with him, particularly on international trade issues because he was good on international trade issues, and I needed all the help I could get on that area.”  He adds, “It wasn’t extremely popular, let’s put it that way.”

Gibbons has always been a leader on trying to normalize relations with the (Raul) Castro-led Cuban government, always a hot topic in Florida politics.  When asked about Barack Obama’s lifting all restrictions last year on the ability of individuals to visit relatives in Cuba, as well as to send them remittances, Gibbons says, ““He should go further.  After we normalize relations, heck, the situation will change very quickly in Cuba.”

When asked if he believes that Tampa is behind the curve in comparison with other localities when it comes to establishing business relations with the Communist island, Gibbons springs to life.  “We are!” he says.  “Jacksonville and parts of Miami are ahead of us. “

Being safely retired, Gibbons doesn’t have to contend with the Limbaughs and Becks of the world.  Because he thinks that Americans are “kind of hazy” when it comes to examining themselves.   “We’re only 4% of the world’s population , 96% of all the people on earth live outside of the U.S.  and yes, we thought we were miltarily omnipotent, but we came to realize we’re not, and that we need allies and we’ve got to thank Obama for doing something about that.”

Gibbons says that the Bush administration’s foreign policy alienated much of the world, and says that the U.S. has in many ways become Al Qaeda’s “best recruiter by the way that we handled the situation in Iraq.”

On a lighter note, Gibbons is a big fan of Tampa’s mayor for the past six years, Pam Iorio, who he says is doing a “wonderful job.”  He jokes that there won’t be any local reporters winning Pulitzers covering her because “she’s so safe and does it right.  She keeps everything clean and above board, and that doesn’t lead news gatherers to win Pulitzers (laughs).”

This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2010.