Duncan U. Fletcher
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Duncan Upshaw Fletcher (January 6, 1859 - June 17, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician of the Democratic Party. Senator Fletcher was the longest serving U.S. Senator in Florida's history.
Born near Americus, Georgia, he was still an infant when his family moved to Florida. Fletcher studied law at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and after graduating in 1880 he was admitted to the bar the following year and set up a law practice in the city of Jacksonville, Florida. He was a founding member of the Jacksonville Bar Association and its first president. In 1896 Fletcher was one of three attorneys appointed to administer the bar examination to James Weldon Johnson, who in addition to his many other accomplishments was the first black admitted to the Florida Bar by examination. It was Senator Fletcher who motioned that Johnson be admitted to the bar over the objection of another examiner. Senator Fletcher was a Unitarian. In 1907 Senator Fletcher founded the first Unitarian church in Jacksonville, Florida. Fletcher became active in municipal politics and was elected to city council in 1887 and served as mayor from 1893 to 1895. In 1893 he was elected to the State house of representatives. He served another term as mayor of Jacksonville from 1901 to 1903.
In 1909, Fletcher was elected to the United States Senate as a member of the Democratic Party where he served until his death in 1936. In 1913 he was appointed chairman of the United States commission to investigate European land-mortgage banks, cooperative rural credit unions, and the betterment of rural conditions in Europe by President Woodrow Wilson. Fletcher was also appointed as a delegate to the International High Commission by President Wilson. Senator Fletcher served on a number of government committees including the United States Senate Committee on Commerce where he was chairman from 1916 to 1919, the Committee on Commerce subcommittee investigating the Titanic disaster, the high profile Chairmanship of the United States Senate Senate Banking and Currency Committee in 1932 with a mandate to examine the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. His committee, generally known as the Pecora Commission, began a major process of reform of the American financial system and resulted in the passage of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that instituted disclosure laws for corporations seeking public financing plus the 1935 formation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a mechanism to enforce the provisions of the new Acts.
Fletcher died in Washington, D.C. and was interred in the Evergreen Cemetery in Jacksonville. Duncan U. Fletcher High School in Neptune Beach, Florida and the Duncan U. Fletcher Middle School in Jacksonville Beach were named in his memory.
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| Preceded by William Hall Milton |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Florida 1909 - 1936 |
Succeeded by William Luther Hill |
| Preceded by Henry Robinson |
Mayor of Jacksonville 1893–1895 |
Succeeded by William M. Bostwick |
| Preceded by J. E. T. Bowden |
Mayor of Jacksonville 1901–1903 |
Succeeded by George M. Nolan |
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