Florida. Governor (1929-1933 : Carlton)

Doyle Elam Carlton was born on July 6, 1887 in Wauchula, Florida. He received his law degree from Columbia University in 1912, and began to practice law in Tampa, Florida that same year. Carlton represented the district of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties as State Senator from 1917 to 1919 and served as City Attorney of Tampa from 1925 to 1927.

Carlton, a Democrat, defeated Republican W.J. Howey for Governor in 1928. He served as governor during one of the most critical peacetime periods in Florida's history. The state had four major disasters: the collapse of the land boom, the devastating hurricane of 1928, the infestation of citrus groves by the Mediterranean fruit fly, and the national depression.

Carlton retired to his law practice in Tampa in 1933. He served as president of the Florida State Chamber of Commerce in 1951-1952. He died in Tampa on October 25, 1972.