Bill Pearce (politician)

{{short description|American politician in Florida}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name =B. C. "Bill" Pearce

|image =Bill Pearce Florida.jpg

|image_size=

|caption=Pearce in 1947

|office=Member of the Florida Senate from the 26th district

|term=1947–1965

|office2=Member of the
Florida House of Representatives
from Putnam County

|term2=1933–1934

|district2=

|birth_name=Basil Charles Pearce

|birth_date = {{birth date|1894|11|29}}

|birth_place =Columbia, Alabama, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1968|8|2|1894|11|29}}

|death_place =Palatka, Florida, U.S.

|party =Democratic

|occupation=farmer

|spouse =

|children =one

|relations=

|religion=

|residence=East Palatka, Florida

|alma_mater=

}}

Basil Charles "Bill" Pearce (November 29, 1894 – August 2, 1968) was an American politician in the state of Florida.

Pearce was born in Columbia, Alabama. He resided in East Palatka, Florida and was a farmer. Pearce also was a veteran of World War I, having served in France with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFgPAAAAIAAJ&q=basil+charles+bill+pearce|title=Florida Highways|date=July 11, 1951|publisher=J.E.Robinson|via=Google Books}} He served in the Florida State Senate from 1947 to 1965 as a Democratic member for the 26th district.{{cite web|url=http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/fefdl/florida/Senate18452001.html|title=Florida Senators|publisher=uflib.ufl.edu|accessdate=September 21, 2014}} He also served briefly in the Florida House of Representatives, from 1933 to 1934.{{cite web|url=http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/FileStores/Web/HouseContent/Approved/Public%20Guide/Uploads/Documents/house_counties_final.pdf |title=Membership of the Florida House of Representatives by County, 1845-2012 |author=Ward, Robert L. / Florida House of Representatives |year=2011 |publisher= |accessdate=December 11, 2011}} He was a member of the Pork Chop Gang, a group of legislators from rural areas that dominated the state legislature due to malapportionment and used their power to engage in McCarthyist tactics.{{citation |title=Group portrait of the Pork Chop Gang during the 1956 special session of the Senate |date=1956 |url=https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/35657 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715231808/https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/35657 |archive-date=July 15, 2015 |url-status=live |publisher=Florida Memory |accessdate=July 14, 2015}}{{Cite journal |last=Weitz |first=Seth |date=2009-03-01 |title=Defending the Old South: The Myth of the Lost Cause and Political Immorality in Florida, 1865–1968 |url=https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6563.2008.00232.x |journal=The Historian |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=79–92 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2008.00232.x |issn=0018-2370}}