History of the Floyd M. Riddick
Model United States Senate
By: Daniella Palmiotto, Stetson University Class of 2010
        In 1970, Stetson University student John Fraser raised his hand in class to ask Political Science professor Dr. T. Wayne Bailey if it would be possible to form a Model United States Congress, similar to the Model United Nations program.  Noting the size of the campus, Dr. Bailey embraced the idea of a Model United States Senate at Stetson.  Soon thereafter, Stetson hosted its first Model U.S. Senate, the first college-level Model U.S. Senate in the nation.  With the financial assistance of Stetson President John E. Johns, the Model U.S. Senate flourished.  

Over the years, Stetson University’s Model U.S. Senate has hosted national leaders of both parties.  Republican Senate leader Howard Baker of Tennessee, whose mother-in-law lived in DeBary, Florida, accepted Dr. Bailey’s invitation to attend the first Model U.S. Senate at Stetson.  Once Senator Baker realized the potential of the Model U.S. Senate, he advised Dr. Bailey to seek out U.S. Senate Parliamentarian Dr. Floyd Millard Riddick, affectionately known as “Doc”.  He served in the US Senate from 1964-1974; in his time as Parliamentarian of the U.S. Senate, he wrote Riddick’s Rules, a parliamentary manual for procedures within the U.S. Senate.  Riddick was fond of the Stetson Model U.S. Senate and attended the proceedings every year until his ill health prevented him from traveling.  Riddick taught the students to act and to address each other as U.S. Senators.  He also urged members of the United States Senate to visit and speak to the participants of the Stetson Model U.S. Senate.  Following his retirement from the United States Senate, Stetson University officially named its Model U.S. Senate program after “Doc” Riddick. 

As noted above, the F.M.R. Model U.S. Senate has been honored with visits from dignitaries and national leaders including former Florida governor Lawton Chiles, U.S. Representatives John L. Mica and E. Clay Shaw, and U.S. Senators Joseph Biden, William Bradley, Robert Byrd, Thad Cochran, Wyche Fowler, Albert Gore Sr., Nancy Kassebaum, Charles Mathias, John Melcher, Paul Sarbanes, and U.S. Senator/Stetson alumnus Max Cleland. 

Stetson University professors T. Wayne Bailey, Anne M. Hallum and David L. Hill have helped the Model U.S. Senate grow into what it is today.  Each year, the F.M.R. Model U.S. Senate attracts participants not only from Stetson but also from universities across the nation.  Since its humble beginnings in 1970, the F.M.R. Model U.S. Senate at Stetson University has inspired thousands of students in one of America’s oldest institutions – the Senate.  As the nation’s first and oldest college-level Model U.S. Senate, the F.M.R. Model U.S. Senate has gained a national reputation for excellence in civic education.

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For questions or comments concerning the Model Senate,
please contact Gail Lenkiewicz at <glenkiew@stetson.edu> or (386) 822-7570.