and the first woman to head a state agency in Florida. In 1978, Askew appointed Jesse J. McCrary Jr. as secretary of state; he was the first black person to hold a cabinet-level office in Florida in the modern era. Capital punishment After the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia effectively overturned existing state laws for capital punishment in the United States, Florida was the first state to enact a new death penalty statute, which Governor Askew signed. But, Askew personally believed that the death penalty was appropriate only in rare cases. Afterward the Supreme Court accepted new state death-penalty laws in Gregg v. Georgia. Immediately after the ruling, which effectively reinstated the use of the death penalty in the United States, Governor Askew began signing death warrants. Executions were not resumed until the administration of his successor, Bob Graham. Based on issues related to the cases of two life-sentenced inmates, Wilbert Lee and Freddie Pitts, Askew ordered a new investigation. It found they had been wrongfully convicted of murder in 1963. Askew participated in part of the inquiry and in 1975 pardoned both inmates, who had been removed from death row after the Supreme Court's decision halting capital punishment. Presidential politics Askew's national stature in the Democratic Party grew, and in 1972, he was the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Miami. For the 1972 presidential election, he was offered the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket with presidential nominee George McGovern, but he turned it down. He later accepted an appointment under President Jimmy Carter as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Ambassadorial Appointments. Later career Trade representative Limited to two terms as governor by the Florida Constitution, Askew looked for his next opportunity. In 1979, he accepted President Jimmy Carter's invitation to serve as United States Trade Representative, continuing until Carter's term ended in January 1981. Askew was the first trade representative who held the title United States Trade Representative, not Special Trade Representative, as his predecessors were called. Presidential bid in 1984 and senatorial bid in 1988 Askew joined a Miami law firm and at the same time began to organize a presidential bid for the 1984 presidential election. He announced his candidacy on February 23, 1983, after making visits to all 50 states. The first serious presidential candidate from Florida, Askew never gained traction within the national Democratic Party.