Political figure. was an attorney and politician, a reform mayor of Miami, Florida, serving for over a decade from January 1957 until his death in August 1967. From eastern Tennessee, High moved to Florida after his service in World War II. He became active in the Democratic Party. Robert King High was born in 1924 in Flat Creek, Tennessee, where his father was a carpenter and farmer. With the coming of the Great Depression, the High family moved to the city of Chattanooga. High began working early, delivering newspapers at the age of five, and buying a lawn mower on credit at age ten; he paid for it by mowing lawns and delivering groceries and milk. He later worked as a soda jerk. He organized a band; the members played in their ROTC uniforms until they could afford to buy tuxedos.

After graduation from high school, High attended vocational school where he trained to be a welder. He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana to work in a shipyard. With the United States entry into World War II, he lost his job at the shipyard as projects were diverted to the war effort. He went to work in a women's shoe store, and soon was promoted to assistant manager of the chain's store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

At the end of 1942, High left Baton Rouge to enter the University of Chattanooga. He left school soon after, however, to enlist in the Army Air Corps. High seriously injured his back during basic training, and doctors inserted a steel plate to reinforce his back. He spent nearly a year in a military hospital after the operation.

In 1966, High was the Democratic Party nominee for governor of Florida, but he was defeated by Republican Claude Kirk in an upset election at a time when the Democratic Party generally still dominated state politics.