Edwin Edwards - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Edwin Washington Edwards was born in rural Avoyelles Parish, near Marksville. His father, Clarence Edwards, was a half-Cajun Presbyterian sharecropper, while his mother, Agnès (Brouillette) Edwards, was a French-speaking Cajun Catholic. Avoyelles Parish has been known for colorful politicians; one who stood out, F.O. "Potch" Didier, actually spent seven days in his own jail after being convicted of malfeasance in office.

The young Edwards had originally planned on a career as a preacher. As a young man, he did some preaching for the Church of the Nazarene. He served briefly in the U.S. Navy Air Corps near the end of World War II. After his return from the military, he graduated at the age of twenty-one from Louisiana State University Law Center and began practicing law in Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish. He relocated there in 1949 after his sister Audrey (who had moved there with her husband) told him there were few French-speaking attorneys in the southwestern Louisiana community.

Edwards' career was thus helped by his being bilingual and articulate in both English and Cajun French. He learned to cultivate the goodwill of the media, both working reporters and editorial page editors. One of his favorites was Adras LaBorde, longtime managing editor of the Alexandria Daily Town Talk in Alexandria. LaBorde even influenced Edwards in regard to environmental policy.

In 1949, Edwards married Elaine Schwartzenburg, whom he had met at Marksville High School. The couple had four children: Anna, Victoria, Stephen, and David.

Edwards entered politics through election to the Crowley City Council in 1954. He was a member of the Democratic Party which, in that era, had a monopoly on public offices in Louisiana. Edwards remained on the Crowley council until his election to the Louisiana state Senate in 1964; in that race he defeated 20-year incumbent Bill Cleveland in a major political upset.

After serving in the state Senate as a floor leader for governor John McKeithen, Edwards was elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served from 1965 to 1972. He won the congressional seat in a special election called when the incumbent, T. Ashton Thompson of Ville Platte, was killed in an automobile accident. Edwards was easily reelected to three full terms in the House in 1966, 1968 and 1970.

In 1968, he defeated Republican Vance William Plauché (born 1924) of Lake Charles, son of former one-term Democratic Congressman Vance Gabriel Plauché (1941–1943) with more than 80 percent of the general election vote. While in Congress, Edwards served on the Public Works, Judiciary, and Internal Security committees. He also became known as one of the few Southern congressmen to support the extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.