Among the states, Louisiana is one of its most colorful and known to foreigners, but it also has a historical reputation for corruption that rivals Illinois and New Jersey. A man who was both colorful and corrupt in the modern history of the state was its longest serving governor, Edwin Washington Edwards (1927-2021).
Edwards’ public service began in 1954 when he was elected to the Crowley City Council and in 1964 he was elected to the State Senate. However, he wasn’t there long as in 1965 Congressman T. Ashton Thompson was killed in a car accident. Edwards was easily elected in the 1965 special election to succeed him, as Louisiana was solidly Democratic at the time. His voting record was more moderate than that of numerous other Democrats in the state, although he toed the Southern line on race in his voting until the Nixon Administration. In 1970, Edwards voted to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for five years. During his time in Congress, he sided with the liberal Americans for Democratic Action 23% of the time, the conservative Americans for Constitutional Action 58% of the time, and his DW-Nominate score was a -0.232. Edwards was as slick as grease and known for his zingers, and this helped him greatly. His theme of “let the good times roll” also appealed to the people of Louisiana, and he was well-positioned to run for governor.
In 1972, he was elected governor of Louisiana over Republican Dave Treen by 15 points due to a multiracial coalition as he capitalized on Cajun and newly mobilized black voters. Edwards also happened to be the first Cajun to be elected governor, being sworn into office on May 9, 1972. One of his earliest acts in office was appointing his wife, Elaine, to the Senate as a placeholder after the death of longtime incumbent Allen J. Ellender. Edwards’s accomplishments as governor included making Louisiana’s government more efficient, opening up the Democratic Party to minorities, and overseeing the completion of the Superdome sports arena (Heil). He also made significant changes to spending and taxes, such as raising oil and gas taxes, which resulted in a massive influx of revenue for the state when oil had a boom throughout the decade. Edwards used this revenue to increase funding for numerous educational programs and to raise teacher salaries. He also instituted some key changes to state government. In 1973, Edwards succeeded in initiating a constitutional convention to update and simplify the state’s 1921 constitution, which was an unwieldy document with hundreds of amendments. Louisiana is currently governed under the 1974 constitution. He also reduced the number of elections in an election year from three to two. Instead of a state primary, a runoff, and then the general election, he simply made Louisiana an open primary state. Edwards proved to be so popular that Republicans didn’t bother fielding a candidate against him in the 1975 election. He and Louisiana also benefited from rising oil prices in the late 1970s. Although quite popular, numerous allegations started to surface of corruption and he would be subjected to six federal and three state grand jury investigations, but none of these produced an indictment. He also came to be regarded as a womanizer, a reputation he would joke about. Ironically, Edwards was ineligible to run for reelection to another consecutive term in 1979 due to the terms of the state constitution he pushed, he was succeeded by his 1972 rival, who won in a squeaker of an election, prevailing by less than a point.
Break Time and Back Again
Dave Treen was the first Republican governor of Louisiana since Reconstruction, and although he was an honest man who sought to reform government and expand upon including blacks in government, he lacked the charisma and the leadership skills that Edwards possessed, gaining a reputation for indecisiveness. Furthermore, Louisiana was not spared from the recession impacting the nation and budget deficits soared. In 1983, Treen was up for reelection and Edwards was raring to come back. The election really was no contest. Edwards commented upon the reality of this election, stating that he could only lose if he were “caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy” (McFadden). Treen also proved no match for Edwards’ zingers on the debate stage as he poked at him for allegedly being dumb. He said that he was so slow that “It once took Dave Treen an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes” (Finley). Edwards prevailed with over 62% of the vote, winning all but two parishes. Although successful in his comeback, he would find his third term considerably tougher than his first two.
In 1985, Edwards was indicted for allegedly scheming to award hospital construction permits for healthcare corporations in which he secretly had stock (Brightbill). In addition to this indictment, the price of oil slumped and this resulted in hard times for Louisiana’s economy, and the major budget shortfall that came from it forced Edwards to enact an unpopular tax increase. While voters were willing to handwave allegations of corruption while the economy was booming, an indictment along with a poor economy soured many voters on him, and this opened the door to a challenger in Congressman Buddy Roemer.
Defeated…But Not Done
Congressman Roemer, at the time a conservative Democrat, ran for change and accused him of turning the state into a “banana republic” (McFadden). Ultimately, the savvy Edwards conceded the election to Roemer after he came in second on the first vote, realizing that he was licked. However, he was only temporarily licked! Edwards’ withdrawal was strategic, as it served to deny Roemer an electoral majority, thus denying him a governing coalition and mandate. The 1985 indictment did not result in a conviction, so he was free and clear to make yet another attempt at governor.
The 1991 Election: Vote for the Crook: It’s Important
In the late 1980s a charismatic figure started making his way through Louisiana politics. Many whites were enthused by him and his populistic conservative messaging, such as his appeals against affirmative action, welfare dependency, and crime. This man was David Duke, a former member of the American Nazi Party and former Grand Wizard of the KKK who pretended that he had left his past behind. However, numerous white voters either bought his story, did not care, or were good with his past. The Republican establishment had hoped that Buddy Roemer’s party switch to Republican would help them, but this didn’t work out. Despite the opposition of the Republican organization as well as President George H.W. Bush, Duke managed to win the Republican primary for the Senate in 1990, losing the election but coming within 10 points of victory. He then managed to get in the top two for the runoff for the 1991 gubernatorial race, facing Democrat Edwin Edwards. Both Roemer and former Governor Dave Treen endorsed Edwards.
Edwards was on his game in this election, saying, “The only thing we have in common is that we both have been wizards beneath the sheets” (Finley). However, Duke gave Edwards something of a run for his money on charisma and did well in the first debate. Edwards gained a lot of prominent endorsements and received big campaign funds to defeat Duke as many large interests feared the impact on business should Duke win. Those who would otherwise not have endorsed Edwards had a rather funny bumper sticker, “Vote for the Crook: It’s Important”. Edwards got up on his game in his second debate and he made his case, “While David Duke was burning crosses and scaring people, I was building hospitals to heal them. When he was parading around in a Nazi uniform to intimidate our citizens, I was in a National Guard uniform bringing relief to flood and hurricane victims. When he was selling Nazi hate literature as late as 1989 in his legislative office, I was providing free textbooks for the children of this state” (Avoyelles Today). Although many voters believed that Edwards was corrupt despite his acquittal, 61% voted for his return rather than face Duke as governor.
The Third Term and Waterloo
Although Edwards had secured a fourth term, his fourth go-around would end up being his downfall. He had called for expanding gambling in the state, including one land-based casino in New Orleans as well as with riverboat casinos. However, he also accepted bribes of over $1 million to secure riverboat casino licenses, and rampant Medicaid fraud plagued his administration. Edwards opted not to run for a fifth term.
In 2000, Edwards was convicted on 17 charges of racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy and especially devastating to his case had been the testimony of former 49ers owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., who testified that he had bribed him $400,000 (Pellegrini). Sentenced to ten years in prison, he served eight. During his prison term, he divorced his second wife and married a woman fifty years his junior, and had a fifth child with her. In 2013, Edwards and his wife Trina had their own reality TV show, The Governor’s Wife.
Edwards’ Last Stand and Death
In 2014, at the age of 87, Edwards made one final run for public office, trying to make a comeback to Congress, running against Republican incumbent Garret Graves. However, in addition to 2014 being a good year for Republicans the state had moved far away from him and his politics, and he lost by 24 points. Edwards died on July 12, 2021, in Gonzales, Louisiana at the age of 93.
What to Make of Edwards?
In Edwin Edwards there was a strange mix of good and ill. He was a natural born politician, was undoubtedly the most important figure in transitioning Louisiana politics in a “New South” direction, and modernized the state in many ways, including in its fundamental legal framework. However, his corruption overwhelmed his legacy. As Professor Robert Mann of Louisiana State University wrote of him, “He had eloquence, creativity, a razor-sharp mind, executive abilities that many lacked and leadership skills that many envied. He could relate to crowds better than almost any politician I ever knew. He had everything, and yet squandered it by devoting much of his time to enriching his friends. I’ve rarely seen a wider chasm between the promise for greatness and reality” (McGill).
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