Don Edwards (politician)

Don Edwards (1993)

William Donlon "Don" Edwards (born January 6, 1915 in San José , California , † October 1, 2015 in Carmel , California) was an American politician . Between 1963 and 1995 he represented the state of California in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Don Edwards attended the public schools in his home country and then studied at Stanford University until 1936 . After studying law at the same university, he was admitted to the bar in 1940. In 1940 and 1941 he worked as a special agent for the FBI . During the Second World War , Edwards served between 1942 and 1945 in the US Navy , where he temporarily worked in their secret service. Between 1951 and 1975 he was President of Valley Title Co. At the same time, he pursued a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . In 1964 and 1968 he was a delegate to the respective Democratic National Conventions .

In the 1962 congressional elections , Edwards was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the ninth constituency of California , where he succeeded J. Arthur Younger on January 3, 1963 . After 15 re-elections, he was able to complete a total of 16 legislative terms in Congress by January 3, 1995 . From 1975 to 1993 he represented there as the successor to Charles S. Gubser the tenth constituency of his state and since 1993 he was for the 16th district in Congress. Here he succeeded Leon Panetta . During his time as a congressman, the final phase of the civil rights movement , the Vietnam War and the Watergate affair fell . Edwards served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Liberties and Civil Rights for 23 years . He was also involved in two impeachment proceedings against federal judges . One was the future Congressman Alcee Hastings from Florida . The other was Walter Nixon , until then a federal judge in the southern part of Mississippi state .

In 1994 Don Edwards declined to run again. He was married to Edith Wilkie Edwards, who died before him. Edwards died on October 1, 2015, at the age of 100 at his home in Carmel, California.

Web links

• Don Edwards in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Emil Langer: Don Edwards, former congressman and defender of civil rights and civil liberties, dies. In: The Washington Post , October 2, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2015.