India Edwards

India Edwards (b. Chicago, Illinois, 1895-06-16, d. Sebastopol, California, 1990-01-14) was a United States Democratic politician and Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. She was an advocate for women in politics.cite web|title= India Edwards, Biographical Sketch|publisher=Truman Library|url=http://www.trumanlibrary.org/hstpaper/edwardsi.htm#bio|accessdate=2008-06-28] Edwards passed away at the Fircrest Convalescent Hospital in Sebastopol; at the time of her death the 94-year old lived in Greenbrae, California. Her memoirs, "Pulling No Punches," were published by G. P. Putnam's Sons's in 1977. [cite book|author=Edwards, India|title=Pulling no punches : memoirs of a woman in politics|publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons|year=1977|isbn=9780399115745]

Early years, family, and career

India Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. She got married for the first time in 1917 to Daniel Sharp, who died a year later in World War I, and for a second time in 1920 to investment banker Jack Moffet. Edwards started her career as a The Chicago Tribune journalist and was society editor from 1918 to 1936 and women's page editor from 1936 to 1942. Edwards and Moffet divorced in 1937 and in 1952 she married her third husband, Herbert T. Edwards (d. late 1970s), who was employed as a State Department official. Edwards left the Chicago Tribune and the couple moved to Washington, D.C..

Political Career

Career with the Democratic Party

Edwards' formal involvement with the Democratic Party began with her work as a volunteer during the 1944 Presidential election. She later occupied increasingly important position in the women's division of the party, serving first as executive secretary (1945-47), associate director (1947-48) and finally executive director (1948-53). In 1953, the women's division was integrated into the DNC. In 1950, Edwards was unanimously elected to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and occupied the vice-chair position from 1950 to 1956.cite book|title=Notable American women, 1607-1950; a biographical dictionary.|author=Edward T James; Janet Wilson James; Paul S Boyer; Radcliffe College.|url=http://books.google.ca/books?id=WSaMu4F06AQC&pg=PA191&lpg=PA191&dq=%22India+Edwards%22&source=web&ots=UG14hgGkYo&sig=4Dpomhtc0igG8EXfQbmE4GXXmb8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result#PPA191,M1|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=9780674627314|pages=190-192|year=1971] Still, Edwards remained active in the Democratic Party politics for over thirty years throughout the careers of such politicians as Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Truman campaigns and administration

Mrs. Edwards accompanied President Harry Truman, who she deeply admired and was called her "political hero" on his 1948 campaign tour; she was confident he would win, and Truman confided in her that he believed he and she were the only ones he sometimes thought believed he would win. Her influence over Truman caused him to appoint so many women to prominent positions - Eugenia Anderson as United States Ambassador to Denmark, Perle Mesta as United States Minister to Luxembourg, Ruth Bryan Rohde as an alternate delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt as the head of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly, and Ms. Georgia Neese Clark as Treasurer of the United States. At the 1952 Democratic National Convention, her name was included, as a symbolic gesture, in the nominations for vice-president. She explained how she increased the number of women in Federal positions by saying "Sometimes I felt like a ghoul. I'd read the obits, and as soon as a man had died, I'd rush over to the White House and suggest a woman to replace him." [cite news|title=India Edwards Dies; Advocate of Women In Politics Was 94|publisher=New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5D6143AF934A25752C0A966958260|date=1990-01-17|accessdate=2008-06-28]

References