EDWIN EDWARDS FOR PRESIDENT?

Monday, September 30^th, 2024

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

EDWIN EDWARDS FOR PRESIDENT?

Some of you older readers may recall the name of South Korean lobbyist Tongsun Park, a flamboyant international lobbyist who died this past week. Back in the 1970s, he was intricately involved in the politics of Louisiana. Then Governor Edwin Edwards was able to persuade Park to arrange for the Korean government to purchase millions of dollars in South Louisiana rice. Some would argue that if it were not for Edwards’ persuasive powers, Louisiana rice farmers would have faced a disastrous year. Instead, they made record profits.

In 1978, Edwin Edwards was at the height of his popularity. He had been easily re-elected to a second term two years earlier. With the price of oil continuing to rise, the coffers of the state treasury were filled, and Governor Edwards faced little controversy. Candidates for office in the 1978 and 1979 elections eagerly sought his endorsement.  The two major challengers for the office of lieutenant governor each had the Governor cut TV spots in their behalf.

Up until then, no Louisiana public official had made any serious attempt to run for the presidency. Huey Long was rumored to be interested, but he was assassinated before he could run against President Franklin D Roosevelt. Governor John McKeithen made a serious effort to be the vice presidential candidate on the Hubert Humphrey ticket in 1968, but Humphrey decided to look elsewhere.

As his second term was winding down, Edwards was obviously looking for new challenges. The Governor and I made a joint appearance in north Louisiana early in 1978, then flew back to Baton Rouge together in the state plane. I was reading a book my father had given me, Marathon, The Pursuit of the Presidency 1972-1976, by Jules Witcover.

 The book presented an account of the 1976 presidential election and went into great detail as to how Jimmy Carter rose from being a little-known Southern governor to getting elected President of the United States. Edwards noticed the book, and I gave him a brief description of the author's explanation showing Carter's effort in putting together a Georgia campaign team that was able to capture the Democratic nomination.

About a week later, I was at my home in Ferriday when the phone rang one evening just before midnight. It was the Governor. "Do you still have that book about Carter getting elected President?" Edwards asked. "Why?" I said. "Are you planning on doing the same thing and challenging him?"  Edwards laughed and told me he was just interested in some bedtime reading. "If Jimmy Carter could pull it off, I would think that I certainly could," he said.

I knew the President and EWE were not close. Edwards had supported the presidential candidacy of Governor Jerry Brown in 1976. Outside of Brown's votes in California, the Louisiana delegation was the only other support he received at the Democratic Convention. The Governor's wife, Elaine, publicly supported Gerald Ford for President in 1976.  President Carter's popularity was at a low ebb in 1979 as Edwin Edwards considered his future plans.

But then the news broke that the wife of Edwards had received a $10,000 cash gift from Tongson Park when she was serving in the United States Senate. Although Edwards popularity stayed high in Louisiana, it took quite a hit on the national level.  Cash money to the wife of the siting governor would surely be a major campaign issue if Edwards had decided to run for president.

About three weeks later, the book came back to me in the mail. It had been my intention for the Governor to keep it. There was no note attached, and he never mentioned the book or the presidency to me again. 

Would Edwards have had a chance if it were not for the Tongsun Park scandal? Stranger things have happened. We will never know because of the intervention in Louisiana politics by someone from South Korea.

Peace and Justice

Jim Brown

Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.