Changes

|term_start2=January 21, 1975

|term_start2=January 21, 1975

|term_end2=January 10, 1979

|term_end2=January 10, 1979

|preceded2=John Carl West

|preceded2=[[John C. West]]

|succeeded2=Richard Wilson Riley

|succeeded2=Richard Wilson Riley

|birth_date=June 24, 1927

|birth_date=June 24, 1927

==Political career==

==Political career==

In 1970, Edwards was named the chairman of the Republican Party in South Carolina's Charleston-based 1st congressional district. As a supporter of [[conservative]] Republican gubernatorial nominee [[U.S. Representative]] Albert William Watson (1922-1994) of the state's 2nd congressional district, Edwards claimed that Watson's Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Governor John Carl West, Sr. (1922-2004), had worked covertly in 1969 against the nomination of South Carolina's Clement Furman Haynsworth (1912-1989) to the [[United States Supreme Court]]. The [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] nominee failed in the U.S. Senate, 55 to 45, on grounds of alleged bias against [[organized labor]] and a lack of support for [[civil rights]]. Edwards predicted that as governor West would install "an ultra-liberal, minority-dominated state government," citing West's political ties to [[Hubert H. Humphrey]] and longtime [[NAACP]] executive director [[Roy Wilkins]].<ref>''Charleston News & Courie,'' September 25, 1970.</ref><ref name=awwatson>Billy Hathorn, "The Changing Politics of Race: Congressman Albert William Watson and the South Carolina Republican Party, 1965–1970", ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'', Vol. 89 (October 1988), p. 237.</ref>

In 1970, Edwards was named the chairman of the Republican Party in South Carolina's Charleston-based 1st congressional district. As a supporter of [[conservative]] Republican gubernatorial nominee [[U.S. Representative]] Albert William Watson (1922-1994) of the state's 2nd congressional district, Edwards claimed that Watson's Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Governor [[John C. West|John Carl West, Sr.]], had worked covertly in 1969 against the nomination of South Carolina's Clement Furman Haynsworth (1912-1989) to the [[United States Supreme Court]]. The [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] nominee failed in the U.S. Senate, 55 to 45, on grounds of alleged bias against [[organized labor]] and a lack of support for [[civil rights]]. Edwards predicted that as governor West would install "an ultra-liberal, minority-dominated state government," citing West's political ties to [[Hubert H. Humphrey]] and longtime [[NAACP]] executive director [[Roy Wilkins]].<ref>''Charleston News & Courie,'' September 25, 1970.</ref><ref name=awwatson>Billy Hathorn, "The Changing Politics of Race: Congressman Albert William Watson and the South Carolina Republican Party, 1965–1970", ''South Carolina Historical Magazine'', Vol. 89 (October 1988), p. 237.</ref>

Edwards first ran for office in 1971 in a [[special election]] called to fill the vacancy in the 1st congressional district

Edwards first ran for office in 1971 in a [[special election]] called to fill the vacancy in the 1st congressional district