John Edwards
For the 18th century preacher, see Jonathan Edwards.
John Edwards, Democratic candidate for Vice President and running mate of John Kerry for the 2004 presidential elections.
Early Life and Education
John Edwards was born in Seneca, SC on June 10, 1953. He grew up in Robbins, NC, and graduated from North Carolina State University in 1974, and received a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977.
In 1977, he married Elizabeth Anania. Their son Wade was born in 1979 and daughter Cate in 1982. Following Wade's death in a car accident in 1996, the couple chose to have more children. Emma Claire was born 1998, and Jack was born in 2000.
Private Sector
Edwards served as a personal injury trial lawyer in Tennessee and in North Carolina for 20 years, specializing in negligence and medical malpractice suits. His most notable case was a $25 million suit for a girl who was disemboweled by a swimming pool drain.
Political Career
In 1998, Edwards ran as the Democratic candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate. He beat incumbent Senator Lauch Faircloth to win the seat.
Edwards served in the Senate for one year, declining to stand for re-election so that he could run for the 2004 Democratic party nomination for president. He withdrew from the presidential race on March 2, 2004 after failing to win any state of the 10 contested states in the Super Tuesday elections. Democratic nominee John Kerry named Edwards as his vice-presidential candidate for the Democratic ticket.
The Kerry-Edwards ticket lost to incumbent president George W. Bush and Dick Cheney with 48% of the vote to the Republicans' 51%.
On December 28, 2005, John Edwards officially announced that he would again seek the Democratic nomination for president for the 2008 election.
Political views
During his Senate career and the 2004 presidential campaign, one of Edwards' main themes was "Two Americas," contrasting the poorer working-class Americans with wealthier Americans.
Criticism
Edwards came under fire for not firing two of his campaign workers who made bigoted and hateful statements on their blogs. Statements included calling Christian supporters of President Bush his "wingnut Christofascist base", asking what would have happened if the Virgin Mary had taken an emergency contraceptive[1], and asking religious conservatives "What don't you lousy motherfââers understand about keeping your noses out of our britches, our beds and our families?".[2][3] These incidents were largely ignored by the mainstream media.[4] Edwards was criticized for not firing the employees, but they later resigned themselves.
Post Political Career
After losing the bid for vice president in the 2004 election, he became the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Miscellania
Books
The Four Trials (with John Auchard), about his career as a lawyer
Trivia
The $25 million settlement was the largest in NC history.
References