Edward I. Edwards
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Edward Irving Edwards (December 1, 1863–January 26, 1931) served as the 37th Governor of New Jersey from 1920 to 1923 and as Senator from 1923 to 1929. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1863, Edwards attended the Jersey City public schools and New York University in New York City and than studied law in his brother's law office, who was also a state senator. On November 14, 1888, he married Blanche Smith. They had two children, Edward Irving, Jr. and Elizabeth Jules. He engaged in banking and in the general contracting business. He later became president and chairman of the board of directors of the First National Bank of Jersey City.
Edwards entered politics and became part of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, being elected state senator in 1918. He became a friend and close political ally of Mayor Frank "Boss" Hague, who ran the Democratic machine in Hudson County and soon New Jersey. Hague supported Edwards gubernatorial run in 1919.
In 1919, World War I was over and the country was going through a turbulent period with labor strikes and Communist scares. The Republican Party was growing in power after the days of Woodrow Wilson. Republican Warren G. Harding was swept into the White House, signaling the start of "Normalcy", and Republicans won every governors race in the north and west of the country, that is except New Jersey. Edwards, running on an anti-prohibition campaign, which was called "The Applejack Campaign", edged out Republican Newton Bugbee with 52% of the vote. As governor, Edwards was frustrated with the Republican controlled legislature, with more rural interests, who overrode many of his vetoes. Edwards, who had urban interests at heart constantly voted against anything he thought would hurt the city workers, like public transportation fare increases and "blue laws". Edwards had successfully created an urban coalition. In 1920, Edwards was even considered as a potential Democratic nomination for president (the party went with James Cox of Ohio - who was crushed by Harding).
At the end of his term, forbidden by the state constitution to run for a consecutive term, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1922. Campaigning against the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) and with the support of the Hague Democratic Political Machine, Edwards defeated incumbent Republican Joseph S. Frelinghuysen by almost 90,000 votes and served from March 4, 1923, to March 3, 1929.
After six years in the Senate, Edwards ran for re-election against Republican Hamilton Kean in 1928. Kean came out against Prohibition also which hurt Edwards who used his "Applejack Campaign" so successfully in the past. Also, Edwards could not overcome the "Coolidge Prosperity" that was sweeping the country. He lost by over 230,000 votes, having 41.8% of the vote to Kean's 57.8%.
After returning to Jersey City in March of 1929, his luck turned for the worse. His wife had died in 1928 and his relationship with Mayor Hague went downhill when Hague supported A. Harry Moore instead of Edwards for governor. He went broke in the stock market crash of '29 and was implicated in a voter freud scandal. Finally, he was diagnosed with skin cancer and ended up shooting himself in his Jersey City home. He is buried in Bayview Cemetery, Jersey City in the plot of his older brother, William David Edwards, who he once worked for, who died in 1916.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- New Jersey State Library biography for Edward I. Edwards (PDF)
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for Edward Irving Edwards
- Dead Governors of New Jersey bio for Edward I. Edwards
| Preceded by: Clarence E. Case |
Governor of New Jersey 1920–1923 |
Succeeded by: George Sebastian Silzer |
| Preceded by: Joseph S. Frelinghuysen |
U.S. Senator (Class 1) from New Jersey March 4, 1923–March 3, 1929 |
Succeeded by: Hamilton F. Kean |
| Governors of New Jersey |  |
|---|---|
| Livingston • Paterson • Howell • Bloomfield • Ogden • W.S. Pennington • M. Dickerson • Williamson • Vroom • Southard • Seeley • P. Dickerson • W. Pennington • Haines • Stratton • Fort • Price • Newell • Olden • Parker • Ward • Randolph • Bedle • McClellan • Ludlow • Abbett • Green • Werts • Griggs • Voorhees • Murphy • Stokes • Fort • Wilson • Fielder • Edge • Edwards • Silzer • Moore • Larson • Hoffman • Edison • Driscoll • Meyner • Hughes • Cahill • Byrne • Kean • Florio • Whitman • DiFrancesco • McGreevey • Codey • Corzine |
