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Edwin Washington Edwards (born August 7, 1927) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as the U.S. Representative for from 1965 to 1972 and as the 50th Governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972–1980, 1984–1988 and 1992–1996), twice as many elected terms as any other Louisiana chief executive. He served a total of sixteen years in office, the sixth-longest serving gubernatorial tenure in post-Constitutional U.S. history at 5,784 days. A colorful, powerful and legendary figure in Louisiana politics, Edwards, who has been dubbed the "very last of the line of New Deal Southern Democrats", was long dogged by charges of corruption. In 2001, he was found guilty of racketeering charges and sentenced to ten years in Federal prison. Edwards began serving his sentence in October 2002 in Fort Worth, Texas, and was later transferred to the federal facility in Oakdale, Louisiana. Edwards was released from federal prison in January 2011, after serving eight years. He entered into home confinement at his daughter's Denham Springs, Louisiana home through the supervision of a halfway house, on January 13, 2011. Following that, Edwards was placed on parole.〔Jonathan Tilove. The Times-Picayune. January 13, 2011.〕 In February 2013, Edwards was granted early release from parole. His wife Trina made the announcement on her Facebook page.〔Jeff Adelson. The Times-Picayune. February 7, 2013.〕 Without a pardon, Edwards remains ineligible to seek the governorship until 15 years have passed from the end of his sentence. In 2013, Edwards co-starred, alongside his third wife Trina, in an A&E reality show, ''The Governor's Wife'' based on their life together. In 2014, Edwards ran in the 2014 election to represent in the United States House of Representatives. He placed first in the jungle primary, but was crushed by nearly 25 points in the runoff election.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Runoff election returns, December 6, 2014 )〕 ==Early life and career== Edwin Washington Edwards was born in rural Avoyelles Parish, near Marksville. His father, Clarence Edwards, was a half-French Creole Presbyterian sharecropper, while his mother, the former Agnès Brouillette, was a French-speaking Catholic. Edwards' ancestors were among early Louisiana colonists from France who eventually settled in Avoyelles Parish, referred to as the original French Creoles. Edwards, like many 20th century politicians from Avoyelles, assumed that they had Cajun ancestry, when in fact he may have had none. His father was descended from a family in Kentucky, who came to Louisiana during the American Civil War. His great-great-grandfather, William Edwards, was killed in Marksville at the beginning of the American Civil War because of his pro-Union sentiment. Avoyelles Parish has been known for colorful politicians; another who stood out, F.O. "Potch" Didier, actually spent seven days in his own jail after being convicted of malfeasance in office during his own heated reelection.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Philip Timothy, "Ex-governor (Washington Edwards ) tops list of colorful parish politicians" )〕 The young Edwards had originally planned on a career as a preacher. As a young man, he did some preaching for the Marksville Church of the Nazarene. He served briefly in the U.S. Navy Air Corps near the end of World War II. After his return from the military, he graduated at the age of twenty-one from Louisiana State University Law Center and began practicing law in Crowley, the seat of Acadia Parish. He relocated there in 1949 after his sister, Audrey E. Isbell, who had moved there with her husband, told him there were few French-speaking attorneys in the southwestern Louisiana community. Edwards' career was thus helped by his being bilingual and articulate in both English and Cajun French. He learned to cultivate the goodwill of the media, both working reporters and editorial page editors. One of his favorites was Adras LaBorde, longtime managing editor of the ''Alexandria Daily Town Talk'' in Alexandria. LaBorde even influenced Edwards in regard to environmental policy. In 1949, Edwards married Elaine Schwartzenburg, whom he had met at Marksville High School. The couple had four children: Anna, Victoria, Stephen, and David. Edwards entered politics through election to the Crowley City Council in 1954. He was a member of the Democratic Party which, in that era, had a monopoly on public offices in Louisiana, but which fell out of favor in the late 20th century. Edwards remained on the Crowley council until his election to the Louisiana State Senate in 1964; in that race he defeated in a major political upset in the Democratic primary the incumbent Bill Cleveland, a Crowley businessman who had served for twenty years in both houses of the Louisiana legislature. Years later as governor, Edwards appointed Cleveland's daughter, Willie Mae Fulkerson (1924-2009), a former member of the Crowley City Council, to the Louisiana Board of Prisons. After serving in the state Senate for less than two years as a floor leader for Governor John McKeithen, Edwards was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 7th congressional district, a position that he held from 1965 until 1972. He won the congressional seat in a special election called when the incumbent, T. Ashton Thompson of Ville Platte, was killed in an automobile accident near Gastonia, North Carolina. Edwards was easily reelected to three full terms in the House in 1966, 1968 and 1970. In 1968, he defeated Republican Vance William Plauché (1924-2013) of Lake Charles, son of former one-term Democratic Congressman Vance Gabriel Plauché, who was also a native of Avoyelles Parish. Edwards received more than 80 percent of the general election vote. While in Congress, Edwards served on the Public Works, Judiciary, and Internal Security committees. In 1970, he was one of the few Southern congressmen to support the extension for five years of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edwin Edwards」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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