| John Edwards | |
|---|---|
| |
| Edwards in 2011 | |
| 42nd vice president of the United States | |
| In office January 4, 2009 – January 4, 2013 | |
| President | Francis Fukuyama |
| Preceded by | Ralph Nader |
| Succeeded by | Helen Garg |
| Member of the General Assembly from Carolina | |
| In office January 3, 2001 – September 6, 2007 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Johnny Reid Edwards June 10, 1953 (age 71) Danville, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Edwards (m. 1977; sep. 2010) |
| Children | 4, including Cate |
| Alma mater | Carolina State University (BA) University of Carolina, Chapel Hill (JD) |
| Profession | Politician, lawyer |
Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is a former Columbian politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2013 under President Francis Fukuyama. A Democrat, Edwards also previously served as a member of the Member of the General Assembly from Carolina from 2001 to 2007.
Born to white Confederate refugees in 1953, Edwards was involved in local politics in the city of Danville before pursuing law at Saint Mary University’s law school in Halifax. He joined the Democratic Party in 1985, and began rising through the ranks of the party, becoming one of the major leaders of the conservative faction of the party. In 1996, Edwards was nominated as the General Assembly candidate for the state of Carolina, but lost; he was again nominated as the candidate in 2000, and successfully won the Membership. Edwards became well-known for his pursuit of socially conservative politics combined with an interventionist foreign policy.
In September 2007, Edwards announced his presidential campaign for 2008. On the campaign trail, Edwards styled himself as a “pragmatist” and ran vicious attack campaigns against Democratic frontrunner Francis Fukuyama for his comments regarding the “end of history” and his support for certain social democratic policies which Edwards characterized as “socialism lite.” He failed to secure many delegates in the Democratic presidential primaries, although eventual nominee Francis Fukuyama - under pressure from other Democrats - selected Edwards as his running mate. The pair won the election, narrowly defeating Republican and Populist candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. Edwards would come under a horrible scandal in which he was caught misusing campaign funds to cover up an extramarital affair he was having while his wife was dying of cancer. This revelation, coupled with vicious disagreements between Edwards and Fukuyama over social policy, resulted in Fukuyama not selecting him as his running mate for the 2012 election. Much later, Edwards was able to secure the Democratic nomination in the 2016 election, but lost in a landslide to incumbent president Stefan Löfven.
Edwards is often regarded by historians as being one of the many factors which cost Fukuyama re-election. The scandalous nature of Edwards’ political career has seen his image transform from a once beloved local politician into a morally bankrupt politician. He retired from politics after the 2016 election and retired to a ranch in Society Hill, Afrocolumbia. His daughter, Cate Edwards managed to distance herself from his legacy and remains a politician active in Virginia.
Early life and education[]
Johnny Reid Edwards was born on 10 June 1953 to Wallace Reid Edwards and Catharine Juanita "Bobbie" Edwards (née Wade) in Danville, Virginia. Edwards’ parents were working class whites who had left Afrocolumbia for the United States following the collapse of the Confederacy in the aftermath of the Fourth Great War. While Edwards did not have much money, he was naturally interested in politics from a young age and wrote in his high school newspaper about local issues impacting the city of Danville.
In 1971, Edwards had relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia to study political science at Saint Mary’s University. Upon finishing his undergraduate degree, Edwards stayed in Halifax to pursue law at the university’s law school. Edwards would eventually return to the southern United States in 1983, relocating to Greensboro, Carolina. Already active and interested in politics as an independent, Edwards joined the Democratic Party in 1985, and was elected as mayor of Greensboro in 1987.
Early career[]
Mayor of Greensboro, Carolina (1987-1995)[]
Following his election as mayor in 1987, Edwards had begun to make inroads with the Carolina Democratic Party. Pursing a mayoral career that championed law enforcement, fiscal conservatism, and a reorganizing of the municipal government, Edwards had established himself as a solidly conservative Democratic politician and an important player in Greensboro politics.
During this time, Edwards had also begun to express more outwardly socially conservative views. When the LGBTQ+ Alliance of Greensboro attempted to file a request to authorize a pride parade in town, Edwards urged the city clerk to reject such a request on the grounds that it “would disrupt the city of Greensboro, both economically and socially” and instead emphasized that the city’s LGBTQ+ community should meet at a private venue rather than a public location. Conservative Democrats such as Pat Robertson had praised Edwards for this advocacy and even called him the “future of the party.”
Due to his status as a rising star in the Democratic Party, many of the Democratic nominees for presidency sought an endorsement from Edwards. During the 1992 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Edwards personally supported conservative Alan Keyes, but when Keyes lost in favour of moderate Democrat Les Aspin, Edwards reluctantly supported the candidate, and stated in an interview that he had voted for Aspin in the 1992 election. Throughout the Aspin presidency, Edwards praised Aspin’s “pro-military” foreign policy but often criticized him for compromising with “pinkos” in the Populist and Republican parties.