India Edwards

India Edwards (June 16, 1895 – January 14, 1990) was an American journalist and political advisor who served as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. She was an advocate for women in politics. Her memoirs, Pulling No Punches, were published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1977.

Early life and education Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1895, to John A. and India H. (Thomas) Gillespie and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.

Career Edwards started her career as a Chicago Tribune journalist and was society editor from 1918 to 1936 and women's page editor from 1936 to 1942. In 1950, Edwards was unanimously elected to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and occupied the vice-chair position from 1950 to 1956. Still, Edwards remained active in the Democratic Party politics for over thirty years throughout the careers of such politicians as Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

Truman campaigns and administration Edwards accompanied President Harry Truman, whom she deeply admired and was called her "political hero," on his 1948 campaign tour; she was confident he would win, and Truman confided in her that he sometimes thought he and she were the only ones who believed he would win.

Her influence over Truman caused him to appoint many women to prominent positions, including Eugenia Anderson as United States Ambassador to Denmark, Perle Mesta as United States Minister to Luxembourg, Ruth Bryan Rohde as an alternate delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt as the head of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly, and Georgia Neese Clark as Treasurer of the United States. At the 1952 Democratic National Convention, her name was included, as a symbolic gesture, in the nominations for vice president.

Edwards explained how she increased the number of women in federal positions by saying, "Sometimes I felt like a ghoul. I'd read the obits, and as soon as a man had died, I'd rush over to the White House and suggest a woman to replace him."