Jack Edwards

William Jackson "Jack" Edwards III (September 20, 1928 – September 27, 2019) was an American lawyer and politician from Alabama who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Alabama's 1st congressional district from 1965 to 1985. A member of the Republican Party, Edwards first won election to Congress in 1964, one of five Republicans elected to the House from Alabama amid Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater's sweep of the state in that year's presidential election.

During Ronald Reagan's presidency, Edwards became the vice chairman of the Republican leadership and was a member of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. He oversaw the funding for the rebuilding efforts of Alabama's Dauphin Island Bridge in 1979.

Early life and education William Jackson Edwards III was born near Birmingham, Alabama in 1928. His father, William Jackson Edwards Jr., had grown up in Decatur, Alabama and worked for the Rural Electrification Administration at various jobs and receiving promotions until he headed the engineering department. Young Jack also knew and shared his formal name with his long-lived grandfather, William Jackson Edwards. He had a sister, Julia Caroline Edwards Brock, and grew up in Homewood, Alabama during the Great Depression. His great-grandfather was Perry Jackson Edwards (1847–1919) of Decatur, Alabama (nicknamed "Captain Jack"), who rose to become chief inspector of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Young Jack also knew his long-lived great uncle Perry Jackson Edwards. When young Jack was 17, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served until 1951 (as the Korean War began). His great-great-grandfather, William F. Aldrich, had been the last Republican congressman from the state, serving (with a few months' break) from 1896 to 1901.

He attended the University of Alabama and became the president of the Student Government Association, then attended the University of Alabama School of Law, graduating in 1954.

Legal career

After becoming a member of the Alabama Bar, Edwards eventually moved to Point Clear, a suburb of Mobile and opened a law practice there. He became president of the Mobile Area Jaycees and in 1961 was named one of the Outstanding Young Men in America by the national Jaycees organization. Edwards also served as president of the Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo as well as chairman of America's Junior Miss Pageant. Alabama had lost one of its nine seats after the 1960 federal census, and after a statewide vote, the first district's Democratic incumbent, Frank W. Boykin, a 28-year congressional veteran recently again implicated in a corruption scandal, had been the lowest vote-getter and thus redistricted out of his office. Since Alabama could not actually lose its first district, Tyson (a lawyer like Edwards and who served in both houses of the Alabama legislature) had become his party's candidate after the Democratic primary in which he defeated Clara Stone Fields, the only woman in the Alabama legislature during that decade.

Edwards became one of five Republicans elected to the House from Alabama (the others being James D. Martin, John H. Buchanan Jr., Glenn Andrews, and William L. Dickinson) amid Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater's sweep of the state in that year's presidential election. Edwards defeated Democrat John Tyson Sr. by 19 points. He went on to be reelected nine times and served alongside five American presidents. He was also a member of the House Banking Committee.

A statement released by Edwards' family quoted him as having said "My hope is that my great grandchildren will grow up in a country where civility will have been returned to common discourse and to the efforts to solve the country’s problems."