Edwin Edwards: How Gambling Brought Down Louisiana's "Cajun King"

 

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Reporters covering the 1985 trial of Governor Edwin Edwards were treated to an unusual photo opportunity one day as Louisiana's chief executive arrived for the proceedings. Instead of pulling up in the governor's official car, Edwards had opted to ride a mule-drawn carriage to the courthouse. He joked to reporters that he "was looking for some mode of transportation that was indicative of the pace of the trial," which would plod on for 14 weeks.

The incident was just one of the many folksy ways Edwards endeared himself to Louisiana's citizens and annoyed those who sought to hold him to account for his widely suspected corruption. He had figured into numerous grand jury investigations, but 1985 trial on improperly awarding state contracts would be the first time he faced actual charges. Edwards responded with decided nonchalance, offering 2-1 gambling odds on his acquittal and suggesting that his health was good enough that he might just be able to endure the maximum potential prison sentence of over 250 years.

Edwards was a deft politician whose ability to present himself as a man of the people made him perhaps the most popular figure in Louisiana since Huey Long. Although his underlying flaws and corruption would begin to catch up to him later in his career, he still managed to stage an unprecedented comeback to the governor's mansion against an unlikely foe. It was only in his later years, with his political career behind him, that prosecutors were finally able to decisively pin charges against him.

From the church to the House

Edwin Washington Edwards was born on August 6, 1927, on a sharecroppers' farm in Avoyelles Parish, near the town of Marksville. His father was half-Cajun and his mother was a descendant of Louisiana's French settlers, a heritage which established Edwards' strong Creole identity at an early age.

Edwards was raised in the local Nazarene Church, which advocated for discipline, austerity, and assisting the poor, along with refraining from vices like drinking, smoking, and extramarital sex. This religious upbringing had a substantial impact on Edwards, as he would become strongly committed to supporting those in need and would frequently quote from the Bible during his political career. He was more skeptical of the church's dogmatic beliefs, and only partly influenced by its position on moral behavior; while he never partook in drinking or smoking, Edwards would later become known as a notorious gambler and womanizer.

Nevertheless, Edwards considered becoming a preacher, and did some preaching in a Protestant church in his youth. While he opted against following this career path, he ultimately decided to become a Catholic at the urging of his first wife, Elaine Schwartzenburg, whom he married in 1949.

Edwards attended Louisiana State University for one year, but left to enlist in the Navy during the closing months of World War II. He was trained as an aviation cadet but never saw combat, as Japan surrendered shortly before he was to be deployed to the Pacific. He was discharged in 1946, returned to LSU, and received his law degree in 1949.

Edwards during his brief time in the Navy (Source)

Learning from his sister that there were few French-speaking attorneys in the city of Crowley, where she had moved with her husband, Edwards opted to move to the community as well and establish a private practice. He began his political career here as well, serving on the city council from 1954 to 1962 and acting as the ad hoc city court judge during the 1950s.

In 1964, Edwards scored a major upset victory when he defeated Bill Cleveland, who had been in the Louisiana state legislature for two decades, to win a seat in the state senate. He would only serve here for one year before winning a special election as a Democrat to the House of Representatives to fill a vacancy left by Representative T. Ashton Thompson, who had died suddenly in a car accident. 

Edwards would remain in the House until 1972, and earn distinction as one of the few Southern congressmen to back the Voting Rights Act of 1965, voicing his approval for five-year extensions of the legislation in 1966 and 1970. This was particularly unusual as 80 percent of the voters in Edwards' district had cast their ballot for segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace in 1968.

Governor of Louisiana

In 1971, Edwards entered Louisiana's convoluted race for governor. At this point, the race involved a closed Democratic primary, followed by a runoff among the top Democratic contenders. The ensuing general election was little more than a formality, as the Democratic Party had solid control of the state and the Republicans had not held the governor's office since Reconstruction.

Edwards managed to win strong support among the Cajun, Creole, and Black populations in Louisiana. He placed first among 17 contenders in his party's primary, then cruised to an easy victory at the general election. When he was sworn in on May 9, 1972, Edwards became the first Catholic governor in the United States and the first with Cajun ancestry.

Returning the support he had received from the state's minorities, Edwards named several Black residents to key political posts. He was also openly supportive of many Black politicians in Louisiana, which helped to expand his base and establish a more welcoming and inclusive environment in the state.

During his first term, Edwards pledged to help the downtrodden people of his state. One of the most important changes he made to fulfill this promise was pushing for legislation that changed the severance tax on the extraction of crude oil from a flat rate of  26 cents per barrel to 12.5 percent of the market price. When oil prices soared during the energy crisis of the 1970s, the change allowed revenues to pour into the state coffers.

The income allowed Edwards to close budget deficits, reduce state income and sales tax, and completely eliminate a state property tax. In addition, it enabled the governor to direct more investments in public improvements, including education, state parks, tourism, and state hospital and welfare programs. 

Edwards also supported a constitutional convention to update Louisiana's 1921 governing document. The convention took place in 1973, with the new constitution going into effect in 1975. It gave the governor broader leeway to reorganize the executive branch, which Edwards consolidated by boiling 258 independent agencies down into a cabinet-style government. The new constitution also had the effect of changing the election process to an open primary, doing away with the clunky old system by allowing all candidates (regardless of political party) to run for office, with a runoff taking place if no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote. 

The impetus for this change was an effort to minimize the expense of a general election campaign, something the Democratic Party in Louisiana considered to be an annoyance and a waste given the party's dominance. Ironically, it would help strengthen Republican influence in the state since it gave the GOP the opportunity to mount a stronger campaign from the outset. It would also set the stage for Edwards' unexpected return to power 16 years later.

Early scandals

Although Edwards easily won re-election in 1975, his second term was clouded by accusations of wrongdoing. Clyde Vidrine, who had served as Edwards' bodyguard and later his executive aide before being fired due to a questionable real estate deal, published a salacious book in 1977 about Edwards' conduct. Just Takin' Orders accused the governor of trading government posts for campaign contributions and described wild trips to Las Vegas, where Edwards ran up gambling debts and, on one occasion, took five women to bed in a row.

Edwards responded to the accusations with his trademark wit and charm. He joked that the campaign contributions were "illegal for them to give, but not for me to receive." He offered a few quips to the charge of infidelity, suggesting that Elaine knew it wasn't true because he was "only good for four-and-a-half times," or that Vidrine had neglected to mention a sixth woman he slept with after his aide left.

Vidrine's accusations were still enough to spark several investigations into the governor. While these inquiries didn't result in criminal charges, one did conclude that Edwards owed $5,000 in back taxes.

Vidrine also tipped off the IRS about cash Edwards received from Tongsun Park in 1971 while he was in the House. A known South Korean intelligence agent, Park had been accused of trying to bribe congressmen to pressure President Richard Nixon to reverse his decision to remove ground troops from Korea. Several congressmen would be reprimanded in the "Koreagate" scandal, and Edwards' fellow Louisiana  congressman Otto Passman was one of two who received criminal charges in the matter.

Edwards denied Vidrine's claim that Park had delivered $20,000 to him, but admitted that Elaine had received money from the agent. He claimed he knew Park as a businessman, but only became aware of the money he had paid his wife when the IRS questioned him on his revenues.

Vidrine continued to nurse a grudge against Edwards, and would later update and reissue his book after Edwards' trial in 1985. In a strange coda, the governor's former aide was gunned down outside a federal courthouse in Shreveport in December 1986, the victim of the enraged ex-husband of a woman he had been dating.

Return to office

Louisiana's constitution limited governors to two terms, so Edwards returned to private practice after leaving office in 1980. In the 1979 election, voters backed David C. Treen, the first Republican to become governor of Louisiana in more than a century.

Treen was dogged by poor economic conditions throughout his term in office. The recession of the early 1980s caused unemployment to soar, with the state's oil and gas industry being hit especially hard. The governor and legislature struggled to balance the state budget amid declining revenues. Louisiana residents waxed nostalgic about the boom times under Edwards; the former governor noticed, and announced his intention to run for a third term.

Edwards launched a lively campaign, delivering fierce attack's on Treen's administration. One campaign brochure, criticizing a reduction in human services to pay for a 33 percent tax cut, shouted, "Edwards Giveth; Treen Taketh Away!" Edwards declared his opponent "so slow it takes him an hour and a half to watch 60 Minutes" and, during one debate, responded to Treen's accusation that he talked out of both sides of his mouth by saying it was so "people like you with only half a brain can understand me." Confident in his chances of being returned to office, Edwards crowed, "The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."

The Treen campaign zeroed in on suspicions of Edwards' corrupt nature. They brought up Park's gift to Elaine, and pointed out how either Edwards or his associates had been the targets of 27 grand jury investigations. Treen also noted how Edwards had been particularly lenient with his pardon power, granting 1,181 requests during the last four-and-a-half years he was in office. 

Voters were content to excuse Edwards' questionable character if it meant there was a chance to bring back the good old days. When the results came in, Edwards had trounced Treen with 62 percent of the vote.

Faced with $4 million in campaign debt, Edwards mounted a lavish victory celebration to break even. He chartered a trip to France in January 1984, charging $10,000 a person. A total of 618 people attended, including 60 from the Louisiana state legislature. During a trip to the palace at Versailles, he commented, "I've wanted all my life to be a king, and now I can be."

Edwards during his celebratory trip to Paris (Source)

There were also lingering signs of corruption within the Edwards administration. Commissioner Charles E. Roemer, the father of his future gubernatorial opponent Buddy Roemer, was implicated in scandals involving overpayments to state computer contracts and mismanagement of the state employees' hospitalization insurance program. Michael O'Keefe, a state senator and one of Edwards' strongest allies, was convicted on various corruption charges.

Then, on February 28, 1985, one of the many grand jury investigations against Edwards finally returned an indictment.

1985 corruption charges

Edwards was charged with 50 counts in total, his alleged crimes including conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering. Prosecutors charged that he had received $1.9 million from hospitals and nursing homes while out of office in exchange for the promise that he would grant them the state permits necessary to qualify for Medicare and Medicaid payments if he was returned to office. Charged alongside the governor were his brother Marion, his nephew and real estate broker Charles David Isbel, business partners Ronald Falgout and James Wyllie, businessman Gus Mijalis, and architect Perry Segura.

The state said that the defendants had crafted an elaborate scheme to rake in funding. Isbell would secure the land for new hospitals and nursing homes, Segura would draft their plans, and Marion would send developers in need of permits to Isbell to purchase the land. Prosecutors said that some of the defendants had also established the entity Health Services Department Corporation but concealed Edwards' role in it to outsiders, then promised that Edwards would be able to use his power and influence to give preferential treatment to those who paid the corporation. Once he had returned to office, Edwards had indeed approved five of the corporation's proposed projects despite a moratorium that had been established on granting the necessary permits.

Edwards during his 1985 trial (Source)

Prosecutors charged that Edwards' gambling habits had motivated the crimes, since he had racked up $2 million in debts at Las Vegas casinos. Edwards admitted that he had been a partner in Health Services Development Corporation and that he had made about $2 million in the venture, but claimed that this had been the result of shrewd business practices rather than corruption. Several newspapers and state officials had called for him to resign in response to the indictment, but Edwards said he would only do so if he was found guilty.

During the trial, state witnesses testified to the group's business dealings. Health Services Development Corporation had made about $10 million through dealings with 16 corporations, including five that prosecutors defined as shell corporations defined only by their state permit. Kathryn Lichtenberg, a New Orleans lawyer who had formerly worked for Wyllie, said he had boasted that there would be a "gravy train" once Edwards was returned to office. 

Prosecutors also brought in casino executives, who confirmed Edwards' severe gambling debt and the suspicious way he paid it off. After being returned to office, Edwards had summoned the executives to the governor's mansion and handed over suitcases stuffed with cash to pay down what he owed. The state also showed how Edwards had gambled under multiple names to try to hide his losses, and had never declared the gambling losses on his taxes despite incurring them between 1982 and 1984.

Edwards testified in his own defense, reiterating his claim that he had earned money honestly rather than by exerting influence. The defense team also managed to undermine the prosecution's claim that Edwards' role in the corporation was a conflict of interest due to the possibility that he might return to office, noting how he was fully ensconced in the private sector when the alleged crimes occurred.

Deliberating the matter, the jury wound up deadlocked for six days. Eleven jurors favored acquittal while one considered Edwards to be guilty. The judge eventually declared a mistrial, and acquitted three defendants for lack of evidence.

The matter went to a second trial, where the defense opted not to present arguments due to the belief that the state had not shown sufficient evidence of guilt. Edwards was acquitted on May 11, 1986. Appearing before supporters on the courthouse steps after the decision, he accused the prosecution of being politically motivated and boasted that "this courthouse is a citadel of justice, not a cesspool of Republican politics."

Nevertheless, Edwards' reputation had been badly tarnished. A poll taken two weeks after the indictment showed that just one in three respondents supported the governor, and political analysts opined that Edwards was unlikely to run for a fourth term even if he emerged triumphant from the trial. A cloud of suspicion still hung around the governor; he had been under investigation for potentially illegal ties with oil companies at the time of his indictment, and was later scrutinized for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries' purchase of land owned by people who contributed to Edwards' campaign.

Edwards' third term was also proving not to be the miracle cure voters might have expected. Edwards was facing the same challenges that had dogged Treen. With the plunge in oil prices severely constraining the funds that had been available during his first two terms, Edwards was forced to implement new taxes, substantially reduce state departments, and cut several programs to make up a $700 million budget deficit. His popularity took an immediate hit. 

The administration suffered another black eye with the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. The event had attracted only 7 million guests, 4 million fewer than expected, and was forced to declare bankruptcy. Edwards backed a decision to bail out the World's Fair with $65 million in state funds to keep it solvent.

During the first round of the gubernatorial primary in 1987, Edwards faced a stiff challenge from Rep. Buddy Roemer, who accused Edwards of trying to turn Louisiana into a "banana republic." When the results came in, Roemer had earned 33 percent of the vote to Edwards' 28 percent. Certain that he wouldn't emerge as the victor, Edwards decided to drop out of the race.

Challenge from a grand wizard

Roemer was saddled with unpopularity from the start of his term. Under the primary rules, Edwards' withdrawal as the candidate receiving the second most votes made Roemer the winner by default, despite having the support of only one-third of the electorate. 

Roemer's rise had been driven in part by Edwards' falling star and in part by his promotion of several reform measures, including investing more in educational spending, getting tough on polluters, cutting taxes and reducing wasteful spending, confronting crime, and cleaning up corruption in state politics. However, his progress on these promises was decidedly slow as he faced ongoing fiscal crises as well as stiff opposition in the state legislature. His foes also accused him of being arrogant, antisocial, and inaccessible, as he tended to prefer working in private to the boisterous gladhanding favored by Edwards.

As the 1991 election approached, Roemer made the shortsighted decision to switch his allegiance to the Republican Party. He wound up being contested by Rep. Clyde Holloway, who rallied Louisiana's fundamentalist Christian wing to challenge Roemer's pro-choice stance. The state GOP convention ultimately endorsed Holloway despite Roemer's attempt to get the gathering canceled. Roemer had also failed to notice an upswell of support for an unlikely challenger.

David Duke during his 1991 gubernatorial campaign (Source)

David Duke's youth had been defined by his vocal and unabashed support for white supremacy. He had espoused his love of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during his time as a student at Louisiana State University, joined the Ku Klux Klan, and become the grand wizard of a similar organization - Knights of the Ku Klux Klan - which he had established to try to cloak his cause in a more legitimate facade.

Duke ran for office several times during the 1970s and 1980s, though the odds of his victory were so slim that several supporters denounced them as little more than attempts to bilk gullible racists out of their money. Yet he won a surprise victory in 1989 when he was elected as a Republican to the Louisiana state legislature from the New Orleans suburb of Metamie. He served a single term, where his signature achievements were authoring a bill to limit affirmative action in Louisiana and leading opposition to Roemer's proposed reform of the state tax system.

By this time, Duke was trying to cast himself as a reformed and respectable man, a born-again Christian whose radical days were behind him. Nevertheless, many of his political positions were thinly rebranded versions of the racist views he had trumpeted as a Klansman. He fiercely criticized affirmative action and social welfare programs, raising the specter of minorities being placed in jobs they were not qualified for or lazily benefiting from the tax dollars of hard-working citizens. Despite the promise of self-reform, critics pointed out how he continued to sell anti-Semitic literature out of his state legislator's office.

Duke's arguments nevertheless resonated with many white voters in Louisiana. When he mounted a race for the U.S. Senate in 1990 as an unendorsed Republican, he performed surprisingly well against Bennett Johnston, the Democratic incumbent who had first been elected in 1972. Johnston won the race with just 53.9 percent of the vote, while Duke earned a majority of the white vote.

As the 1991 gubernatorial election approached, Roemer was unconcerned by potential challenges from both Edwards and Duke. He had already bested Edwards once despite his strong presence in the state, and figured that Duke's unsavory past would fail to make him a strong contender. Early polls showed that 35 percent of the electorate supported Roemer while 25 percent favored Edwards and only 15 percent planned to vote for Duke. By the eve of the October 19 primary, Edwards and Roemer were neck and neck in the polls (31 percent to 30 percent) while Duke trailed at 20 percent.

The primary results were a major shock. Edwards had been the top candidate with 523,096 votes, but voters had also turned out in force for Duke. He was barely 30,000 votes behind the former governor, earning 491,342 ballots in total. Roemer had fallen about 80,000 short of Edwards, knocking him out of the race.

Showdown with Duke

The runoff now came down to Edwards and Duke, and the Louisiana governor's election soon gained international attention. Many onlookers were disgusted by the implications of the race. Barely two decades after the civil rights movement had endured bloodshed and terrorism to topple segregation and advance equal rights reforms, a former grand wizard of the KKK now had a fighting chance to be the top elected official in a Deep South state.

The Democrats mounted a massive campaign against Duke, zeroing in on his long record of hatred and bigotry. The effort attracted a groundswell of support from business owners fearful that tourists would boycott Louisiana if Duke were to be elected, as well as civil rights groups and local newspapers. National GOP leaders, including President George H.W. Bush, also denounced Duke and disavowed his connection with their party. One anti-Duke advertisement featured a World War II veteran in full military uniform, declaring, "I joined the Army in 1944 to fight the Nazis. And I'm going to fight the Nazis in this election." 

Faced with such an unsavory alternative, Edwards' former opponents publicly backed him. Treen and Roemer encouraged voters to cast their ballots for the former governor. Edwards concentrated on appealing to the voters who had backed Roemer in the first primary vote; like Duke, he promised that he had reformed himself. "I don't want to live the rest of my life with a legacy of bad marks I had eight years ago, six years ago," he said.

For many voters, the choice between a Klansman and an ex-governor who had been tried for corruption was an easy one to make, if not exactly palatable. The attitude was reflected in bumper stickers reading "Vote For the Crook. It's Important" and "Vote for the Lizard, Not the Wizard." Edwards got in on the fun, delivering the bawdy remark that he and Duke were "both wizards under the sheets."

Duke's campaign suffered some additional blows in the last days of the campaign. In a fiery debate between Edwards and Duke on Tim Russert's Meet the Press, Duke was unable to answer questions about Louisiana's top industries or how much of the population lived below the poverty line. On November 5, 11 days before the election, Duke campaign staffer Bob Hawks quit and publicly charged that Duke's conversion to Christianity was a hoax.

When the runoff election was held, Duke still managed to win 671,009 votes, including the majority of the white and GOP vote. Yet the overall result was a landslide victory for Edwards. He had pulled 61 percent of the vote, or 1.06 million ballots, to win an unprecedented fourth term as Louisiana governor. 

Fourth term and riverboat gambling scandal

Following his previous rocky time in office, Edwards enjoyed more success in his fourth term. He managed to balance the state budget and oversee modest increases in state funding for public programs in health, education, and welfare, as well as funding for a new arena in New Orleans and investments in existing sports facilities. Edwards also remarried during this term; following his 1989 divorce from Elaine, with whom he had four children, he tied the knot with Candy Picou, a nurse nearly four decades younger than him.

Seeking to diversify the state's revenues, Edwards also worked to bring casino and riverboat gambling to Louisiana. The state struck a deal with Harrah's to establish a casino in the heart of New Orleans, although this venture nearly collapsed when Harrah's declared bankruptcy in 1995; Edwards' successor, Governor Murphy Foster, subsequently renegotiated the contract and the casino opened in 1999. Riverboat gambling had already proved to be a successful tourist attraction and source of income in neighboring Mississippi, and Louisiana established the Riverboat Gaming Commission to grant licenses for similar ventures. 

This process would prove to be Edwards' undoing, although his reckoning would not come until several years after he left office in 1996. The Riverboat Gaming Commission considered 43 applications for 15 available licenses, and all of them had ultimately gone to Edwards' political backers. When investigators looked into the matter, they soon charged Edwards and several associates with a scheme similar to the one the governor had been accused of years earlier: accepting payments in exchange for preferential treatment.

Similar to the 1985 case, Edwards was accused of partnering with others in a moneymaking scheme that rewarded those who paid the price. Prosecutors also accused his son Stephen, former Edwards aide Andrew Martin, Baton Rouge businessman Bobby Johnson, and cattleman Cecil Brown of partaking in the shakedown. 

At the trial, one key witness was Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr., the former owner of the San Francisco 49ers. DeBartolo said that he had visited Edwards in the governor's mansion one night before the commission's final meeting, and that Edwards had slid him a piece of paper with the figure $400,000 on it. "This has to be taken care of by next week or there's going to be a serious problem with your license," he declared. Edwards had also demanded a 1 percent stake in the profits from DeBartolo's casino.

DeBartolo testified that he had subsequently met Edwards in San Francisco to turn over a suitcase full of money. Asking how Edwards planned to get the suitcase past scrutiny at the airport, Edwards showed him a hidden money belt he intended to use to smuggle the cash back home.

The payoff had ultimately not been worth it for DeBartolo. Once his misdeed was discovered, he was convicted of failing to report a felony, sentenced to two years of probation, and fined $1 million. He had also been ordered to relinquish his casino license and turn over control of the 49ers to his sister.

Other witnesses described similar arrangements through Edwards' associates. Robert Guidry, a Louisiana businessman, described leaving large sums of cash in trash receptables for Edwards or his associates to collect. Guidry said he had struck an agreement in which he would pay Martin $100,000 a month in exchange for the approval of a riverboat gambling license. Like DeBartolo, the conduct had gotten him in trouble with the authorities; in 1998, he had pleaded guilty to an extortion charge for paying a total of $1.5 million to the Edwardses and Martin.

The defense argued that the state's case was too flimsy to stand, saying it was based on secret recordings, misinterpreted conversations, and testimony from people who were trying to give evidence in exchange for reducing the punishment for their own crimes. Edwards remained unflappable, quipping to reporters that he could cover any punishment with time served if the judge considered all the time he had spent before grand juries and trials. 

The jury found all defendants guilty on May 9, 2000. Edwards was convicted of 17 counts of racketeering, extortion, and conspiracy. 

Sentencing in the case did not take place until January 8, 2001. All five defendants were ordered to split a forfeiture of $1.8 million to give up any gains they had realized from the scheme. The judge ordered Stephen to spend seven years behind bars and pay a $60,000 fine. The other defendants were ordered to pay $50,000 fines. Martin was given a prison sentence of five years and eight months, while Brown received a five-and-a-half year term and Johnson received four months.

The stiffest punishment was reserved for Edwards. The ex-governor was given a hefty $250,000 fine and ordered to spend 10 years in prison. He began serving his time in 2002.

Many observers, even those who had previously criticized Edwards, felt this penalty was excessive. Treen became one of Edwards' staunchest advocates, pushing for his early release until he passed away in 2009. Those calling for a presidential pardon for Edwards included former President George H.W. Bush.

Later life

Despite the calls for leniency, Edwards served the bulk of his term. He was released from prison in January 2011.

One surprising result of his imprisonment was a new relationship. Edwards divorced Picou in 2004 and wound up striking up a pen pal relationship with Trina Grimes Scott, a woman 51 years his junior. Six months after he was freed, Edwards and Grimes were married. He joked that he would have gone to prison a happy man if he had known he would find new love as a result, saying, "As you know, they sent me to prison for life. But I came back with a wife." 

Edwards and Trina Grimes Scott on the couple's wedding day (Source)

Edwards remained a fairly popular figure in Louisiana, despite the stain of corruption. In the fall of 2011, he was the grand marshal of the International Rice Festival in Crowley. A year later, he was crowned king of the Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade in Baton Rouge. 

Edwards' new marriage to a much younger wife briefly earned the couple a spot in the national limelight, as they were featured on the short-lived A&E series The Governor's Wife in 2013. That same year, Edwards became a father again at the age of 85 as Trina gave birth to a son.

In 2014, Edwards made one last bid for elected office when he ran for a seat in the House of Representatives. The bid was widely viewed as quixotic given his age, his scandalous history, and the shift in the state's political climate that had granted the Republican Party more solid control of its political offices. Although Edwards secured the Democratic nomination, he was trounced in the general election when GOP candidate Garrett Graves came away with 62 percent of the vote. 

Edwards died of respiratory failure in Gonzales, Louisiana, on July 12, 2021.

Sources

National Governors Association, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Louisiana Secretary of State's Office, Acadian Museum, "Louisiana Governor Says His Wife Was Given $10,000 by South Korean" in the New York Times on Oct. 26 1976, "Ex-Aide Testifies Edwards Given Cash by Park" in the Washington Post on Jan. 24 1977, "The Healer Returneth" in The New Republic on Oct. 31 1983, "618 Louisianans Go to Paris for 'Biggest Single Fund-Raiser'" in the New York Times on Jan. 30 1984, "Gov. Edwards Today Reviewed..." in the UPI on Mar. 1 1985, "Louisiana Governor Going to Trial" in the Christian Science Monitor on Sep. 16 1985, "Louisiana Governor's Trial Hears Co-Defendant Saw a 'Gravy Train'" in the New York Times on Oct. 4 1985, "Ten Grand Juries Investigate Edwards" in UPI on May 10 1986, "Louisiana's Governor Acquitted in 2d Trial on Fraud Charges" in the New York Times on May 11 1986, "DeBartolo: Edwards Got $400K" on CBS on March 27 2000, "Ex-Edwards Friend Clyde Vidrine Slain" in The Town Talk on Dec. 17 1986, "Louisiana Governor's Mixed Legacy" in The Oklahoman on Mar. 9 1995, "Casino Operator Details Alleged Kickback Scheme in Louisiana Trial" in the Las Vegas Sun on Jan. 31 2000, "Former La. Governor Sentenced to 10 Years" in the Las Vegas Sun on Jan. 9 2001, "J. Bennett Johnston: The Rappahannock Resident Who Defeated White Supremacist David Duke" in the Rappahannock News on Sep. 11 2017, "Edwin Edwards, Flamboyant Louisiana Governor, is Dead at 93" in the New York Times on Jul. 12 2021, "Edwin Edwards Has Died" in Avoyelles Today on Jul. 12 2021, "Former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards Has Died" on 4WWL on July 12 2021, "Populist Edwin Edwards, a 'Cajun King,' Loved His Louisiana" in the Associated Press on Jul. 12 2021, "Edwin Edwards Dies; Knew Power and Prison" in Biz New Orleans on Jul. 12 2021, "The Epic Lives of Edwin W. Edwards" in Bayou Brief on Jul. 18 2021, Louisiana: A History edited by Bennet H. Wall and John C. Rodrigue, Louisiana and Its People by Sue Eaton and Manie Culbertson, Louisiana Almanac, 2006-2007 Edition edited by Milburn Calhoun and Jeanne Frois, The Rise of David Duke by Tyler Bridges, Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right by Jeffrey Kaplan, Wizards: David Duke, America's Wildest Election, and the Rise of the Far Right by Brian Fairbanks, Reforming New Orleans: The Contentious Politics of Change in the Big Easy by Peter F. Burns and Matthew O. Thomas, How the South Joined the Gambling Nation: The Politics of State Policy Innovation by Michael Nelson and John Lyman Mason

Richard W. Leche: keep on trucking

Source: knowla.org

When the political machine overseen by Huey P. Long was left leaderless after Long's assassination, Richard Webster Leche was selected to take the reins. Leche's time as governor of Louisiana would essentially mark the beginning of the end of the Long machine's power, as he retreated from some positions held by the late "Kingfish." Leche himself would be be best known for making good on a statement he made after his inauguration: "When I took the oath of office, I didn't take any vow of poverty."

Born in New Orleans on May 15, 1898, Leche attended the local schools before starting studies at Tulane University. The entry of the United States into World War I interrupted his education, as Leche volunteered for the Army. He fell ill in the outbreak of Spanish influenza and never saw active combat, but still managed to serve two years in the military and leave as a second lieutenant in the infantry. After some time as an auto parts salesman in Chicago, Leche returned to school and earned an LL.B from Loyola University in 1923. He began practicing law soon after.

Leche's first bid for public office came in 1928, when he ran as a Democrat for the Louisiana state senate. Though he was unsuccessful, the experience did bring Leche into the fold of Long's machine as it successfully sent the Kingfish into the governor's office. Two years later, when Long ran for Senate, Long managed his campaign as well as that of congressional candidate of Paul H. Maloney. Both men were elected.

Long refused to relinquish the governor's title even after his election to the Senate, continuing his state duties until January of 1932. When he left the state title, it kicked off a procession of short-lived governors. Though Lieutenant Governor Paul N. Cyr was in line to take Long's place, Long managed to maneuver state senate president Alvin O. King into the office. King served for only a matter of months before he was replaced by Oscar K. Allen, a former state senator.

Leche served as King's private secretary and legal adviser between 1932 and 1934. He left the position when he was appointed to the Louisiana Court of Appeals, Parish of Orleans. Leche may have happily left politics behind in favor of a judicial career but for an unexpected event in September of 1935. Long, nearing the end of his first Senate term, had recently announced that he would run for President. When visiting the state capitol in Baton Rouge, he was fatally shot by an assassin. Without the Kingfish, there was a vacuum at the top of the Long machine.

Leche was chosen to fill this void. With Allen's death in January of 1936, Lieutenant Governor James A. Noe reluctantly held the governor's office for the remainder of the term. Leche easily won the Democratic nomination, earning three times the number of votes as the anti-Long candidate. He ran unopposed in the general election in April and was sworn into office in May, becoming the first governor to have access to the significant executive powers the legislature bestowed upon the office after Long's death.

During his term, Leche kept up some of Long's initiatives to improve state infrastructure but also worked to improve Louisiana's relations with the federal government through stronger support of New Deal programs. He oversaw improvements to roads, bridges, and schools as well as the construction of new hospitals. Leche's term included the establishment of a department of commerce and industry, the passing of a state conservation bill, and the organization of a state mineral board. Leche also took some steps that Long had strongly opposed, including a 10-year tax exemption for new businesses and a one percent sales tax to support welfare programs.

Leche may have sought to abandon his role as governor before the completion of his term, as he had his eye on one of two new federal district court judge's positions created in Louisiana in 1938. By this time, however, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into possible financial wrongdoing and improper relations among state departments in Louisiana. Leche made only $7,500 a year as governor, but he had managed to purchase a yacht, country estate, and private hunting reserve during his short  time in office. Leche had also made the questionable decision to fund a lavish, air-conditioned cage for the Louisiana State University tiger mascot as the state's residents suffered the hardships of the Great Depression.

The Times-Picayune and its afternoon paper, States, joined in the offensive against state corruption. Articles exposed misdeeds among state officials, including a practice among Long stalwarts to force supporters in the state government to deduct from their salaries to support political causes. The coverage did not gain much traction until an article in 1939 which included a photo of an LSU truck delivering windows to a house construction site of Leche's close friends, James and Catherine McLachlan.

Leche resigned later in the month, citing poor health. He was succeeded by Earl K. Long, Huey Long's younger brother. The resignation came just as the widespread state corruption was exposed in a torrent of criminal charges that came to be known as the Louisiana Scandals. Some 250 people were indicted. Several Long supporters committed suicide, and LSU president James Monroe Smith fled to Canada in an unsuccessful effort to avoid punishment. Prosecutors estimated that about $100 million had been swindled from the state in the course of the scandals. The revelation of this corruption also allowed the anti-Long faction to break the machine's extended hold on the governor's office; though Earl K. Long would return for two non-consecutive terms in the late 1940s and 1950s, anti-Long Democrat Sam H. Jones defeated him in the 1940 gubernatorial election.

Leche was indicted later in 1939 and accused of complicity in a number of schemes. One charged that he conspired with businessmen Freeman Burford and Seymour Weiss to step up oil production and pipe the excess into Texas in violation of interstate commerce law, netting a $67,000 profit by dodging oil regulations. Leche was also accused of misusing money intended for LSU and using money from the Works Progress Administration, a federal program of the New Deal, to build his house. Another scheme involved the sale of 233 trucks to the State Highway Commission at inflated prices between 1937 and 1938; prosecutors charged that Leche's political allies had managed the sales and defrauded the state of $111,370, with the governor receiving $31,000 in kickbacks for his role.

Leche admitted to making money on the oil deal, paying only $10,000 for a house worth $75,000, and netting an income of $450,000 while in office. However, he argued that he had made this money through legal means. He said he had made a profit from oil and gas commissions as well as the sale of a Long-friendly newspaper called American Progress.

Though a jury acquitted Leche on bribery charges, he was convicted of mail fraud related to the truck scheme in June of 1940. Sentenced to 10 years in prison and disbarment, he began serving his jail time in December of 1941. Released on parole in 1945, Leche turned to agriculture and began running the Bayou Gardens, a nursery that still exists today. President Harry Truman, shortly before leaving office in January of 1953, granted Leche a pardon.

The presidential action allowed Leche to be readmitted to the bar, and he resumed his legal practice. He also began serving as a construction lobbyist in the 1960s. Leche died on February 22, 1965.

Sources: National Governors Association, Louisiana Secretary of State, The Encyclopedia of Louisiana, "Federal Jury Indicts Leche of Louisiana" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 7 1939, "Leche in Penitentiary" in the Times Daily on Dec. 31 1941, "1939: Political Scandals Capture New Orleans Headlines" in the Times-Picayune on Nov. 12 2011, Political Corruption in America: An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power, and Greed by Mark Grossman, The Governors of Louisiana by Miriam G. Reeves, Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers by Walter Greaves-Cowan and Jack B. McGuire, I Called Him Grand Dad by Thomas T. Fields Jr.

Joe Waggonner: solicitation immunity

Image from waggonnercenter.org

A close friend of Wilbur Mills, a fellow member of the House of Representatives, Joseph David Waggonner, Jr. was there to support Mills following revelations that he had a dubious relationship with a stripper and was struggling with alcohol problems. Two years later, Waggonner weathered his own scandal.

Waggonner was born in Plain Dealing, Louisiana in September of 1918. He graduated from Plain Dealing High School in 1935 before earning a bachelor's degree from Louisiana Tech University in 1941. Although he entered the business world after this graduation, he joined the Navy for the duration of World War II and returned for service in the Korean War between 1951 and 1952.

Waggonner's first experience with politics began in 1954, when he was elected to the Bossier Parish school board. He served there for six years, spending his last year as a member of the Louisiana state board of education as well. In 1961, he was the president of both the United Schools Committee of Louisiana and Louisiana School Boards Association. Waggonner also ran unsuccessfully for state comptroller in 1959.

When Representative Overton Brooks died in September of 1961, the district held a special election in December to fill the vacancy. Waggonner was chosen as the Democratic nominee and faced off against Republican candidate Charlton H. Lyons, Sr. Both men were extremely conservative and in favor of segregation; in fact, Waggonner had briefly left the Democratic Party in 1960 to run in the general election as an elector for the States Rights Party. When the results came in, Waggonner had defeated Lyons. He would be re-elected in 1962 and in each of the next seven congressional elections.

During his time in Congress, Waggonner was credited with bringing a number of improvements to his district. These included the establishment of an interstate between Lafayette and Shreveport, development to make the Red River navigable, helping convince General Motors to set up a plant in Shreveport, and acquiring funding for the Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk. Waggonner served on the Ways and Means Committee as well as the House committee that administered the space program. He became one of the most prominent leaders of the conservative Southern Democrats and a vocal opponent of liberal Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, whom he accused of engaging in paid activity while a judge as well as a $200,000 payment to a mobster while Douglas was the head of the Albert Parvin Foundation.

Waggonner also became an outspoken critic of civil rights measures and other initiatives by President Lyndon Johnson. He led the fight against Johnson's school aid and antipoverty measures, declaring, "There's no demand, for the first time in many years, for this legislation except from those who are politically motivated." He described the civil rights group Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee as a "radical, Communist-infiltrated gangs of agitators...dedicated to violence for the sake of the party line." Waggonner claimed that civil rights measures unfairly targeted the South. He said that congressmen were "blackmailed into acting" on a bill on housing discrimination since it was being pushed through Congress at the same time as a number of violent incidents in the South. In response to President Richard Nixon's 1969 civil rights bill, Waggonner complained, "You've got to quit whipping the South."

Despite this criticism, Waggonner was a strong Nixon supporter. He was taken aback when transcripts related to the Watergate scandal were released in August of 1974. "The only thing I've got to say is it hurts," he told a reporter. "I'll let the dust settle before I say more, and think the whole thing through." Yet the men remained close enough that Nixon consulted with Waggonner as the scandal reached its crescendo. Waggonner told Nixon that he could probably rally 70 Democrats to oppose the President's impeachment, but warned that if he did so there would still be a demand to hold Nixon in contempt of the Supreme Court for refusing to turn over his audio tapes as ordered. The advice no doubt played a part in Nixon's ultimate decision to resign. "After my call with Joe Waggonner...realized that we are really looking at about thirty days in which the climactic decision with regard to whether we are able to stay in office," he recorded in his journal.

In June of 1976, reports surfaced that Waggonner had briefly been detained by the Washington, D.C. police earlier in the year after soliciting a police officer posing as a prostitute. According to the police, three vice officers were stationed at a corner frequented by prostitutes and Waggonner circled the block three times before motioning to one of the women. He arranged to meet with her and pay $50 for sex, at which point the policewoman tapped the top of his car as a signal for officers in the area to arrest him. After a trip to the police station, however, Waggonner was released without being charged.

Waggonner had a different version of events, claiming he had been the victim of entrapment. He said a woman was trying to entice him and he refused, but when an unmarked car pulled up he became frightened and fled the scene. He said officers caught him after a short foot chase, but were ultimately satisfied with his account of the events. He was nevertheless none too pleased when the media found out about the incident. The New York Post broke the story, accusing the police and U.S. Attorney's Office of trying to cover the matter up. They quoted Waggonner as saying, "Gentlemen, this will destroy me. This will destroy my family. Do you want to destroy me?"

The incident did have the effect of abolishing a century-old practice in the nation's capital. Soliciting a prostitute was a misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $250 fine. Yet as Police Chief Maurice J. Cullinane explained, members of Congress had immunity from all misdemeanors. The original intent of the law was to prevent the arrest of congressmen in relation to civil charges, but the matter involving Waggonner prompted the department to consider changing the policy. After a legal review, the misdemeanor immunity for congressmen was scrapped in July of 1976.

The matter had no effect on the year's election. Waggonner easily won the Democratic nomination in August and had no Republican rival in the general election. In fact, there had been five other sex scandals involving Democratic congressmen in 1976 and most of the officials involved survived for another term. Only Wayne Hays, who opted to resign before the election, and Allan Howe, a Utah representative defeated in the election after his conviction on a charge of soliciting a prostitute, would not return to Congress.

The new term Waggonner won would be his last. His most notable work at this point was his advocacy of the oil and gas industries. In February of 1978, he announced that he was retiring after the completion of his term "to be with my family and to share with them...God's abundance of life." He died in October of 2007 in Shreveport.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, The Waggonner Center at Louisiana Tech University, "Democrat Is Favored In Election" in the Spokesman-Review on Dec. 19 1961, "House May Not Accept Open Housing Amendment" in the News and Courier on Mar. 11 1968, "Congress Passes Rights Bill; LBJ Vows 'Early' Signature" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Apr. 11 1968, "Voting Rights Measure Clears House" in the News and Courier on Dec. 12 1969, "House Set To Vote On Cambodia Funds" in The Telegraph on May 10 1973, "Justice Douglas Target Of New Probe Demands" in the Press-Courier on May 10 1973, "Disclosure Stuns Backers" in the Bangor Daily News on Aug. 6 1974, "'Flatfoot Floozie' Catches A Congressman, Paper Says" in the Miami News on June 17 1974, "Hays Will Resign From House Post" in the Free-Lance Star on June 18 1976, "GOP Predicts, Democrats Dispute, Prediction Of House Gains" in the Herald-Journal on Jul. 15 1976, "Immunity Ended For Congressmen" in the Spokesman-Review on July 26 1976, "Incumbent Defeated" in the Spokesman-Review on Aug. 15 1976, "Books Closed on Sex Scandal" in The Telegraph on Dec. 9 1976, "2 Demos To Retire" in the Deseret News on Feb. 11 1978, "2 More Congressmen To Retire" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Feb. 11 1978, "Joe Waggonner, La. Congressman" in the Boston Globe on Oct. 10 2007, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford's Appointment with History by James M. Cannon, In Struggle: SNCC and the Black Awakening of the 1960s by Clayborne Carson

Jack P.F. Gremillion: the den of iniquity

Entertainer Jimmy Durante, at left, with Jack P.F. Gremillion. Image from sos.louisiana.gov.

First coming to trouble for criticizing a court proceedings as unjust, Lousiana's Attorney General, Jack Paul Faustin Gremillion, was to face justice twice during his 16 years in office.

Gremillion was born in 1914 in Donaldsville, Louisiana. He graduated from the law school at Louisiana State University in 1937 and worked in the local district attorney's office. Gremillion served in the Army during World War II, then returned to work as a prosecutor.

He was elected as a Democrat to serve as the state's Attorney General in 1956, and soon established himself as a staunch advocate of segregation. He led an effort to shut down the activities of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, forcing the organization to suspend its operations in the state for a time. Gremillion also helped draft a state statute allowing the state legislature to determine the racial demographics of the New Orleans schools rather than the Orleans Parish School Board. The move was a way of undermining a court order to desegregate the schools. It was upheld by a state court, as was a suit he filed to have the schools disregard the order. However, this victory came only a month before the first incident to throw the Attorney General into the national spotlight.

In the fall of 1960, Governor Jimmie Davis seized control of the New Orleans elementary schools to block a federal integration order. The move was contested by the NAACP and others, and the matter went before a hearing in federal court. During the testimony, Gremillion contested a decision to place some facts into the record by affidavit rather than by witness testimony. Saying he hadn't received the affidavits, Gremilion asked for a five day postponement in the hearing and was denied. Not long after that, he stormed out of the room, denouncing the proceedings as a "den of iniquity" and "kangaroo court."

The panel of three federal judges declared state laws state laws related to segregation unconstitutional, ordered state officials to cease interfering with integration, and returned control of the New Orleans schools to the school board, of which four of the five members supported integration. In addition, Gremillion was cited for contempt of court and later brought up on a criminal charge of the same. He was given a 60-day jail sentence, which was fully suspended, as well as 18 months of probation.

Gremillion was described as a colorful character. Among other things, he defended his right to not only bar convicted felons from voting but also the mothers of illegitimate children, whom he referred to as "bastardizing females." When two black men were freed from prison and escaped the death penalty after 13 years when they were found to have received an unfair trial on rape charges, Gremillion said he would appeal the decision and take it to the Supreme Court if necessary. "It looks like the court wants to give them a medal for staying in prison," he said. Protesting a Supreme Court ruling upholding the Voting Rights Act of 1965 after he and representatives from five other Southern states said that it was unconstitutional, Gremillion bemoaned it as "another step in the total destruction of the rights of states to regulate their internal affairs" that would "also will undoubtedly lead to universal suffrage." Governor Earl Long, who served from 1956 to 1960, declared, "If you want to hide something from Jack Gremillion, put it in a law book."

In 1969, Gremillion was indicted on charges of fraud and conspiracy along with four other men involved with the Louisiana Loan and Thrift Corporation. They were charged with issuing bond investment certificates and lying to potential investors to increase the sale of the certificates. The company went bankrupt in 1968, owing its depositors about $2.5 million.

Gremillion was also indicted in 1970 on perjury charges stating that he lied to a grand jury by denying having a financial involvement in the company, owned stock in the company, and granted a proxy for his shares at a 1967 shareholders' meeting. He was acquitted at trial in 1971 on the fraud and conspiracy charges. Later in the year, however, he was convicted of five counts of perjury.

Gremillion was still able to show a bit of bravado in the face of these troubles. After his conviction, Governor John McKeithen declared, "I'm awfully embarrassed by our Attorney General. I don't know of anything else to do but shoot him." Gremillion responded by heading over to the steps of the Capitol and offering himself up as a target.

In 1972, Gremillion was sentenced to a three-year prison sentence. Federal circuit court judge Fred J. Cassibry declared, "In the United States no man is so small as to be disregarded by the law. Neither is any man so great as to be above it." The conviction doomed Gremillion's chances of winning the Democratic nomination for Attorney General, which went to William Guste Jr. (who went on to serve the next 20 years in Gremillion's place).

Gremillion served 15 months of the sentence before being released. In 1976, he was pardoned by Governor Edwin W. Edwards. Returning to law work, he died in 2001.

Sources: The Political Graveyard, the Federal Judicial Center, Louisiana Knights of Columbus, "Judges Order Integration in New Orleans" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 28 1960, "Desegregation Prospects" in Time on Sept. 5 1960, "Challenge from the South" in Time on Jan. 28 1966, "Some Needed Nudges" in Time on Mar. 18 1966, "In the Shadow of the Chair" in Time on Aug. 26 1966, "Louisiana's Attorney General is Indicted on Fraud Count" in the St. Petersburg Times on Feb. 15 1969, "Grand Jury Indicts La. Attorney General" in the St. Petersburg Times on Jul. 7 1970, "Louisiana Attorney General Convicted" in the New York Times on Sept. 26 1971, "'Shoot Away, Big John'" in the St. Petersburg Times on Nov. 25 1971, "Attorney General Gets Three Years - Lied to Jury" in the Desert News on Jan. 6 1972, "Jack P.F. Gremillion; Louisiana Attorney General, 86" in the New York Times on March 6 2001, Fifty-eight Lonely Men: Southern Federal Judges and School Desegregation by Jack Walter Peltason

Judah Philip Benjamin: fugitive from justice?

Image from library.yale.edu

The American Civil War is steeped in enough myth and legend and accounts differing across the Mason-Dixon line that the truth might be difficult to track down. Judah Philip Benjamin didn't help historians much by staying quiet about his role in the Confederate government, despite allegations against him so damning that they forced his flight from the country.

Born in 1811 on the island of St. Croix in what are now the Virgin Islands, Benjamin later moved with his family to South Carolina. He attended Yale when he was only 14 years old, though he evidently left before graduation under mysterious circumstances. Moving to New Orleans, Benjamin entered the business of law but also dabbled in railroad development and sugar planting. He owned some 140 slaves until he sold his plantation in 1850.

In 1842, Benjamin was elected as a Whig to the Louisiana state legislature and subsequently became the second Jew to be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852. When the Whig Party dissolved under the mounting pressures leading to the Civil War, Benjamin became a Democrat. After Louisiana seceded to join the group of states forming the Confederacy in 1861, Benjamin left the Senate and was appointed Attorney General of the Confederate government by president Jefferson Davis.

Though widely regarded as a capable official, Benjamin was not the most popular member of the cabinet, with some scholars attributing this to anti-Semitism. In September 1861, he was appointed the Confederacy's second Secretary of War. Clashing with military leaders, Benjamin was held accountable for the loss of Roanoke Island to Union forces as well as other losses in the western theater. Henry Foote, the Tennessee representative in the Confederate Congress, introduced a bill of no confidence against Benjamin in 1862.

Davis, not wanting to lose Benjamin's expertise, encouraged him to resign and appointed him as the Confederacy's third Secretary of State. Benjamin focused his efforts on cultivating diplomatic relations with England and France, including securing the Erlanger Loan, in which a French banking house agreed to market $15 million in Confederate cotton bonds to inject much-needed capital into the Confederacy's economy. Benjamin was still dogged by political enemies, however, who accused him of smuggling and transferring money to personal bank accounts in Europe. The rumors tended to focus on similar misconduct, with accusations that Benjamin had left Yale for thievery and stole money from the treasury when the cabinet had to vacate Richmond (the cabinet did pack up the treasury upon departure, however, and people are still trying to track down that gold).

Though it was advocated by other government and military officials as well, Benjamin came under fire for suggesting that slaves be allowed to fight for the Confederacy in exchange for emancipation. A subsequent vote in the Confederate Congress to find him "not a wise and prudent Secretary of State" failed in a tie. Despite being a controversial figure, Benjamin's likeness was printed on the Confederate two-dollar bill.

Benjamin's move through cabinet positions was more a result of the instability of the Confederacy than any proven scandal. It was a series of events toward the end of the war that made reconciliation with the United States an impossibility for him. By that time, he had become involved in covert activities against the United States, including encouraging dissent and funding spy rings operating out of Canada. This would not bode well for him when the cabinet fled the capital before its fall to Union forces. In April of 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. In the aftermath of the shooting, Benjamin didn't come off in the best light. He'd burned documents before leaving Richmond and had financed an operation that aimed to kidnap Lincoln. How closely the Confederate spy operations were tied to the conspirators is unclear, but prior to the assassination Booth opened an account in the same bank that was a drop point for Confederate cash, and John Surratt (son of Mary Surratt, an assassination conspirator who was later convicted and hanged) ferried money to Confederate agents in Canada. William Seward, the United States Secretary of State, had been wounded in an assassination attempt connected to that on Lincoln and said he thought Benjamin had been the sole Confederate cabinet member in on the plot.

Benjamin was not the only one implicated in the assassination; Davis's name showed up frequently as well. Historians seem to agree that Benjamin had no part in the plot, saying the accusations arose out of a mixture of anti-Semitism and people offering testimony against the Confederate government officials in hopes of collecting a reward. However, fearing that he would not receive a fair trial in such an atmosphere, Benjamin fled in disguise. After a four-month journey, he departed the country by boat from Florida, escaping to the Caribbean before crossing the Atlantic to England. Davis was captured and indicted for treason, but the charges were later dropped; the story of the former Congressman, Senator, and Secretary of War from Mississippi is surely enough for a future entry.

Benjamin made his way to England, where he quickly settled into a career as a successful barrister. In 1872, he was elected to the Queen's Counsel. He died in 1884 on a visit to France, having never publicly spoken or written about his time in the Confederate government.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Leaders of the American Civil War: A Biographical and Historiographical Dictionary edited by Charles F. Ritter and Jon L. Wakelyn, Encyclopedia Britannica, "Judah Benjamin, The Jewish Confederate" by the American Jewish Historical Society, The Jewish Confederates by Robert N. Rosen, Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Edward Steers Jr., The Rebel and the Rose: James A. Semple, Julia Gardner Tyler, and the Lost Confederate Gold by Wesley Millett and Gerald White