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"E" is for Edwards, James Burrows

"E" is for Edwards, James Burrows [1927-2014] Governor, U.S. Secretary of Energy, college president. After graduating from the College of Charleston and the University of Louisville School of Dentistry, Edwards established a dental practice in Charleston. Active in Republican Party politics, he was elected to the South Carolina senate in 1972. In 1974 he won the party's nomination for governor and became the first Republican governor of South Carolina in the twentieth century. Among his many accomplishments was the landmark Education Finance Act. After serving as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Energy, Edwards returned home to become president of the Medical University of South Carolina. Under his leadership, MUSC thrived and research funding increased tenfold. When James Burrows Edwards retired in 1999 he was one of the best-known and most-respected public figures in modern South Carolina—a genuine elder statesman.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.