Background
India Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1895, and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.
India Edwards was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1895, and grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.
She was an advocate for women in politics. At the time of her death the 94-year-old lived in Greenbrae, California. Her memoirs, Pulling Number Punches, were published by General Рractitioner Putnam"s Sons"s in 1977.
Edwards started her career as a Chicago Tribune journalist and was society editor from 1918-1936 and women"s page editor from 1936-1942.
Career with the Democratic Party
Edwards" formal involvement with the Democratic Party began with her work as a volunteer during the 1944 Presidential election. She later occupied increasingly important position in the women"s division of the party, serving first as executive secretary (1945-1947), associate director (1947-1948) and finally executive director (1948-1953).
In 1953, the women"s division was integrated into the DNC. 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 South. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Truman campaigns and administration
Her influence over Truman caused him to appoint many women to prominent positions - 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 United States. delegation to the United Nations 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.".
Mistress Edwards accompanied President Harry Truman, who 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. She was the second woman honored in this way at a major party convention (Lena Springs being the first).