Leadership Conference President Wade Henderson Celebrates Life of Rep. Don Edwards

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, spoke today at a memorial celebrating the life and legacy of civil rights champion Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., who passed away on Oct. 1 at the age of 100. The memorial was held at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The following are Henderson’s remarks, as prepared for delivery:

“I first met Don Edwards in 1982.

I was in my 30s. I was a young lawyer for the ACLU and wet behind the ears. He was already in his 60s, although, as a presumably clean-living former FBI agent, he looked at least a decade younger. He was slim, elegant and erudite. For a lawman, he was a bit of a surprise. He exuded a ‘California cool.’

I was still learning how to advocate for civil liberties and civil rights in an increasingly polarized political system. And Don Edwards was a great teacher. You just had to see him in action to learn how the game is played.

The civil rights community was working to extend and expand important provisions of the Voting Rights Act. We had an all-star team of advocates, including Ralph Neas, then-head of The Leadership Conference, Laura Murphy of the ACLU, Elaine Jones of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Antonia Hernandez of MALDEF.

Working with Don Edwards, John Conyers, Hamilton Fish and Jim Sensenbrenner, and often against great odds, we won that fight. Back then, voting rights was a bipartisan issue, unlike it seems today. Don cared deeply about voting rights because, as he often said, ‘If you can’t vote, you aren’t a real citizen.’

Many of what I hope are my skills today, I acquired from watching the interaction of Don, the House Judiciary Committee and the civil and human rights community that he served so well.

For 32 years, Don Edwards represented San Jose and a swath of the San Francisco Bay Area in Congress. But he didn’t only represent California. He represented the Constitution. He represented constituencies across the country that suffered from discrimination. He represented America’s conscience.

As Chair of the House Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Don helped to write every major civil and human rights law of the final third of the 20th century.

He helped to broaden the definition of civil rights to encompass women, immigrants, Americans with disabilities and all those in need of protection against discrimination. He set the stage for communities such as LGBT Americans to take their rightful place at the table of justice.

Having served in the FBI under the deeply flawed J. Edgar Hoover, Don also cared about defending Americans against abuses by those sworn to protect them. Accordingly, he championed civil liberties, especially the constitutional guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A veteran of World War II, Don was part of a generation of giants. He served in the House alongside such historic figures as Tip O’Neill, Peter Rodino, Hamilton Fish and Barbara Jordan. And, even among leaders of such stature, Don Edwards stood tall.

Defying the saying that the good die young, Don lived to be 100. That was especially fitting because he did so much to enact the civil rights advances of the last century and to build the more inclusive America of the 21st century.

When a great American accomplishes so much but claims so little credit for himself, there is the danger that the pen of history will overlook his lasting contributions.

So let us look around ourselves at the new America whose timeless ideals are closer to achievement. In a very real way, we are Don’s living memorial.

And let us resolve that history will say this of Don Edwards:

Rest in peace, old friend. We are a better America today because of you. Job well done.”

Wade Henderson is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit https://civilrights.org.