John Edwards Forged A Path Beyond The Mill

Washington Post: Democratic Candidate Talks The Most About Where He Grew Up

(Washingtonpost.com)  This story was written by Sue Anne Pressley Montes as part of a Washington Post series of profiles of the leading presidential candidates.

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Early in the morning, the young boy would wake up to find his dad bathed in the light from the television, a notepad on the table in front of him.

John Edwards's father, Wallace, a small-town millworker with a high school education, would be taking math courses on instructional TV before reporting to work. He was always trying to better himself, to get ahead at a company that did not seem to respect, or advance, anyone without a college degree.

Wallace's status at the textile company, where he worked for more than 30 years, cast a shadow on the Edwards home. The son knew that his knowledgeable, motivated father was routinely overlooked for supervisory positions. Even worse, he was often asked to train the people hired as his superiors. It was a painful lesson that John Edwards never forgot.

"I saw my father, one of the finest people I've ever known, struggle because he didn't have a college education," Edwards says. "To me, he was a perfect example of somebody who was strong and good and worked incredibly hard, but they were bumping their head against the ceiling."

Of all the 2008 presidential candidates, Edwards talks the most about where he came from: the working-class mill towns of the Carolinas and Georgia.

Always describing himself as "the son of a millworker," he tells stories of family hardships -- the one about his father having to borrow $50, at 100 percent interest, to bring his newborn son home from the hospital is a favorite -- and says he identifies with "the little guy." But he does so with such glibness, and frequency, and it contrasts so greatly with who he is today -- a polished former trial lawyer worth millions -- that the truth of his biography is sometimes lost. These days, Edwards's $400 haircuts and $6 million house garner the lion's share of attention, and he is testimony to the fact that youthful good looks aren't necessarily a political asset.

In an interview, Edwards dismisses the accusations of phoniness as "just politics." The rich-lawyer label rankles a little, though not enough for him to abandon the trappings that he has worked so hard to obtain. "What I want to say to people is 'Well, if I hadn't been successful, would that make me better qualified to be president?'" he asks.

On the campaign trail, however, he doesn't mind poking fun at himself. "My parents actually brought me home to a little house in Seneca, South Carolina," he told an appreciative crowd in last month in Bow, N.H. "Today, as many of you have heard, I don't live in a little house."

But there is another John Edwards, the one who tooled around tiny Robbins, N.C., in a red Plymouth Duster as a teenager, who took the greasiest summer jobs at the mill to earn money for college, who still often forces his staff to eat at Cracker Barrel because it reminds him oh-so-faintly of the big meals his mother used to cook. "You can never forget where you came from," he says more than once, and friends from the old days insist he is, at his core, still one of them.

"I've known that man over 40 years, and he's the real deal," says the Rev. John L. Frye Jr., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Gastonia, N.C., and one of Edwards's best boyhood friends. "I don't hear him saying anything different than the interests he truly has in his heart. I don't have any kind of disconnect."

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Photo Essay: The Life Of John Edwards

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To see Edwards at work in New Hampshire, where he came in an embarrassing fourth among Democrats in 2004, is to see his father's son in action, determined to overcome some pretty long odds. This go-round, he has four times the number of field organizers in the state, and he has logged countless hours in small-town forums and community meeting rooms. Armed with a 76-page plan for fighting rural poverty and helping the working poor, he has repositioned himself as the populist who "will fight for you."

Maybe something in him relishes being the underdog. But Edwards acknowledges that other forces also propel him.

"I thought everybody was smarter than me when I went to college," he says. "And I thought everybody was smarter than me when I walked into a courtroom, and I thought everybody was smarter than me when I went to the Senate."

Like his father before him -- who, near the end of his career, finally became a supervisor at the mill -- he would just work harder to prove himself.

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Robbins never had more than two stoplights, but when a teenage Edwards was driving through the streets, it seemed big enough -- almost.

"My father got me that car -- it was a flood car," he says, recalling how he cleaned out the mud and shined it up. "I thought I was hot stuff in that red Duster. I drove all over Robbins. It didn't take long, but I drove all over Robbins."

Robbins, population 1,000, about 60 miles west of Raleigh, was the last in a string of Southern mill towns that the Edwards family lived in during Wallace's career with Milliken & Co. The mill, which was shuttered in 1990, was the town's main source of jobs. Opened in 1930, it employed, at its peak, more than 1,500 people. But like other towns throughout the South, Robbins lost its textile jobs to overseas competitors practically overnight, and a culture that provided a more secure living than the family farm disappeared forever. In the 1960s and '70s, when Edwards lived in Robbins, no one could imagine that happening.

Young John -- officially "Johnny Reid Edwards" on his birth certificate and still called "Johnny" by his parents -- was 12 when the family moved there. Besides his South Carolina birthplace, it is the town he refers to most often at campaign events.

"In the beginning, it was like a cocoon, it was very nurturing," he says. "I played every high school sport, and as a result, I knew everybody and everybody knew me. And when I left, it was intimidating because I had never spent any time in any town or city of any size."

When Edwards and his high school buddies discussed the future, none of them expressed a longing to escape Robbins, Frye says. There was just a feeling that college was the answer, that a good profession was the key. Mostly, the talk was about "football and basketball and girls," Frye says, though John was sensitive to his parents' circumstances. "I think he was very conscious of how his dad had to work hard to get what education he managed, to try to get ahead to take care of his family."

Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, now retired, still live in Robbins, in a comfortable four-bedroom house they built in 1993. It is not far from the more modest dwelling where they raised John and his two younger siblings, Kathy and Wesley. Campaigning occasionally for their son in Iowa, the parents have won friends with their folksy, down-to-earth manner.

"We would do anything in the world to help Johnny," says Bobbie Edwards, 74, a small, energetic woman who does most of the talking, as her husband smiles beside her.

Wallace and Bobbie both came from towns in the South Carolina foothills where the mills operated day and night. They met at a summer square dance. "He was riding with someone else, so he said, 'If I stay after the dance, I'll walk you home,' " Bobbie recalls. "And I said, 'Am I supposed to be thrilled to death or something?' I was kind of a smart aleck. He started calling me after that and he started coming to see me."

They were married 56 years ago.

College was never an option for the young couple. In that place and time, it was enough of an accomplishment to graduate from high school. "We dream about what we could've done," Bobbie says.

But they were determined that their children would go to college, would soar beyond the limitations they had faced. Years later, when their eldest child made a point of repeating on the campaign trail that he was the first in the family to attend college, they say they felt tremendous pride that their boy had done so well.

[mediapreachr]

Mike Huckabee facts:
Hogwash.

[mediapreachr]

''Has anyone ever seen Fred Thompson completely awake and/or paying attention? He always looks like he''s only thinking of his next nap.
Posted by SgtRDS at 10:55 PM : Dec 12, 2007''
LOL.So true.First observed by the cast of Law and order,so they gave him shorter roles and fewer lines to recite.

[rowdytexan2]

Can''t be a good man and support the Neocons, sorry Fred. Toots noor!

[sgtrds]

12. He lied about his involvement with the parole board freeing a killer who killed again. So that makes him a certified...um..liar.

Posted by kansas1946 at 11:53 PM : Dec 12, 2007

True, but for republicans being a liar is a positive. They think it shows "strength".

[kansas1946]

Posted by GiantRobot2 at 09:44 PM : Dec 12, 2007

11. He believes in creationism, which makes him a certifiable loon.


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Posted by SgtRDS at 10:54 PM : Dec 12, 2007
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12. He lied about his involvement with the parole board freeing a killer who killed again. So that makes him a certified...um..liar.

[sgtrds]

Has anyone ever seen Fred Thompson completely awake and/or paying attention? He always looks like he''s only thinking of his next nap.

[sgtrds]

Posted by GiantRobot2 at 09:44 PM : Dec 12, 2007

11. He believes in creationism, which makes him a certifiable loon.

[giantrobot2]

Mike Huckabee facts:

1. He will Eliminate the IRS:
This means you will receive 100% of your paycheck.

2. He will drastically reduce Gas prices:
Switch to alternative fuels, changing supply/demand.

3. He will reduce global warming.
Switch to alternative fuels, no carbon dioxides.

4. He will reduce threat of terrorism.
New fuels cause middle east gov. crack down on them.

5. He will reduce rising Health care costs.
New programs that prevent diseases, not just fix them.

6. He will lead up not just hard right or hard left.
Excellent communicator, will bring parties together.

7. He will lead with principles rather than money.
He cares everybody not just those on Wall Street.

8. He will give Hope to America and enthusiasm.
He plays bass guitar in a band, dynamic personality.

9. He will carry out his goals, not talk about them.
Lost 110 pounds, kept it off, ran 4 Marathons-26.2m

10. He knows the American people is the real boss.
As Governor, his picture frame only shows citizens.

Vote for Mike Huckabee, otherwise you will not be able to enjoy these benefits

Since the other candidates don''''t have anything to say on what they can do for America, they take the easy road and resort to taking cheap shots at Mike. Don%u2019t fall into their trap any longer with negative attacks, let''''s show the critics and the naysayers that Americans have pride and we are ready to elect an honest, humble, trustworthy man for US President.

[kansas1946]

Fred Thompson: Bigger Than Life
*****************************

Whose life? I think he is creepy, stupid, and goofy. Now Ghandi was bigger than life, Mother Theresa was bigger than life, Nelson Mandella was was bigger than life.
This guy is a "B" player in a "C" movie.

[colonieny]

Fred is a decent man.

[tessies101]

Okay the media is now going from Huck to Fred, who will be next, they have already done Goohliani, Romormy. Next it will be Tancredo and Hunter, but by all means it won''t be the one with the most supporters, Ron Paul, the American public can''t handle a Republican with Integrity and no skeletons in his closet.

[prinzowhales]

Thompson is not worth commenting on...he stands for more of the same...war, taxes and incompetence. Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, Hucksterbee and McCain will be fighting like sea gulls for the much coveted ''Fool Vote''--Bush''s popular base...as opposed to his real "base"--the rich and the super-rich.

[jerr11]

His buddies called him "Stick."


So that''s how he conned Jeri into marrying him!

Big stick, big joy!

Fred, you cradle-robber you!

[b-easy63]

Fred is, like Reagan was....a man who can play a role if given a script that can match his limitations. Not a good actor. Just a good B actor. The problem is, no one seems to have found a script quite up to the task of the Bush regimes legacy. It defies credibility to such a level, that not only can''t many AMericans stomach or believe it, but those who write scripts can''t make a role for Fred to undo or salvage it.

Not Fred''s part--it''s a really lousy movie.