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Tanza Robertson
12 April 2015
Edwin Edwards: The Political Robin Hood
Most people at some point in their lives have heard of Robin Hood. According to the
English folklore, he along with his Merry Men stole from the rich and gave to the poor. This idea
alone leaves many people conflicted. While it is always seemed a notable deed to give to
someone who is less fortunate than you, is it morally acceptable to steal from those who can
afford to be stolen from, in exchange to assist someone in need? In an authorized biography, Leo
Honeycutt discusses the Robin Hood ways of former Governor Edwin Edwards. Governor
Edwin Edwards was viewed at the modern day Robin Hood to the people of Louisiana.
Edwin Washington Edwards was born in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana to two poor parents
who struggled to make ends meet. In the biography Honeycutt writes about how when Edwards
was 9 years old his mother along with some neighbors hired an old school bus to take them to a
circus. When he got there he saw another boy eating the cotton candy and he desperately wanted
to know what it tasted like but his mother was unable to afford the cotton candy. Edwin is quoted
stating, “ I wanted some but my mother, having to pinch pennies, would not buy any. I was
unhappy and begged, so she finally went to the boy and asked for him a bite so that I could taste
what cotton candy tasted like” ( Honeycutt 21). One could imagine how belittling this was for
his mother but it also puts people in the mind frame of where Edwards came from. Surely a
person with plenty of wealth would not have to ask another child for a piece of their candy, they
would more than likely buy their own. It was also mentioned that when he was ten years old h
stuck a fish hook in his finger, when he made it to his father to show him, his father stated that it
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would cost him two dollars for the doctor to take the hook out of his hand. He instead offered to
cut the hook out of Edwin’s hand himself and he would give him the two dollars. Upon agreeing,
“ he took a razor blade, cut the finger along the hook and extracted it. It was the look of hurt and
anguish on his face that Edwin never forgot. That affected him so much more that the pain, that
he refused to take the two dollars” (Honeycutt 22). Knowing that Edwards did not come from a
family that was well off, it can be assumed that this was the foundation of him being willing to
give to those who were less fortunate, at whatever cost because he knew firsthand the
humiliation of being poor.
At first, he wanted to be a preacher and preached for a while, served in the Navy and
eventually went to law school. Upon graduating from Louisiana State University Law Center, he
could not get a job. This was baffling to him, especially since his name maintained on the Dean’s
