Rep. Don Edwards Will Retire : Politics: Dean of state delegation has been champion of civil rights.

Rep. Don Edwards (D-San Jose), the dean of the California congressional delegation and a champion of civil and constitutional rights, announced Tuesday that he will retire in November after 32 years in the House.

As one of the most liberal members of Congress, Edwards, 79, served as chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights for 23 years. He played a role in passing the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 and was one of the most active members in Congress opposing the Vietnam War.

“For his entire career, Edwards has been a true stalwart in the fight for justice in this country,” said Amy Isaacs, national director of Americans for Democratic Action. “All who have faced the lash of discrimination, whose freedom of speech has been threatened . . . and countless others owe Congressman Edwards an enormous debt of gratitude.”

In recent years, Edwards spearheaded an effort to unify a California delegation deeply split along partisan lines. He helped found the California Institute, a private, nonprofit research organization designed to work with the delegation to promote California interests on Capitol Hill.

“He is unique because he is a principled and deeply caring guy who really believed in the delegation and what we were doing here,” said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City). “He has been willing to work with most conservative Republicans, people who have disagreed with him on every ideological issue, to try and create a California agenda. He has never let his ideology undermine his commitment to California.”

Edwards said he decided to retire after finishing a 12-year battle with the Reagan and Bush administrations on civil rights issues.

“If there ever was a time, this is it when things are looking up and when I have a few years left to do things with my grandchildren,” Edwards said. “We haven’t been able to have a dog for the last 25 years. That is kind of significant because we’d like to have one.”

Edwards’ second wife, Edith B. Wilkie, is executive director of the Arms Control and Foreign Policy Caucus, a bipartisan congressional coalition with more than 100 House and Senate members.

Before Edwards was first elected to Congress in 1962, he seemed an unlikely candidate to lead the civil libertarian charge on Capitol Hill. He came from a well-to-do San Jose family, had served as chairman of Young Republicans in California and was a state amateur golfing champion. He served as an FBI agent in 1940 and 1941, was a Naval intelligence officer during World War II and earned a fortune after starting the Valley Title Co. in San Jose in 1950.

Within a few weeks of his arrival in Washington in 1963, Edwards served notice that he intended to be an activist in civil liberties when he was one of only 20 members to vote to abolish the House Committee on Un-American Activities. It was not until a dozen years later that Edwards’ motion to eliminate the special House committee was passed by Congress.

Edwards was one of only 16 lawmakers who voted against a bill in 1967 making flag burning a federal crime. He led the House floor passage in 1971 of the Equal Rights Amendment, which would give women a constitutional right to equality. The proposed amendment fell three states short of ratification.

His Judiciary subcommittee resisted dozens of proposed amendments, ranging from introducing prayer in public schools to outlawing busing for the purpose of integrating public schools, which Edwards considered attempts to weaken constitutional rights. His subcommittee also enacted several laws reversing Supreme Court decisions during the Reagan and Bush years that limited voting rights, equal educational opportunity and fair employment rights.

“When I came to Congress, we didn’t have any civil rights to speak of that were worth anything,” Edwards said. “Black people and Hispanics were discriminated against and we had apartheid just like South Africa. We have made major strides in civil rights and I’m proud to be a part of them.”