#153: When An Oral Surgeon was Governor of SC + Wine On The Piazza at the Edmondston-Alston House
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Published weekly on Monday mornings. Enjoy weekly SC history articles, upcoming SC historical events, and other South Carolina recommendations.
Dear readers,
I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th weekend! I know I did! There’s nothing like a great fireworks show, hamburgers on the grill, and being with family — am I right?! :)
Today’s newsletter topic caught me by surprise. I was scrolling through the South Carolina Encyclopedia when I saw the caption of “First Oral Surgeon as SC Governor” and couldn’t believe my eyes! In my 9-5 job, I happen to work in the dental field, so I was immmediately intrigued.
I hope you enjoy learning about James Burrows Edwards and his ascent from oral surgeon to governor of South Carolina, and then to Secretary of Energy under President Ronald Reagan. What a remarkable and interesting life!
Sincerely,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
Support the SC History Newsletter by considering heritages teas (inspired by South Carolina and American history!) from our fantastic sponsor Oliver Pluff & Co. — click on their beautiful ad below! :)
➳ Housekeeping for new subscribers!
New friends! There are over 100 previous SC History newsletters on topics ranging from the founding of Charleston, sunken Confederate submarines, railroad tunnels filled with blue cheese, and more! See our archive here!
Send me your comments or topic ideas: I love it when subscribers write to me! Have a SC History topic or question you’d like for me to write about? Have additional ideas or feedback? Just reply to this email and let me know!
Join us on social: Keep the conversation going and join over 100 other subscribers by becoming a member of our SC History Newsletter Facebook Community here!
If your email “cuts off”: In your email app or website, if my emails “cut off” for you, please click the title of the email and it will take you to the full post on the Substack. I don’t want you to miss any content!
Love the SC History Newsletter? Please click the button below to share with a friend!
➳ Featured Upcoming SC History Events
📜 Wine On The Piazza at the Edmondston-Alston House
🗓️ Thursday, July 17th at 4:30 pm
📝The Edmondston-Alston House, 21 E Battery
📍Charleston, SC
💻 Website
From the event website:
“Looking for a breathtaking view and a glass of wine? The Edmondston-Alston House is the perfect piazza for a special evening. Enjoy a self-guided tour of the Edmondston-Alston House followed by a glass of wine on the second-story piazza overlooking Charleston Harbor.”

➳ 🗓️ Paid subscribers get access to my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the upcoming SC history events I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the calendar! Reply to this email to send me your events.
➳ When An Oral Surgeon was Governor of SC
Though he might not be one of the more famous governors of the state, Governor James Burrows Edwards is a very interesting figure in South Carolina politics. Did you know that when James Burrows Edwards was elected governor in 1974, he was the first Republican to be elected governor of South Carolina since Daniel Henry Chamberlain in 1876? A period of nearly 100 years!
📖 Early Life
James Burrows Edwards was born in 1927 in Hawthorne, Florida to two school teachers. Edwards’ parents moved their family to Charleston when he was just 1 year old. Once Edwards came of age, he became an officer in the U.S. Maritime Service during World War II, and continued his served in the U.S. Naval Reserve after the war as well.
Edwards received his bachelor’s degree from the College of Charleston in 1950. He married a woman named Ann Norris Darlington of Edgefield, SC and together, they had 2 children. He decided that he wanted to pursue dentistry as his profession, so he continued on to receive his D.M.D. from the University of Louisville, and later, specialized in oral surgery.
🦷The Young Jaw Breaker
James Burrows Edwards set up his oral surgery practice in 1960 in Mount Pleasant, SC and became a leader in the dental community of the area. While Edwards became active in the medical community, he also became active in the political community as well, specifically in the South Carolina Republican Party.
Edwards was drawn to the Republican Party because of the “conservative philosophy of Barry Goldwater” and he served as the chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party from 1964-1969. During these years he gained “statewide influence in the party.”
🪜Political Ascent
With his visibility in both the medical community and political community, Edwards star continued to rise. In 1971, Edwards lost a special election for Congress, but won a seat in the S.C. Senate the following year. His colleagues in government liked Edwards very much. Democratic senator Ernest Hollings described Edwards as “an honest fellow who’s got his own positions and is not the partisan type.”

🏆The Upset Wins
In 1974, Edwards challenged General William C. Westmoreland in the “first modern statewide” Republican primary for governor. He won an “upset victory” over Westmoreland by carrying votes in Charleston County where he had made such strides in the community.
As the Republican nominee, next Edwards challenged Democrat nominee William Jennings Bryan Dorn. Edwards campaign emphasized “the reform mantle and gained many disaffected Democratic and independent votes.” In a close election, Edwards won the governorship by 18,500 votes at 50.5% of the vote. Recalling his highly improbable election, Edwards quipped, “No amount of planning beats darn luck.”
According to the South Carolina Encyclopedia, “His election as governor became a landmark in the growth of modern two-party politics in South Carolina.”
🏛️Time In Office
One of Edwards’ campaign slogans had been “no debts and no deals.” As Governor, he was focused on tackling welfare fraud and reforming the State Department of Social Services. He successfully passed the Education Finance Act of 1977 and created the South Carolina Energy Research Institute.
In an Associated Press interview, Edwards said he particularly enjoyed working on economic development, education and energy issues as governor. He also said:
“Anything you wanted, you could ask anyone in the state to help you…I put away partisan politics when I got to Columbia. We had the whole Senate and the House, the vast majority working with us.”
During his term as governor, Edwards developed a friendship with California governor Ronald Reagan. Edwards would be one of the two Republican governors who backed Reagan in his campaign against President Gerald Ford in 1976.

According to the South Carolina Encyclopedia, “As governor, Edwards won praise, and even his detractors admitted that the former oral surgeon had done considerably better than expected.” (ha!) He was known to be an effective, but not dominant governor. His Republican tenure was limited by a Democrat-dominated legislature.
His wife, Ann Edwards, was an active and loving partner to her husband throughout their marriage, and she made an impact as First Lady of South Carolina. When the Edwards family first moved to the Governor’s Mansion, Ann wanted to learn about their new historic home but discovered there was not very much information about the famous residence. Thereafter, with the help of four historians, Ann Edwards took it upon herself to write a book called “The Governor’s Mansion of the Palmetto State” which was published in 1978.

Although Governor James Burrows Edwards had high political popularity, he did not seek reelection after his tenure as governor, and in 1979, returned back to Mount Pleasant and re-assumed his oral surgery practice.
Can you imagine if your oral surgeon was a former governor?
💥Secretary of Energy
Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, and it may have been a surprise to many that he appointed James Burrows Edwards as his Secretary of Energy. Edwards and Reagan were highly compatible politically, and although Edwards had established the South Carolina Energy Research Institute, he had “little experience in energy matters or Washington politics.”

Two years in as the Secretary of Energy, Edwards admitted that he didn’t run the department, “It ran me.” However, in this role, here were some things he did accomplish:
“He emphasized the expansion of nuclear energy resources and decontrol of crude oil prices, and he revamped Carter administration programs that featured conservation and development of alternative fuels. He stepped back from the Reagan administration’s initial plans to eliminate the Department of Energy but did propose downsizing the department.”
Burrows resigned as the Secretary of Energy on November 5th, 1982. He returned to South Carolina and became president of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston. Under his leadership, “MUSC thrived, expanding into new areas of medical research and securing a tenfold increase in research funding.” He remained president of MUSC for 17 years and the college’s dental school was named in his honor.
In 1997, Edwards was inducted in the South Carolina Hall of Fame. Today, in Mount Pleasant, one can drive on Ann Edwards Lane and young children attend James B. Edwards Elementary School.
James Burrows Edwards retired in 1999 after a remarkable career in medicine and politics. He died of a stroke in 2014 at the age of 87.

If you voted just “OK” on the newsletter today, I want to hear from you! Reply to this email and send me your feedback. :)
➳ Sources — When An Oral Surgeon was Governor of SC
Edwards, James Burrows. South Carolina Encyclopedia. University of South Carolina, | “Edwards, James Burrows.” South Carolina Encyclopedia, University of South Carolina, www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/edwards-james-burrows/. Accessed 2 July 2025.
“James B. Edwards.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_B._Edwards. Accessed 2 July 2025.
Janik, Rachel. “A Wonderful View of Life at Home in the Old Village with Jim and Ann Edwards.” Mount Pleasant Magazine, 2014, mountpleasantmagazine.com/2014/people/a-wonderful-view-of-life-at-home-in-the-old-village-with-jim-and-ann-edwards/. Accessed 2 July 2025.
McCombs, Brady. “James B. Edwards, S. Carolina’s First Republican Governor Since Reconstruction, Dies at 87.” The Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2014, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/james-b-edwards-s-carolinas-first-republican-governor-since-reconstruction-dies-at-87/2014/12/27/b973926c-8d51-11e4-9e8d-0c687bc18da4_story.html. Accessed 2 July 2025.
“Edwards, James B.” SCIWAY: South Carolina Information Highway, www.sciway.net/hist/governors/edwards.html. Accessed 2 July 2025.