Edgar Whitcomb

Edgar Doud Whitcomb (November 6, 1917 – February 4, 2016) was an American attorney, writer and politician, who served as the 43rd governor of Indiana.

His term as governor began a major rift in the Indiana Republican Party as urban Republicans became more numerous than rural Republicans, leading to a shift in the priorities of the party leadership.

Whitcomb found himself opposed by speaker of the house Otis R. Bowen on a number of measures and for control of the party leadership.

Despite his opposition, Whitcomb was able to increase tax revenue by 8% without raising tax rates through improved collection and auditing techniques, created a panel of business leaders to recommend governmental reforms aimed at increasing efficiency that allowed the state to reduce its workforce by 10% and fought for a number of budgetary saving measures primarily through reducing state employee wages and spending in non-essential areas.

Whitcomb was born on November 6, 1917, in Hayden, Indiana, the second child and first son of John Whitcomb and Louise Doud Whitcomb.

An outgoing and athletic youth, he was a member of his high school basketball team.

He entered Indiana University in 1939 to study law, but quit school to join the military at the outbreak of World War II.

He enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and was deployed to the Pacific Theater.

He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1941 and made an aerial navigator.

He served two tours of duty in the Philippines and was promoted to First Lieutenant.

During the Philippines Campaign, Whitcomb's base was overrun; he was captured by the Japanese and was beaten and tortured by his captors, but was able to escape.

Recaptured a few days later, he escaped a second time and was hunted for several more days but was able to evade his pursuers.

He escaped by swimming all night through shark-infested waters to an island unoccupied by the Japanese army.

He was eventually able to secure passage to China under an assumed name where he made contact with the United States Army and was repatriated in December 1943.

He was discharged from active duty in 1946, but he remained in the reserve military forces until 1977 holding the rank of colonel.

Following the war, he returned to and graduated from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

He was first elected to public office in 1950, serving for three years in the Indiana State Senate before resigning to begin his law practice.

Indiana General Assembly sessions were held biennially during his time in that legislative body; there were no sessions scheduled to convene while he was still in office.

He met and married Patricia Dolfuss on May 10, 1953, and the couple had five children.

Whitcomb was a member of the Republican Party.

Whitcomb passed the bar exam in 1954 and began a law practice.

He set up a successful law firm in North Vernon, but in later years he moved his practice, having offices in both Seymour and Indianapolis.

His law practice helped him build his political base for a run for statewide office.

He wrote a book about his experience entitled Escape from Corregidor, published in 1958.

In 1966, Whitcomb was elected to serve as Indiana Secretary of State, a position he used to springboard for his political career.

He was appointed by the Governor of Indiana to serve on the Great Lakes Compact Commission, a commission with representatives from the Great Lake states who oversaw joint projects for preserving and developing the Great Lakes.

He held both offices concurrently until his resignation in December 1968.

At the 1968 Republican state convention, Whitcomb competed to win the nomination for governor against Indiana House of Representatives minority leader Otis R. Bowen and future Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz.

Backed by the party leaders of several large counties, Whitcomb overcame Bowen and Butz to secure the nomination.

Although Democrats had taken strong majorities in the state government in the past two elections, the 1968 election returned the Republicans to power, giving them strong majorities in the General Assembly, and a win in all the congressional and statewide elections, except one.

Whitcomb was among the beneficiaries of the cycle and took office on January 13, 1969.

Bowen, after being nominated for governor in 1972, advocated the nomination of candidates for governor and US Senator by primary elections.

Whitcomb's opponent in the general election was Democratic candidate Robert L. Rock, and the campaign focused largely on tax policy and national issues.

After leaving office, Whitcomb ran for the U.S. Senate in 1976 but was defeated in the Republican primary by Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar.

Whitcomb returned to the practice of law and moved to Seymour, Indiana.

In 1985, he retired, divorced from his wife of thirty-three years and took up sailboating.

He sailed around the Mediterranean Sea, across the Atlantic Ocean in 1990 and geographically sailed around the world in 1995, although he was not able to return to his exact starting point, because his ship ran aground on a reef in the Gulf of Suez.

After two days of trying to free the ship, he made the decision to abandon it.

Returning to Indiana, he moved to a secluded log cabin on the banks of the Ohio River within the Hoosier National Forest near Rome, Indiana in 2000.

He married for a second time in 2013 and died in 2016, aged 98.