He once wrote: “The governship is a despicable office for any man to be condemed to hold. Two of my predecessors have resigned before their terms were out and a third committed suiside. I have been compelled to go armed to protect myself.” One might assume an aging statesman overwhelmed by the office would have written those words. But surely, one might think, the youngest governor in Missouri history at the height of his political career would find the office exciting. John Cummins Edwards didn’t.
