MOBILE, Alabama — Former Alabama Rep. Jack Edwards died here peacefully this morning, a week after his 91st birthday. In addition to being a consummate gentleman and honorable, constructive public servant, Edwards was the last surviving “Goldwater Republican” elected from the Deep South in the 1964 elections.

People forget that even as Arizona Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater was trounced nationally for president while carrying just six states (five from the Deep South), eight southern Republican congressional candidates rode his coattails to win in what since Reconstruction had been the Democratic “Solid South.” Most of them didn’t last in office long, but the amiable Edwards proved popular and lasted in office until he retired from Congress on his own terms in 1984.