Ed Foreman

{{Short description|American politician (1933–2022)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Edgar Franklin Foreman Jr. | image = Ed Foreman.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 1969 | birth_date = {{birth date|1933|12|22}} | birth_place = Portales, New Mexico, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2022|02|02|1933|12|22}} | death_place = | office = Member of the U.S. House of Representatives | constituency = New Mexico 2nd | term_start = January 3, 1969 | term_end = January 3, 1971 | preceded = E. S. Johnny Walker (redistricting) | succeeded = Harold L. Runnels | constituency1 = Texas 16th | term_start1 = January 3, 1963 | term_end1 = January 3, 1965 | preceded1 = J. T. Rutherford | succeeded1 = Richard Crawford White | party = Republican | spouse = {{marriage|Barbara Lynn Southard Foreman|1955}} | children = Preston Kirk Foreman Rebecca Lynn Foreman | occupation = Civil engineer businessman motivational speaker Dallas, Texas | alma_mater = Eastern New Mexico University New Mexico State University (BS) | footnotes = | allegiance = United States | branch = {{flag|United States Navy|23px}} | service_years = 1956–1957 }}

'''Edgar Franklin Foreman Jr.''' (December 22, 1933 – February 2, 2022) was an American businessman and politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives. He served one term representing Texas's 16th congressional district from 1963 to 1965 and a second term from 1969 to 1971 representing New Mexico's 2nd district, then newly established.<ref>Prior to 1968, New Mexico U.S. representatives had been elected at-large statewide.</ref> He is the most historically recent member of Congress to have represented more than one state during their career.

==Early life and education== Foreman was born on a peanut farm in Portales, New Mexico, in Roosevelt County in southeastern New Mexico, to Edgar Foreman Sr. and the former Lillian Childress.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Foreman leaves behind storied lifetime, legacy of optimism {{!}} New Mexico State University - BE BOLD. Shape the Future. |url=https://panorama.nmsu.edu/news-events/2022/spring/aggie-pride/foreman.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223172115/https://panorama.nmsu.edu/news-events/2022/spring/aggie-pride/foreman.html |archive-date=2024-02-23 |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=panorama.nmsu.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref name=whoswho>"Edgar Franklin Foreman", ''Who's Who in America with World Notables'', Volume 56 (1970–1971), (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1970), page 747.</ref>

From 1952 to 1953, he attended Eastern New Mexico College in Portales. He transferred to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where in 1955 he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering.

From 1953 to 1956, Foreman was employed by Phillips Petroleum Company. From 1956 to 1957, he served in the United States Navy as an enlisted sailor.<ref name=soldiers>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/765670604/ "Congress 'Soldiers' Under Fire"], ''The Evansville Press'', Evansville, Indiana, 59th year, number 143, December 15, 1964, page 8.</ref> He also served in the United States Navy Reserve and United States Air Force Reserve. While in the Air Force Reserve, he became a captain in the 9999th Air Reserve Squadron in Washington, DC while serving as a congressman.<ref name=soldiers/> He headed Foreman Brine Sales and Service in Odessa, Texas, from 1956 to 1962. He was formerly the president of Valley Transit Mix, Atlas Land Company, and Foreman Oil, Inc.<ref name=whoswho/>

==Political career== ===Represented West Texas, 1963–1965=== [[File:Ed Foreman, 1963.jpg|upright|thumb|left|Foreman as a Congressman from Texas, 1963.]] In 1962 Foreman was elected to Congress from the 16th District in West Texas,<ref name=whoswho/> which stretched from El Paso to the Permian Basin. In that same election, the Democrat, later Republican, John Connally, was elected governor over the Republican oilfield equipment executive Jack Cox.

Foreman voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |title=H.R. 7152. PASSAGE. -- House Vote #128 -- Feb. 10, 1964 |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/h128 |access-date=2025-08-02 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}}</ref> Foreman was defeated for re-election in 1964, a year in which President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texan, was reelected over Republican U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater in a landslide, and the Republicans suffered massive losses throughout the nation.

===Represented southern New Mexico, 1969–1971=== Following his defeat, he relocated to New Mexico, where he became active in business and civic affairs in Las Cruces.<ref name="Obituary of Edgar Franklin Foreman">{{cite web | url=https://www.lcsun-news.com/obituaries/tnm059746 | title=Obituary of Edgar Franklin Foreman | newspaper=Las Cruces Sun | date=February 10, 2022}}</ref> In 1968 while residing in Las Cruces, Foreman ran for Congress in the southern district of New Mexico<ref name=whoswho/> and upset the two-term Democrat E. S. "Johnny" Walker of Albuquerque. Foreman was unseated after a single term in 1970 by Democrat Harold Runnels.

===Appointment to two federal jobs=== After losing a House seat for the second time in six years, Foreman in 1971 was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the Nixon administration, and the following year, 1972, he was appointed to a position at the United States Department of Transportation, where he stayed until 1976.<ref name="Obituary of Edgar Franklin Foreman"/>

==Personal life and death== Foreman died on February 2, 2022, at the age of 88.<ref>[https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/politics/2022/02/12/former-new-mexico-congressman-ed-foreman-dies-age-88/6736070001/ Former congressman Ed Foreman — who represented southern New Mexico and west Texas — dies at 88]</ref>

==References== ;General {{reflist}}

;Specific *''Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections'', U.S. House edition

==External links== {{Portal|Biography|New Mexico|Texas}} * http://www.edforeman.com/ {{CongBio|F000272}} {{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{succession box | before = J. T. Rutherford | title = U.S. Representative from Texas's 16th congressional district | years = 1963–1965 | after = Richard C. White }} {{succession box | before = At-large: E. S. "Johnny" Walker Thomas G. Morris | title = U.S. Representative from New Mexico's 2nd congressional district | years = 1969–1971 | after = Harold Runnels }} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foreman, Ed}} Category:1933 births Category:2022 deaths Category:People from Portales, New Mexico Category:Republican Party United States representatives from New Mexico Category:Politicians from Dallas Category:People from Odessa, Texas Category:Military personnel from New Mexico Category:United States Navy reservists Category:United States Navy sailors Category:United States Air Force officers Category:United States Air Force reservists Category:Eastern New Mexico University alumni Category:New Mexico State University alumni Category:Methodists from Texas Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Texas Category:20th-century United States representatives Category:Businesspeople from Las Cruces, New Mexico Category:Politicians from Las Cruces, New Mexico