Edgar Whitcomb

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Edgar Doud Whitcomb (born November 6, 1917, Hayden, Indiana), was the 43rd Governor of Indiana.

He was the second child and first son of John Whitcomb and Louise Doud Whitcomb. An outgoing and athletic youth, he lettered in basketball. He joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and was deployed to the Pacific Theatre. His experiences related to the Battle of the Philippines, in which he was taken prisoner, later to escape his imprisonment, are told in his first book, Escape from Corregidor, published in 1958.

He was discharged from active duty in 1946, though he remained in the reserve military forces for more than two decades thereafter. Whitcomb's second book, On Celestial Wings, was published in 1995.

Following the war, he attended Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis. Upon graduation and passing of the bar exam in 1954, he set up a law practice in North Vernon, Indiana. Whitcomb was elected to the Indiana State Senate in 1950. He ran for and was elected to the office of Secretary of State of Indiana in 1966 and then to its Governorship in 1968. Whitcomb served as Governor of Indiana from 1969 to 1973.

In 1976, Whitcomb again sought the Republican nomination to the United States Senate, but was defeated by Indianapolis Mayor Richard Lugar. He then returned to his private practice of law in southern Indiana.