BURKE, Edward A., politician, publisher. Ancestry and background obscure; claimed Kentucky as his birthplace (ca. 1840) but was probably from Ohio or Illinois. Entire life prior to 1865 a mystery, compounded by fabrications: pretending to have been a Confederate major, he may also have served in the Union Army—or in neither. Arrived in New Orleans as a common laborer after the war; as an opportunist par excellence soon achieved prominence in the city's Democratic party. Managed the Democratic state campaign in 1876; was the leading spokesman for Louisiana's whites in Washington, D. C., negotiations which ended Reconstruction in 1877. Political career after Reconstruction: allied himself with the corrupt Louisiana State Lottery Company; elected state treasurer 1878, served until 1888; recognized to be the behind-the-scenes leader of state government during Gov. Samuel D. McEnery's administration, 1879-1888. Newspaper career: managing editor of New Orleans Democrat, 1879-1881, owned by Burke and Lottery interests, merged it with the Times to form the Times-Democrat, 1881, with Burke as publisher. Spearheaded the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-1885. Indicted, 1889, for embezzlements in state bonds totaling over $1,000,000, Burke fled to Honduras, successfully resisted extradition. Died and was interred somewhere in Honduras, 1928. W.I.H. Sources: James F. Vivian, "Major E. A. Burke: The Honduras Exile, 1889-1928," Louisiana History, XV (1974); C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (1951); William I. Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900 (1969).
BURKE, Edward A., politician, publisher. Ancestry and background obscure; claimed Kentucky as his birthplace (ca. 1840) but was probably from Ohio or Illinois. Entire life prior to 1865 a mystery, compounded by fabrications: pretending to have been a Confederate major, he may also have served in the Union Army—or in neither. Arrived in New Orleans as a common laborer after the war; as an opportunist par excellence soon achieved prominence in the city's Democratic party. Managed the Democratic state campaign in 1876; was the leading spokesman for Louisiana's whites in Washington, D. C., negotiations which ended Reconstruction in 1877. Political career after Reconstruction: allied himself with the corrupt Louisiana State Lottery Company; elected state treasurer 1878, served until 1888; recognized to be the behind-the-scenes leader of state government during Gov. Samuel D. McEnery's administration, 1879-1888. Newspaper career: managing editor of New Orleans Democrat, 1879-1881, owned by Burke and Lottery interests, merged it with the Times to form the Times-Democrat, 1881, with Burke as publisher. Spearheaded the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 1884-1885. Indicted, 1889, for embezzlements in state bonds totaling over $1,000,000, Burke fled to Honduras, successfully resisted extradition. Died and was interred somewhere in Honduras, 1928. W.I.H. Sources: James F. Vivian, "Major E. A. Burke: The Honduras Exile, 1889-1928," Louisiana History, XV (1974); C. Vann Woodward, Origins of the New South, 1877-1913 (1951); William I. Hair, Bourbonism and Agrarian Protest: Louisiana Politics, 1877-1900 (1969).
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