Edgar J. Herschler

Edgar Herschler
Herschler in 1977
28th Governor of Wyoming
In office January 6, 1975 – January 5, 1987
Preceded by	Stanley K. Hathaway
Succeeded by	Mike Sullivan
Member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
In office 1959–1969
Personal details
Born	October 27, 1918 Kemmerer, Wyoming,U.S.
Died	February 5, 1990 (aged 71) Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S.
Resting place	Kemmerer Cemetery Kemmerer, Wyoming
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Casey Herschler
Children	2
Education	University of Wyoming
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Episcopalianism
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Unit	South Pacific
Battles/wars	World War II

Edgar Jacob Herschler (October 27, 1918 – February 5, 1990), popularly known as "Gov. Ed", was the 28th Governor of Wyoming from January 6, 1975 to January 5, 1987. Herschler built a personal appeal to voters based on charisma, a small-town background, and shrewd political maneuvering to such an extent that he was the only three-term governor in Wyoming history.

Herschler served in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He received his law degree from the University of Wyoming at Laramie in 1949. He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1959—1969. He was city attorney for Kemmerer as well as the prosecutor of his native Lincoln County in the Democratic southwestern corner of Wyoming. Herschler won his party's gubernatorial primary election and then defeated the Republican Dick Jones (1910–2008), a trucking executive from Cody and a former member of both houses of the state legislature, in the general election of 1974, amid a Democratic national landslide. Herschler polled 71,741 (55.9 percent) to Jones' 56,645 (44.1 percent). Jones had the backing of outgoing Governor Stanley K. Hathaway.

Herschler is best known for his call for "growth on our terms" during the 1970s energy boom which nearly doubled the Wyoming population in a decade. Coal mining began in earnest in the Powder River Basin during Herschler's first term, and severance tax revenue from this development provided funding for construction of modern highways, schools and other public infrastructure.