Edgar also served as chair of the Congressional Clearinghouse on the Future (1982-86) and as a member of the Select Committee on Assassinations (1976-78) that investigated the deaths of President Kennedy and Dr. King. When he was young, Edgar had an inspiring encounter with Martin Luther King, Jr. He has often spoken of the irony of being the Select Committee member assigned to interview the convicted assassin, James Earl Ray, in jail.

DURING HIS years in Washington, Edgar worked with two presidents of the United States – Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. Bob rode his bicycle to his first meeting at the White House and absent-mindedly neglected to roll down his right pant leg when he greeted Ford – an oversight that was recorded in more than one Washington memoir.

BOB HAS maintained a friendship with President Carter, who wrote an endorsement in 2006 for Bob's book, Middle Church.