The political scene has changed a great deal since Eugene Cox?s first foray into politics in 1968. In one of his last interviews before he died, Mr. Cox spoke of the sacrifices he and his peers made in their careers to stay in the political scene during that era and charted his trials and tribulations in the early days of his political career.

He also spoke about how they had to fight against scaremongering from their opponents that the economy would crash and burn under the PLP ? and his joy at proving the critics wrong.

?I think you would have looked at a lot of different managing directors if it had not been for politics,? Mr. Cox said of himself and his peers who took a chance and leapt into the void they saw in the political scene during the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr. Cox explained that at that time many who went into politics were going up against their bosses, mainly white establishment UBP stalwarts, and it could ruin a man?s ? or woman?s ? career.

But this was not a stumbling block for Mr. Cox, a man of strong convictions who believed it was his civic duty to stand up and be counted.

?I think my career was hindered by the fact that I got involved in politics, yes I think it was hindered,? he said. ?But anyway that is water under the bridge now.?

Asked if he regretted putting so much of his life into a career in politics and risking his career at the Bermuda Electric Light Company, where he worked until his retirement in 1993, he was adamant he would not want to turn the clock back.

?No I don?t (regret it),? he said. ?I think one has to sometimes fight for one?s principles. And for me it was something that I had to do and it was something that I was happy to be along to be able to do it.?

Mr. Cox was in his 40s when he got into politics. As a happily married, successful black businessman with three children, he thought he would be a good role model for the Island?s youngsters to take an active interest in politics.

?I thought that as a young man, having my family, we had three kids, my wife was a teacher and I was a businessman, you might say a professional, but this was a good example for a lot of young people to see me,? he said.

?I thought there would be droves of people coming and following, but I didn?t see that happening. I was a bit disappointed. I thought that my gallant effort would have struck a more sincere and cooperative note, but it didn?t.?

Born and raised in Sandys, Mr. Cox went off to study in Canada and came back as an engineer. When he decided to go into politics, he was working as an engineer at Belco, and took a career risk to go into politics. He said he would only stand in his home parish of Sandys ? where at least he had a chance of winning a seat.

?I came along with a degree in engineering, a lot of experience in working in Dockyard and even working overseas in consultants offices and for different major companies,? he said. ?And then I thought I was going to run for Parliament and I dared.?

He said that as far as he was concerned, his bosses had a right to expect from him a 40-hour week, but he knew they should not tell him who to vote for and who he should support. ?I didn?t think they had that right.?

He ran with Walter Roberts in Sandys South in 1968 and the pair ?won it handsomely?. In the next election in 1972 they did even better, winning the seat two to one.

But when the 1976 election came around, he decided he had been promoted in Belco and had more responsibility and decided he had had enough of politics and said he would run in Sandys North, a UBP stronghold, in the knowledge that he would lose.

?I lost by 32 votes,? he said. ?Well that turned me on, and I said, I could win that seat. It was a challenge.?

As a twist of fate the UBP candidate passed away and by September the same year he was up again for the by-election and won.

He said the work he did in Sandys North helping to solve housing problems was interesting and helped the PLP?s cause in the area. In the 1980 election, the PLP swept Sandys.

But then, for the first time since he became active in politics he backed out in 1985 after a split in the party.

?In 1985 I stopped because we had a split in the party and we lost two seats back again (to the UBP) and then in 1989 I came back and we won them back. So it was quite an interesting experience.?

He became Shadow Finance Minister after that election and spent the next few years furiously fighting to get the PLP elected but he said it was an uphill battle with scaremongering about the economy from their opponents.

?One of the things that worried me was for many years that people were being told that if they voted for the PLP, the international businesses would run away from the Island and all manner of things would happen.

?The tourists would fly off the next day and people would not invest in Bermuda as they had been doing and so on, all of those kinds of things had been told. And what worried me was how many times did they win an election because of that fear tactic that was out there?

?It was not just a figment of my imagination. This was being done. Elections were being won handsomely and so consistently you know it is not normal,? he said.

One tactic he claimed was often used was to bribe voters with new roads in certain areas. ?There were things being done at Dock Hill, getting roads repaired if they promised to if they voted. And that is the way things were done. And we had to take this very seriously.?

The PLP stormed to victory in 1998, Mr. Cox became Minister of Finance and said he was happy to prove the critics wrong.

?The economy is not an issue we have proven them wrong on,? he said. ?...We have only just begun.?