Following the 1946 election, Ward nominated for Deputy Leader of the Labor Party but was beaten by Herbert Vere Evatt.
Setting a trend, he was again nominated for deputy leader in 1951, coming third behind Arthur Calwell and the comparatively little-known Percy Clarey; and in 1960, when he lost narrowly to future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, despite getting the support of newly elected leader Arthur Calwell who had disliked Whitlam.
In 1961, upon the defeat of Earle Page, Ward became the Father of the Australian House of Representatives.
However, with the end of his leadership aspirations and the onset of advanced atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and heart disease, Ward was losing political importance although he was still seen as an elder statesman of the Labor Party.

The ALP had narrowly lost the 1961 election under the leadership of Arthur Calwell.
Calwell would later write in his autobiography that he believed that the party could have won the 1961 election if Ward had been his deputy instead of Whitlam.

He was still serving as Member for East Sydney when he died at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst of a heart attack.
 Asked when he knew that his health was failing, he said it was when he "took a swing at Gough Whitlam, and missed."
He was given a state funeral and buried with Catholic rites in Randwick Cemetery.

Arthur Calwell eulogised Ward as an irrepressible fighter and unrelenting hater whilst Curtin had dismissed him as a "bloody ratbag."
The journalist Arthur Hoyle believed that many of Ward's generation believed that he was 'most authentic voice that the working class in Australia has had'.
Following the 1946 election, Ward nominated for Deputy Leader of the Labor Party but was beaten by Herbert Vere Evatt. Setting a trend, he was again nominated for deputy leader in 1951, coming third behind Arthur Calwell and the comparatively little-known Percy Clarey; and in 1960, when he lost narrowly to future Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, despite getting the support of newly elected leader Arthur Calwell who had disliked Whitlam. In 1961, upon the defeat of Earle Page, Ward became the Father of the Australian House of Representatives. However, with the end of his leadership aspirations and the onset of advanced atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus and heart disease, Ward was losing political importance although he was still seen as an elder statesman of the Labor Party.
The ALP had narrowly lost the 1961 election under the leadership of Arthur Calwell. Calwell would later write in his autobiography that he believed that the party could have won the 1961 election if Ward had been his deputy instead of Whitlam.
He was still serving as Member for East Sydney when he died at St Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst of a heart attack.  Asked when he knew that his health was failing, he said it was when he "took a swing at Gough Whitlam, and missed." He was given a state funeral and buried with Catholic rites in Randwick Cemetery.
Arthur Calwell eulogised Ward as an irrepressible fighter and unrelenting hater whilst Curtin had dismissed him as a "bloody ratbag." The journalist Arthur Hoyle believed that many of Ward's generation believed that he was 'most authentic voice that the working class in Australia has had'.
Eddie Ward