Wallace H. White Explained

Wallace White
Office:Senate Majority Leader
Deputy:Kenneth S. Wherry
Term Start:January 3, 1947
Term End:January 3, 1949
Predecessor:Alben W. Barkley
Successor:Scott W. Lucas
Office1:Leader of the Senate Republican Conference
Deputy1:Kenneth S. Wherry
Term Start1:February 25, 1944
Term End1:January 3, 1949
Predecessor1:Charles L. McNary
Successor1:Kenneth S. Wherry
Office2:Chair of the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee
Term Start2:January 3, 1947
Term End2:January 3, 1949
Predecessor2:Burton K. Wheeler
Successor2:Edwin C. Johnson
Office3:Senate Minority Leader
Deputy3:Kenneth S. Wherry
Term Start3:February 25, 1944
Term End3:January 3, 1947
Acting: February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945
Predecessor3:Charles L. McNary
Successor3:Alben W. Barkley
Office4:Secretary of the Senate Republican Conference
Leader4:Charles L. McNary
Term Start4:January 3, 1941
Term End4:February 25, 1944
Predecessor4:Frederick Hale
Successor4:Harold Hitz Burton
Jr/Sr5:United States Senator
State5:Maine
Term Start5:March 4, 1931
Term End5:January 3, 1949
Predecessor5:Arthur R. Gould
Successor5:Margaret Smith
State6:Maine
Term Start6:March 4, 1917
Term End6:March 3, 1931
Predecessor6:Daniel J. McGillicuddy
Successor6:Donald B. Partridge
Birth Name:Wallace Humphrey White Jr.
Birth Date:6 August 1877
Birth Place:Lewiston, Maine, U.S.
Death Place:Auburn, Maine, U.S.
Resting Place:Mt. Auburn Cemetery
Party:Republican
Spouse:Nina Lumbard
Relations:William P. Frye (grandfather)
Education:Bowdoin College (BA)

Wallace Humphrey White Jr. (August 6, 1877March 31, 1952) was an American politician and Republican leader in the United States Congress from 1917 until 1949. White was from the U.S. state of Maine and served in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he was Senate Minority Leader and later Majority Leader before his retirement.

Background

White was born in Lewiston, Maine. His grandfather, William P. Frye, was also a prominent political figure, having served as a Senator from Maine and President pro tempore. In 1899, White graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick. After graduating, he became the assistant clerk to the Senate Committee on Commerce and later secretary to his grandfather. White studied law and was admitted to the bar, afterward beginning to practice in Lewiston.

Career

The political career of White began when he was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1916. He took office on March 4 of the following year and served until March 3, 1931 (65th - 71st Congresses).[1] He left the House in 1931 after being elected to the Senate in late 1930.

In Congress, White served as chairman of the House Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice (66th Congress), the House Committee on Woman Suffrage (67th through 69th Congresses), the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries (70th and 71st Congresses), and the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce (80th Congress). He also served as a presidential appointee on a variety of commissions.

White was reelected in 1936 and 1942 and served from March 4, 1931, to January 3, 1949. He was elected minority leader by his colleagues (1944–1947), and became majority leader when his party held a majority in the 80th Congress (1947–1949). According to John Gunther's 1947 book Inside U.S.A., as the titular party floor leader, "his chief function is to hold the balance between two much more dominant and vivid men, Taft and Vandenberg...Everybody likes White; few people pay much attention to him."

White was one of a handful of senators who voted against the elevation of Hugo Black to the Supreme Court in 1937 based on his previous Klan membership.[2]

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1948. In 1952, White died in Auburn and is interred at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

Family

White was married twice, first to Anna Pratt of Lewiston in 1903. One son, Herbert Frye White, was born in 1904. In 1914, Anna Pratt White and an infant daughter Helen Hayden White both died in childbirth. In 1917 White married widow Nina Lumbard Lunn. Nina Lunn was the widow of Ralph Lunn and she brought to the marriage a son, Richard Lunn and daughter, Nina Katherine Lunn.

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Senate Leaders: Wallace H. White- Powerless to his Party . U.S. Senate:Art & History Home >Senate Leaders . 2009-09-21 .
  2. "Dons Robe of Supreme Court Justice in October", Nashua Telegraph, Aug. 18, 1937, p. 6