Wallace H. White Jr.

Wallace Humphrey White Jr.
Senate Majority Leader
In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949
Deputy	Kenneth S. Wherry
Preceded by	Alben W. Barkley
Succeeded by	Scott Wike Lucas
Senate Minority Leader
In office February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1947 Acting: February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945
Deputy	Kenneth S. Wherry
Preceded by	Charles L. McNary
Succeeded by	Alben W. Barkley
Senate Republican Conference Vice-Chair
In office January 3, 1941 – February 25, 1944
Leader	Charles L. McNary
Preceded by	Frederick Hale
Succeeded by	Harold Hitz Burton
Chairman of the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee
In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949
Preceded by	Burton K. Wheeler
Succeeded by	Edwin C. Johnson
United States Senator from Maine
In office March 4, 1931 – January 3, 1949
Preceded by	Arthur R. Gould
Succeeded by	Margaret C. Smith
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1931
Preceded by	Daniel J. McGillicuddy
Succeeded by	Donald B. Partridge
Personal details
Born	August 6, 1877 Lewiston, Maine
Died	March 31, 1952 (aged 74) Auburn, Maine
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Nina Lunn
Alma mater	Bowdoin College
Religion	Congregationalist[1]

Wallace Humphrey White Jr. (August 6, 1877 – March 31, 1952) was a prominent American politician and Republican leader in United States Congress from 1916 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).^[2] 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 alleged Klan membership.^[3]

He was not a candidate for renomination in 1948. 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. A 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 the widow Nina Lumbard Lunn.

References

1. Marquis Who's Who (Who Was Who in America, Volume III {1951-1960}). Retrieved 4 October 2012.
2. "Senate Leaders: Wallace H. White- Powerless to his Party". U.S. Senate:Art & History Home >Senate Leaders. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
3. "Dons Robe of Supreme Court Justice in October", Nashua Telegraph, Aug. 18, 1937, p. 6

Wallace H. White's wife was Nina Lumbard Lunn. She was a widow of Ralph Lunn and she brought White a son, Richard Lunn and daughter, 
Nina Katherine Lunn from her first marriage.

External links

• United States Congress. "Wallace H. White Jr. (id: W000396)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Wallace H. White Jr. at Find a Grave