Wallace H. White

{{More citations needed|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Wallace White | image = Wallace White of Maine LCCN2016848772 (3x4a).jpg | caption = White {{circa|1924}} | jr/sr5 = United States Senator | state5 = Maine | term_start5 = March 4, 1931 | term_end5 = January 3, 1949 | predecessor5 = Arthur R. Gould | successor5 = Margaret Chase Smith {{Collapsed infobox section begin|Senate positions|titlestyle=border: 1px dashed lightgrey;}} {{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes | 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{{efn|Acting: February 25, 1944 – January 3, 1945}} | term_end3 = January 3, 1947 | 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 }} {{Collapsed infobox section end}} | state6 = Maine | district6 = {{ushr|ME|2|2nd}} | 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 = {{birth date|1877|8|6}} | birth_place = Lewiston, Maine, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1952|3|31|1877|8|6}} | death_place = Auburn, Maine, U.S. | resting_place = Mt. Auburn Cemetery | party = Republican | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Anna Pratt|1903|1914|end=died}} * {{marriage|Nina Lumbard|1917}} }} | relations = William P. Frye (grandfather) | children = 2 | education = Bowdoin College (BA) }} '''Wallace Humphrey White Jr.''' (August 6, 1877{{spaced ndash}}March 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.

==Early life== 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).<ref>{{cite web | title=Senate Leaders: Wallace H. White- Powerless to his Party | publisher=U.S. Senate:Art & History Home >Senate Leaders | url=https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/People_Leaders_White.htm | access-date=2009-09-21 }}</ref> 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.<ref>"Dons Robe of Supreme Court Justice in October", Nashua Telegraph, Aug. 18, 1937, p. 6</ref>

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.

== Notes == {{notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{commons category}} {{Portal|Biography}} {{congbio|W000396}} *{{Find a Grave|6727328}}

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{s-bef|before=Daniel J. McGillicuddy}} {{s-ttl|title=Member of the U.S. House of Representatives<br>from Maine's 2nd congressional district|years=1917–1931}} {{s-aft|after=Donald B. Partridge}} |- {{s-bef|before=Warren Worth Bailey}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the House Justice Department Expenditures Committee|years=1919–1921}} {{s-aft|after=Stuart F. Reed}} |- {{s-bef|before=James Mann}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the House Woman Suffrage Committee|years=1921–1927}} {{s-non|reason=Position abolished}} |- {{s-bef|before=Frank D. Scott}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the House Merchant Marine Committee|years=1927–1931}} {{s-aft|after=Ewin L. Davis}} |- {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Arthur R. Gould}} {{s-ttl|title=Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Maine<br>(Class 2)|years=1930, 1936, 1942}} {{s-aft|after=Margaret Smith}} |- {{s-bef|before=Frederick Hale}} {{s-ttl|title=Secretary of the Senate Republican Conference|years=1941–1944}} {{s-aft|after=Harold Hitz Burton}} |- {{s-bef|before=Charles L. McNary}} {{s-ttl|title=Senate Republican Leader|years=1944–1949<br>Acting: 1944–1945}} {{s-aft|after=Kenneth S. Wherry}} |- {{s-par|us-sen}} {{s-bef|before=Arthur R. Gould}} {{s-ttl|title=U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Maine|years=1931–1949|alongside=Frederick Hale, Owen Brewster}} {{s-aft|after=Margaret Smith}} |- {{s-bef|before=Charles L. McNary}} {{s-ttl|title=Senate Minority Leader|years=1944–1947<br>Acting: 1944–1945}} {{s-aft|after=Alben W. Barkley}} |- {{s-bef|before=Burton K. Wheeler}} {{s-ttl|title=Chair of the Senate Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee|years=1947–1949}} {{s-aft|after=Edwin C. Johnson}} |- {{s-bef|before=Alben W. Barkley}} {{s-ttl|title=Senate Majority Leader|years=1947–1949}} {{s-aft|after=Scott W. Lucas}} {{s-end}}

{{Republican Party}} {{USSenME}} {{USSenMajLead}} {{USSenMinLead}} {{USSenRepLead}} {{SenCommerceCommitteeChairmen}} {{US House Merchant Marine and Fisheries chairs}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Wallace H.}} Category:1877 births Category:1952 deaths Category:American Congregationalists Category:Bowdoin College alumni Category:Maine lawyers Category:Politicians from Lewiston, Maine Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Maine Category:Republican Party United States senators from Maine Category:20th-century United States senators Category:20th-century United States representatives