Cecil F. White

Infobox Congressman
name=Cecil F. White


width=
state=California
district=9th
party=Democratic
term=January 1949 - January 1951
preceded=Bertrand W. Gearhart
succeeded=Allan O. Hunter
date of birth= birth date|1900|12|12|mf=y
place of birth= Temple, Texas
date of death= death date and age|1992|3|29|1900|12|12|mf=y
place of death= San Francisco, California
spouse=
current occupation=

Cecil Fielding White (December 12, 1900 - March 29, 1992) was an American farmer and politician. The Democrat White served as the United States Representative for California's 9th congressional district for one term, from 1949 to 1951.cite web
title = Cecil Fielding White Information
publisher = The Political Graveyard
author = Lawrence Kestenbaum
date =
url = http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/white2.html
accessdate = 2007-01-01 ] White was a cotton broker and owned his own ranch before getting into politics at the age of 47, and defeating seven-term incumbent Republican Bertrand W. Gearhart.cite web
title = Face of the Victor
publisher = "Time Magazine"
author =
date = November 15, 1948
url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853399,00.html
accessdate = 2007-01-01 ]

Background

White was born in Temple, Texas on December 12, 1900. His family moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and White grew up and went through the city's public schooling system there.cite web
title = Cecil Fielding White Profile
publisher = United States Congress
author =
date =
url = http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000359
accessdate = 2007-01-01 ] At the age of sixteen, he joined the United States Army and served on the border with Mexico. During World War I, White went off to fight in France as a sergeant in the 39th Division of the 142nd Field Artillery] from 1916 to 1919. After the war, White worked in the Los Angeles office of a cotton broker and later worked with cotton mills in Arkansas, California and Tennessee. After going back to California, he became the owner and operator of his own ranch, under his name in Devils Den, California.

Politics

As a 47-year-old cotton rancher, White ran for the United States House of Representatives seat in California's 9th congressional district. He faced seven-term Republican incumbent Bertrand W. Gearhart in the election. Gearhart had previously only faced one Democratic challenger in his six previous re-election bids. White defeated Gearhart after capturing a 51.3% majority with a margin of victory of more than 6,000 votes. [cite book |editor=John L. Moore |others= |title=Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections|edition= 3rd |year= 1994 |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |location=Washington, D.C. |id=0-87187-996-4 |pages=1543 pg. 1209] After his first term as a member of the House, he was challenged by Republican Allan O. Hunter, a man who ironically also had no prior political experience. Hunter, who would only serve two terms in Congress, but would later become the president and chairman of the Federal National Mortgage Association, defeated the Democrat, White, by capturing 52.0% of the votes in the election, in comparison to 48% for White. [Moore (1994), pg. 1214] White again ran for a seat in the House of Representatives in 1966, this time as a Republican for California's 16th congressional district. [Moore (1994), pg. 1254] The Democratic incumbent Bernice F. Sisk defeated White in a lopsided 71.3%-28.6% election. [Moore (1994), pg. 1254]

White remained a resident of San Francisco, California until his death on March 29, 1992.

References

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000359 Biography] at the "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress"
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/white2.html The Political Graveyard profile for Cecil F. White]

Persondata
NAME=White, Cecil F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH=December 12 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH=Temple, Texas
DATE OF DEATH=March 29 1992
PLACE OF DEATH=San Francisco, California