Jamie Whitten | |
|---|---|
 Whitten in 1961 | |
| 42ndDean of the United States House of Representatives | |
| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | George H. Mahon |
| Succeeded by | John Dingell |
| Chair of theHouse Appropriations Committee | |
| In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | George H. Mahon |
| Succeeded by | William Natcher |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi | |
| In office November 4, 1941 – January 3, 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Wall Doxey |
| Succeeded by | Roger Wicker |
| Constituency | 2nd district (1941–1973) 1st district (1973–1995) |
| Member of theMississippi House of Representatives | |
| In office 1931–1932 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jamie Lloyd Whitten (1910-04-18)April 18, 1910 Cascilla, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | September 9, 1995(1995-09-09) (aged 85) Oxford, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of Mississippi |
Jamie Whitten on the urgency of continuing appropriations for FY1984 Recorded November 10, 1983 | |
Jamie Lloyd Whitten (April 18, 1910 – September 9, 1995) was an American politician and member of theDemocratic Party who represented his native state ofMississippi in theUnited States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1995. He was at the time of his departure thelongest-serving U.S. Representative ever. From 1979 to 1995, he wasDean of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is thelongest-serving member of Congress ever from Mississippi. He was aNew Deal liberal on economic matters, and took a leading role in Congress in forming national policy and spending regardingagriculture. Whitten was the last remaining member of Congress to have served during theFDR administration.
Jamie Whitten was born inCascilla, Mississippi.[1] He attended local public schools and theUniversity of Mississippi where he was a member ofBeta Theta Pi fraternity. He worked as a school teacher and principal and was elected as aDemocrat to theMississippi House of Representatives, where he served in 1931 and 1932. He wasadmitted to the bar in 1932, and from 1933 to 1941, he wasDistrict Attorney of Mississippi's 17th District, which included his home county ofTallahatchie.
In 1941, Whitten was elected as aDemocrat to theUnited States House of Representatives in aspecial election to represent the state's 2nd District, in the northern part of the state. The seat had become vacant as a result of incumbent CongressmanWall Doxey's election to theUnited States Senate. He was elected to a full term in 1942 and was re-elected 25 more times.
Whitten's district was renumbered as the 1st District after the 1970 Census.
Whitten had the support of the Democratic caucus and served as chair of the Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture (1949-1953 and 1954-1978). He was chair of the entire committee 1979-1992. Throughout that period he had a decisive voice on agricultural spending and to a large extent on policies.[2]
In 1977, his subcommittee lost control of environmental issues. He lost his influence after suffering a debilitating stroke in February 1992.[3] As a champion for American farmers, he fought against the FDA's early 1970s recommendation of restricting the use of antibiotics in livestock. He required that scientists prove the danger of antibiotic use.[4]
Whitten was an ardentNew Dealer who supported most liberal spending issues. He supported distribution of free food to the poor from surplus commodity stocks, school lunch programs and food stamps in coalition with urban Democrats.[5] In the 1980s, he clashed with the conservativeReagan administration on policy matters. He voted against Reagan's economic plans, tax cuts, increased defense spending, balanced budget initiative,tort reform, welfare reform, abortion restrictions, missile defense system, and thePersian Gulf War. Although Whitten represented a district that grew increasinglysuburban and Republican-leaning from the 1970s onward, his opposition to Reagan's program did not affect him at the ballot box. Indeed, his seniority and popularity resulted in his facing only token, or "sacrificial lamb", opponents on the occasions he faced any opposition at all, even in years when Republican presidential candidates carried the district by landslide margins. Nonetheless, it was assumed that he would be succeeded by a Republican when he retired.
Whitten was originally asegregationist, as were many of his colleagues from Mississippi and the rest of the South. He signed theSouthern Manifesto condemning theSupreme Court's decision inBrown v. Board of Education, which ordered the desegregation of public schools. Along with virtually the entire Mississippi congressional delegation, he voted against the Civil Rights Acts of1957,1960,1964, and1968, as well as theVoting Rights Act of 1965 and the24th Amendment to the Constitution. Whitten later apologized for these votes, calling them a "mistake" caused by severe misjudgment.[citation needed] He voted for theCivil Rights Act of 1991.
Throughout most of his tenure in the House, Whitten served on theAppropriations Committee, ultimately serving as chairman from the 1979 retirement ofGeorge H. Mahon until newly-elected Democrats in the House Democratic Caucus removed him in favor ofWilliam Huston Natcher after the1992 election. In 1985, when then-junior Appropriations Committee memberDick Durbin spoke with Chairman Whitten about possibly sitting on the Budget Committee, Whitten told him, "Well, if you want to be on that committee, you can be on that committee, but I want you to remember one thing, the Budget Committee deals in hallucinations and the Appropriations Committee deals in facts."[6] While on the floor of the Senate on March 21, 2018, now Senator Durbin referred to that quote from Whitten as "Whitten's Law," which implies that the Budget Committee is a political branch that makes budget promises while the Appropriations Committee is obliged to either make or break those promises during the budget-making process.
Declining to run for reelection to a historic 28th term in 1994, Whitten retired from the House as America's longest-serving Congressman (53 years and two months). He retired to his home inOxford, Mississippi and died there on September 9, 1995, aged 85. His service from November 4, 1941, to January 3, 1995 set a record forlength of service in the House, which remained unbroken until February 11, 2009, whenMichigan Rep.John Dingell surpassed it. Whitten is also the5th longest-serving Congressmember (House and/or Senate) behind Dingell,Daniel Inouye,Carl Hayden, andRobert Byrd.
Whitten authoredThat We May Live, written largely as a pro-development, pro-chemical pesticide answer toRachel Carson'sSilent Spring, the seminal 1962 book that helped spur the modernenvironmental movement.[7]
The Jamie Whitten Historical Site is located at the bridge of theNatchez Trace Parkway over theTennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, two projects that Whitten had successfully fought to fund over his house tenure, overcoming strong opposition fromconservatives to their construction using federal funds.
In June 1995, Congress renamed the main headquarters building of theUnited States Department of Agriculture inWashington, D.C. theJamie L. Whitten Building in his honor.[8]
The Beta Beta chapter ofBeta Theta Pi fraternity at theUniversity of Mississippi has named their leadership award after brother Whitten. Each year, one graduating brother is selected to receive the award based on his leadership and commitment to the chapter, university, and community.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's 2nd congressional district 1941–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMississippi's 1st congressional district 1973–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Appropriations Committee 1979–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Dean of the United States House of Representatives 1979–1995 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
