White, Wallace Humphrey, Jr., 1877-1952

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Wallace H. White
Powerless to his Party

Little noted in the realms of political science, even senators with a firm grasp of institutional history may have trouble recalling his name. During his prime years in the House of Representatives, however, Wallace White, Jr. influenced the course of radio broadcasting regulation and helped develop the American Merchant Marine. And in the Senate, White's colleagues considered him one of the kindest, gentlest, and most fair-minded individuals to grace the institution. Indeed, his congeniality elevated him to the positions of minority and majority leader. But there is a sad story behind his titular leadership of the Senate. As Senator Robert Taft's "front man," Wallace White had no real power over the Republican Conference, yet the stress of duty nearly destroyed the man who was both loved and exploited by the senators he served.

Born in 1877 in Livingston, Maine, White grew up under the guidance of his grandfather, William P. Frye, a long-serving member of both houses of Congress and the president pro tempore of the Senate. After graduating from Bowdoin College, White worked as a clerk to the Senate Commerce Committee, which his grandfather chaired, and later as a personal secretary to Frye in the PPT office. At the same time, White took law courses at Colombian College (now George Washington University), and in 1903 he moved back to Maine to practice law at his father's firm.

In 1916, White ran as a Republican for a seat in the House of Representatives. During the campaign, local newspapers touted White's connection to Frye, the premiere Maine statesman. "By inheritance, education, culture, initiative and personality," the Lewiston Journal proclaimed, "Mr. White is all that the voters . . . can ask." The newspaper made White's election seem all but inevitable. At thirty-eight, White would be entering the House at the same age as his illustrious grandfather.

White won the 1916 election as well as the next six consecutive terms to the House. Representing Maine's second district, he chaired the Committee on Women's Suffrage and the Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries. In the latter position, he drafted legislation regarding U.S. shipping, broadcasting, fisheries and navigation, and he served as a U.S. delegate to numerous radio and telegraph conferences held around the world. Credited for subduing the "chaos" then reigning over American airwaves, White co-authored the Radio Act of 1927. He also drafted the "epochal" Merchant Marine Act of 1928 (the Jones-White Act), which mandated that ships accepting U.S. mail subsidies must educate young cadets in the "duties of seamanship."

In 1930, Maine Senator Arthur Gould retired, freeing a seat in the Senate. White easily won the race to replace him. A legislative craftsman, rather than a dynamic speaker, he pursued his interests in shipping and business expansion, topics popular with his Maine constituents. And as a member of the minority for much of this time, he made friends with Democratic senators, while he gained the respect of his Republican colleagues for his willingness to log long hours far from the eyes of the public and the press.

In the early 1940s, White served as the secretary of the Senate Republican Conference and as the assistant to Senator Charles McNary, the minority floor leader. When McNary fell ill with a brain tumor in 1943, White fulfilled the administrative duties of acting leader and chairman of the Conference. As a consequence of McNary's incapacitation, the Conference, under the direction of Senator Robert Taft, adopted a new set of rules governing its organization and officers. For the first time, the position of Republican floor leader would be separate from that of chairman of the Conference. Thus, when the Conference elected White to be minority floor leader in January 1945, White had little, if any, authority over the caucus and was, in fact, guided by the mandates of Senator Taft, then considered the ex officio leader of the Senate Republicans.

As minority leader between 1945 and 1947, White supervised the floor proceedings, reported to Taft, and worked closely with Democratic Majority Leader Alben Barkley, with whom he developed a warm relationship. White preferred to focus on domestic and international trade, however, and he was an active member of the Committees on Appropriations, Foreign Relations, and Interstate Commerce. Modest and soft spoken, he rarely made noteworthy speeches, but introduced dozens of bills without achieving the legislative success he enjoyed in the House.

In 1947, the Senate Republicans took back the majority in the chamber. White became the Interstate Commerce chairman, a position to which he was remarkably suited, given his expertise in business and communications. In response to Senator Taft's dictate, the Republican Conference also elected White to be majority leader, despite his lack of speaking skills and desire to assume the role's managerial duties. For Taft, however, White made the perfect figurehead leader. Frail at seventy, he had no intentions of taking over the Senate, and he was so warmly regarded, he was immune to Democratic attacks. With White out front, Taft quietly enforced his party's agenda without having to deal with the minor, yet time-consuming, administrative details relegated to official leaders.

White's sole term as majority leader has been largely unrecorded. No books describe his performance beyond prefacing the word, "leader," with such adjectives as "nominal," "self-effacing," and "unremarkable." Indeed, Taft did not allow White to either excel or fail in his circumscribed role. Tucked away in the Library of Congress' Manuscript Division, however, a scrapbook of local newspaper clippings broadens the picture: White was not a happily complacent senator, willing to accommodate the whims of Robert Taft. In actuality, he was desperate to leave behind the pressures of his unwanted position.

From the start of the 80th Congress in 1947, White's colleagues pushed him to cast aside the committee work that he loved. Senator Clyde Reed publicly criticized him for taking the helm of the Interstate Commerce Committee when he had so many leadership tasks to complete. Others senators, vying for his committee slot, insisted that he withdraw from Foreign Relations. Instead, White requested again and again to be freed from the leadership post, but Taft feared that a scramble to fill the position would split the party, and he instructed the Conference to refuse White's attempts at resignation.

In December 1947, White entered the Bethesda Naval Hospital with the diagnosis of "flu" and exhaustion. A few weeks later, the Livingston Journal describe White's ailment as a "nervous condition." After White had been hospitalized for nearly three months, the newspaper reported that he was actually recovering from a "nervous breakdown." Finally, on March 26, White returned to the Senate. Within days, he was back to his post as majority leader, but he no longer had the mental energy to keep up with the action on the floor. Senator Kenneth Wherry, who would become the Republican leader in 1949, assumed White's duties for the rest of his term.

In 1949, Wallace White retired to his home state of Maine. Weakened by a heart condition, he became confined to his bed in 1952. In his isolation, he received a letter from the current members of Interstate Commerce Committee. The senators told him that they had been reminiscing about their good friend Wallace, "the man, whose friendliness, charm, courtesy, and painstaking consideration in all things marked him as a true gentleman and a noble American patriot." Deeply touched by his colleagues' sentiments, White died in his sleep a few weeks later. His wife reported that his last days were peaceful now that he could finally leave the worries of the Senate behind.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn The Sam Rayburn Papers, 1822, 1831, 1845, 1903-2007 Dolph Briscoe Center for American History
referencedIn Welles mss., 1930-1950, (Bulk 1936-1947) Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
creatorOf White, Wallace H. (Wallace Humphrey), b. 1877. Wallace H. White papers, 1880-1952. Maine Historical Society Library
referencedIn President's Secretary's Files (Truman Administration). 1945 - 1960. Diaries Files. 1947 - 1953. 1947. 1947 - 1953. Diary Entry of Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman Library
referencedIn McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944. Charles Linza McNary papers, 1921-1944. Library of Congress
referencedIn Dyer, Isaac W. (Isaac Watson), 1855-1937. Papers, [ca. 1863-1916]. Maine Historical Society Library
creatorOf Wright, John W. John W. Wright papers, 1929,1931-1932. U.S. Army Heritage & Education Center
creatorOf Merrill family. Merrill family correspondence, 1887-1960. Raymond H. Fogler Library
creatorOf Wallace H. White Papers, 1915-1948, (bulk 1917-1931) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
referencedIn Sherman, Thomas Henry, 1842-. Letters to Glen Walton Blodgett, 1928-1931. University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf White, Wallace H. (Wallace Humphrey), b. 1877. Wallace H. White autograph collection, 1780-1954. Maine Historical Society Library
creatorOf Slemp, C. Bascom (Campbell Bascom), 1870-1943. Papers of C. Bascom Slemp [manuscript], 1866-1944. University of Virginia. Library
creatorOf White, Wallace H. (Wallace Humphrey), b. 1877. Wallace H. White ALS, 1920. Maine Historical Society Library
referencedIn Arthur H. Vandenberg papers, 1884-1974, 1915-1951 Bentley Historical Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
correspondedWith Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937 person
alumnusOrAlumnaOf Bowdoin College corporateBody
correspondedWith Brewster, Owen, 1888-1961 person
correspondedWith Catt, Carrie Chapman, 1859-1947 person
correspondedWith Colby, Bainbridge, 1869-1950 person
correspondedWith Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948 person
correspondedWith Dyer, Isaac W. (Isaac Watson), 1855-1937. person
associatedWith Frye, William P. (William Pierce), 1831-1911. person
correspondedWith Harding, Warren G. (Warren Gamaliel), 1865-1923 person
correspondedWith Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964 person
correspondedWith Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948 person
correspondedWith Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955 person
associatedWith Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826 person
correspondedWith Jordan, Fritz H. person
correspondedWith King, William, 1768-1852 person
correspondedWith Lane, Franklin K. person
correspondedWith Lansing, Robert, 1864-1928 person
correspondedWith Loeffler, Carl A. person
associatedWith Maine. corporateBody
correspondedWith McCormick, Medill, 1877-1925 person
correspondedWith McNary, Charles Linza, 1874-1944. person
associatedWith Merrill family. family
associatedWith Monroe, James, 1758-1831 person
associatedWith Parris, Albion K. (Albion Keith), 1788-1857 person
associatedWith Rayburn, Sam, 1882-1961 person
correspondedWith Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 person
associatedWith Sherman, Thomas Henry, 1842- person
associatedWith Slemp, C. Bascom (Campbell Bascom), 1870-1943. person
correspondedWith Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972 person
associatedWith United States. Congress. House. corporateBody
associatedWith United States. Congress. Senate. corporateBody
associatedWith Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951 person
associatedWith Welles, Orson, 1915-1985 person
descendantOf White family. family
associatedWith Williams, Reuel, 1783-1862 person
correspondedWith Wright, John W. person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Lewiston ME US
Auburn ME US
Subject
Bays
Bays
Communication
Communications
Conservation of natural resources
Conservation of natural resources
Fisheries
Fisheries
Hydroelectric power plants
Hydroelectric power plants
Interstate commerce
Interstate commerce
Maritime concerns
Maritime concerns
Merchant marine
Merchant marine
Military policy
Military policy
Military readiness
Neutrality
Neutrality
Senators, U.S. Congress
Tariff
Tariff
Taxation
Taxation
Tidal power
Vacations
Veterans
Veterans
Waterways
Waterways
Wood-pulp industry
Occupation
Lawyers
Legislators
Representatives, U.S. Congress
Senators, U.S. Congress
Activity

Person

Birth 1877-08-06

Death 1952-03-31

Male

Americans

English

Information

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