Compton I. White

This article deals with Compton I. White (1877–1956). For his son (1920–1998) see Compton I. White junior .

Compton Ignatius White Sr. (born July 31, 1877 in Baton Rouge , Louisiana , † March 31, 1956 in Spokane , Washington ) was an American politician . Between 1933 and 1947 and between 1949 and 1951 he represented the first constituency of the state of Idaho in the US House of Representatives .

Early years

Already in early childhood Compton White moved with his parents in the Rankin County in the State of Mississippi . In 1890 the family settled in Clark Fork , Bonner County , Idaho. Compton White attended the respective public schools and later the Metropolitan Business College in Chicago and Gonzaga University in Spokane. He then worked from 1897 to 1903 in a telegraph office and from 1903 to 1906 as a railway worker and then until 1910 as a railway conductor. At Clark Fork, White soon began working in other fields such as agriculture, mining and the timber industry.

Political career

Compton White became a member of the Democratic Party , whose Democratic National Conventions he attended as a delegate in 1928, 1932 and 1936. In 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for the US House of Representatives. Two years later, in 1932, he was able to defeat incumbent Burton L. French as his party's candidate and move into Congress as a member of parliament. This election victory is related to the federal trend at the time in favor of the Democrats, who with Franklin D. Roosevelt also won this year's presidential election. Compton White took up his new mandate on March 4, 1933 and was able to exercise it after the corresponding re-elections until January 3, 1947 in seven contiguous legislative periods. Between 1935 and 1944 he was chairman of the committee that dealt with irrigation issues ( Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation ). He was also a member of the Weights and Measures Committee.

In the congressional elections of 1946 he was defeated by the Republican Abe Goff , but in the next election in 1948 he was able to win back his seat in Congress. This enabled him to complete another legislative period between January 3, 1949 and January 3, 1951.

Another résumé

In 1950 he did not run for another term in the US House of Representatives. Instead, he unsuccessfully applied for his party's nomination for a seat in the US Senate . In 1952 he tried to return to the House of Representatives, but was no longer nominated by his party. After that, White retired from politics. He returned to Clark Fork and devoted himself to his private pursuits such as ranching and mining. He died in Spokane in March 1956. His son of the same name, Compton , also represented Idaho's first constituency in Congress between 1963 and 1967.

Web links

• Compton I. White in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Compton I. White in the database of Find a Grave (English)