View source for Jamie Whitten

{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Jamie Whitten
| image               = File:JamieWhitten1961cropped.jpg
| caption             = Whitten in 1961
| office              = 42nd [[Dean of the United States House of Representatives]]
| term_start          = January 3, 1979
| term_end            = January 3, 1995
| predecessor         = [[George H. Mahon]]
| successor           = [[John Dingell]]
| office1             = Chair of the [[House Appropriations Committee]]
| term_start1         = January 3, 1979
| term_end1           = January 3, 1993
| predecessor1        = [[George H. Mahon]]
| successor1          = [[William Natcher]]
| state2              = [[Mississippi]]
| term_start2         = November 4, 1941
| term_end2           = January 3, 1995
| predecessor2        = [[Wall Doxey]]
| successor2          = [[Roger Wicker]]
| constituency2       = {{ushr|MS|2|c}} (1941–1973)<br>{{ushr|MS|1|c}} (1973–1995)
| office3             = Member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]]
| term_start3         = 1931
| term_end3           = 1932
| predecessor3        = 
| successor3          = 
| birth_name          = Jamie Lloyd Whitten
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1910|4|18}}
| birth_place         = [[Cascilla, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1995|9|9|1910|4|18}}}}
| death_place         = [[Oxford, Mississippi]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| education           = [[University of Mississippi]]
| module              = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Rep. Jamie L. Whitten on the Urgency of Continuing Appropriations for FY1984.ogg|title=Jamie Whitten's voice|type=speech|description=Jamie Whitten on the urgency of continuing appropriations for FY1984<br/>Recorded November 10, 1983}}
}}
'''Jamie Lloyd Whitten''' (April 18, 1910{{spaced ndash}}September 9, 1995) was an American politician and member of the [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] who represented his native state of [[Mississippi]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1941 to 1995. He was at the time of his departure the [[List of United States Congressmen by longevity of service#U.S. House time|longest-serving U.S. Representative ever]]. From 1979 to 1995, he was [[Dean of the United States House of Representatives|Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives]]. He is the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service|longest-serving member of Congress]] ever from Mississippi. He was a [[New Deal liberalism|New Deal liberal]] on economic matters, and took a leading role in Congress in forming national policy and spending regarding [[agriculture]]. Whitten was the last remaining member of Congress to have served during the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|FDR]] administration.

==Early life, education, and early career==
Jamie Whitten was born in [[Cascilla, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/10/obituaries/jamie-whitten-who-served-53-years-in-house-dies-at-85.html|title= Jamie Whitten, Who Served 53 Years in House, Dies at 85|author=David Binder|page=53|date=September 10, 1995|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> He attended local public schools and the [[University of Mississippi]] where he was a member of [[Beta Theta Pi]] fraternity. He worked as a school teacher and principal and was elected as a [[Mississippi Democratic Party|Democrat]] to the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]], where he served in 1931 and 1932. He was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar]] in 1932, and from 1933 to 1941, he was [[District Attorney]] of Mississippi's 17th District, which included his home county of [[Tallahatchie County, Mississippi|Tallahatchie]].

==U.S. House of Representatives==
===Elections===
[[File:Jamie L. Whitten.jpg|250px|thumb|left|1983 portrait of Whitten]]
In 1941, Whitten was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in a [[special 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 Congressman [[Wall Doxey]]'s election to the [[United 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.

===Tenure as leader in agricultural policy===
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.
<ref>Sidney E. Brown, "An Analysis of the Federal Extension Service Appropriations," ''Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council'' vol 8 (April 1979) DOI: 10.1017/s0163548400004611</ref>

In 1977, his subcommittee lost control of environmental issues. He lost his influence after suffering a debilitating stroke in February 1992.<ref>Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 1996'' (1995) pp. 751–752.</ref>  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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fda-farmers-still-debate-the-use-of-antibiotics-in-animals/2014/10/12/f4d93e38-508e-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html|title=FDA, farmers still debate the use of antibiotics in animals|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=14 April 2015}}</ref>

Whitten was an ardent [[New Deal coalition|New 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.<ref>Senate Appropriations Committee, ''Agriculture-environmental and Consumer Protection Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1975, Hearings Before ... 93-2 Parts 8-9'' (1974) pp 219, 224 [https://books.google.com/books?id=sTUVhLhup6gC online]</ref> In the 1980s, he clashed with the conservative [[Reagan 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 the [[Gulf War|Persian Gulf War]]. Although Whitten represented a district that grew increasingly [[suburb]]an 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.

=== Record on racial issues ===
Whitten was originally a [[segregationist]], as were many of his colleagues from Mississippi and the rest of the South. He signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] condemning the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]'s decision in ''[[Brown 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 Act of 1957|Civil Rights Acts of 1957]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/85-1957/h42|title=HR 6127. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1957.|work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> the [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|Civil Rights Acts of 1960]],<ref>{{cite web |title=HR 8601. PASSAGE. |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/86-1960/h102 |website=govtrack.us}}</ref> the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|Civil Rights Acts of 1964]],<ref>{{cite web |title=H.R. 7152. PASSAGE. |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/88-1964/h128 |website=govtrack.us}}</ref> and the [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|Civil Rights Acts of 1968]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR … -- House Vote #113 -- Aug 16, 1967 |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/90-1967/h113 |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}}</ref> as well as the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution]]<ref>{{cite web |title=S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/87-1962/h193 |work=GovTrack.us}}</ref> and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite web |date=1965-07-09 |title=TO PASS H.R. 6400, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT. |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/89-1965/h87 |website=govtrack.us}}</ref> Whitten later apologized for these votes, calling them a "mistake" caused by severe misjudgment.{{cn|date=May 2024}} He voted for the [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=S. 1745 (102nd): Civil Rights Act of 1991 -- House Vote #386 -- Nov. 7, 1991 |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/102-1991/h386 |access-date=2025-09-05 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}}</ref>

=== Committees ===
Throughout most of his tenure in the House, Whitten served on the [[U.S. House Committee on Appropriations|Appropriations Committee]], ultimately serving as chairman from the 1979 retirement of [[George H. Mahon]] until newly-elected Democrats in the House Democratic Caucus removed him in favor of [[William Huston Natcher]] after the [[U.S. House election, 1992|1992 election]]. In 1985, when then-junior Appropriations Committee member [[Dick 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."<ref>164 Cong. Rec. S1881 (daily ed. March 21, 2018) (statement of Sen. Durbin) https://www.congress.gov/crec/2018/03/21/CREC-2018-03-21-pt1-PgS1881.pdf</ref>  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 fulfill or break those promises during the budget-making process.

=== Retirement from the House ===
[[File:Jamie Whitten.png|thumb|right|Whitten's official photo for the [[102nd United States Congress]], 1991]]
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 in [[Oxford, Mississippi]] and died there on September 9, 1995, aged 85. His service from November 4, 1941, to January 3, 1995 set a record for [[List of U. S. Congressmen By Longevity of Service#Uninterrupted Congressional Service (House only)|length of service in the House]], which remained unbroken until February 11, 2009, when [[Michigan]] Rep. [[John Dingell]] surpassed it. Whitten is also the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service#Combined U.S. Senate and U.S. House time|5th longest-serving Congressmember]] (House and/or Senate) behind Dingell, [[Daniel Inouye]], [[Carl Hayden]], and [[Robert Byrd]].

==Publications==
Whitten authored ''That We May Live'', written largely as a pro-development, pro-chemical pesticide answer to [[Rachel Carson]]'s ''[[Silent Spring]]'', the seminal 1962 book that helped spur the modern [[Environmentalism|environmental movement]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/archives/finding_docs/whitten/series_23.pdf|title=Jamie L. Whitten Collection, Series 23: That We May Live|website=University of Mississippi Library and Archives|access-date=2019-09-20}}</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
The Jamie Whitten Historical Site is located at the bridge of the [[Natchez Trace Parkway]] over the [[Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway]], two projects that Whitten had successfully fought to fund over his house tenure, overcoming strong opposition from [[American conservatism|conservatives]] to their construction using federal funds.

In June 1995, Congress renamed the main headquarters building of the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] the [[Jamie L. Whitten Building]] in his honor.<ref name="usdahist1">{{cite web|url=https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/general-information/staff-offices/departmental-administration|title=Histories of the USDA Headquarters Complex Buildings|year=2004|publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture|access-date=2009-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425013908/http://www.da.usda.gov/buildings.htm|archive-date=2009-04-25|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Beta Beta chapter of [[Beta Theta Pi]] fraternity at the [[University 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.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{CongBio|W000428}}
*{{C-SPAN|12417}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Wall Doxey]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Mississippi|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district]]|years=1941–1973}}
{{s-aft|after=[[David R. Bowen]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Abernethy (politician)|Thomas Abernethy]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Mississippi|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Mississippi's 1st congressional district]]|years=1973–1995}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Roger Wicker]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[George H. Mahon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[House Appropriations Committee]]|years=1979–1993}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Natcher]]}}
|-
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George H. Mahon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Dean of the United States House of Representatives]]|years=1979–1995}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Dingell]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{House Appropriations Chairmen}}
{{US House Deans}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitten, Jamie L.}}
[[Category:Jamie Whitten| ]]
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Deans of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi]]
[[Category:District attorneys in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Mississippi Democrats]]
[[Category:Mississippi lawyers]]
[[Category:People from Oxford, Mississippi]]
[[Category:People from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Southern Manifesto]]
[[Category:Former white supremacists]]
[[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature]]