Hugh L. White

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Hugh White
45th and 51st Governor of Mississippi
In office January 22, 1952 – January 17, 1956
Lieutenant	Carroll Gartin
Preceded by	Fielding L. Wright
Succeeded by	James P. Coleman
In office January 21, 1936 – January 16, 1940
Lieutenant	Jacob Buehler Snider
Preceded by	Martin Sennet Conner
Succeeded by	Paul B. Johnson Sr.
Personal details
Born	Hugh Lawson White (1881-08-19)August 19, 1881 near McComb, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	September 20, 1965(1965-09-20) (aged 84) McComb, Mississippi, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Judith Wier Sugg
Education	Soule Business College University of Mississippi, Oxford

Hugh Lawson White (August 19, 1881 – September 20, 1965) was an American politician from Mississippi and a member of the Democratic Party. He served two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Mississippi (1936–1940, 1952–1956).

Biography[]

White was born near McComb and attended the University of Mississippi where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall.

White was a wealthy industrialist and had been mayor of Columbia when he was first elected to the governorship, serving from 1926 until 1936. In 1936 he established the Balance Agriculture With Industry (BAWI) program that sought to develop an industrial base that matched the state's agricultural base. Under BAWI, advertising and incentives were deployed in hopes of enticing industries to locate to the state. Local governments could issue bonds to construct factories that could be leased to companies (which were also offered tax breaks).

After leaving office due to term limits, White was a delegate representing Mississippi at the 1948 Democratic National Convention. When Mayor of Minneapolis Hubert Humphrey urged the Democratic Party to "get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights", White and the other delegates from Mississippi and Alabama walked out of the convention. White and these delegates formed the Dixiecrat Party, nominating Strom Thurmond for President.

Inauguration at Mississippi State Capitol, January 22, 1952

In 1951, White won a second term, during which the issue of school segregation was a main issue. During the 1940s and early 1950s, federal courts made a series of decisions that indicated that the notion of "separate but equal" schools would soon be declared unconstitutional. Governor White and the state legislature prepared for that possibility by creating plans that sought to improve black schools. Among the proposals were increasing black teacher salaries to match white teachers' and building black schools on par with white schools. White called one hundred of the state's black leaders to a meeting at the capital to ask for their support of the plan. Much to his surprise, they overwhelmingly rejected his "voluntary" segregation plan and instead stated that they wanted only an integrated school system. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court made the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision that declared the practice of "separate but equal" to be unconstitutional. On August 28, 1955, towards the end of White's term as governor, the infamous murder of Emmett Till took place. Three months earlier, an African American minister, George W. Lee, had been shot and killed.

Tributes[]

Hugh White State Park, a Mississippi state park, is named for him. The Keys Hill Historic District, Broad Street, Columbia, was added to the National Register of Historic Places, including White's former home, the Hugh Lawson White Mansion, for its association with him.^[1]

References[]

External links[]

• Hugh L. White at Find a Grave
• Mississippi Governor Hugh Lawson White from the National Governors Association website at the Wayback Machine (archived June 29, 2011)