Mark White
Encyclopedia
Mark Wells White is an American
lawyer
, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.
, in Rusk County
, Texas, White attended Baylor University
in Waco
, Texas, and was a member of the prestigious Tryon Coterie
Club, now Phi Delta Theta
(Texas Lambda Chapter) at Baylor. He graduated from Baylor Law School
in 1965. After spending time practicing law in a private practice in Houston
(Harris County
), White served as the state's assistant attorney general. In 1973, White was appointed as Texas secretary of state under Governor Dolph Briscoe
and White also served in the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard
.
, where he served until 1983. In the 1978 general election, White defeated the Republican choice, James A. Baker, III, a Houston lawyer, businessman, and power broker affiliated with the Bushes
of Houston. White polled 1,846,099 votes and (59.82 percent) to Baker's 1,239,974 votes and (40.18 percent). As the state's chief enforcement officer, he co-chaired the Federal-State Enforcement Coordinating Committee and was a member of the Governor's Organized Crime Prevention Council. On the national level, he was elected Chairman of the Southern Conference of Attorneys General in May 1981.
, who was the outgoing state Land Commissioner, who vacated the General Land Office following twelve years, and then the incumbent Bill Clements
, Texas' first Republican governor since Reconstruction. In November 1982, he defeated Clements over concerns about the governor's poor economic numbers and lack of support from minority groups. White received 1,697,870 votes (53.2 percent) to Clements' 1,465,537 (45.9 percent) in a year where Texas Democrats swept all the statewide offices being led by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen
(who won a third six-year term to the Senate) and the legendary Lieutenant Governor of Texas
William P. Hobby Jr. (Hobby was first elected lieutenant governor in 1972) both of whom carried the Democratic Party's statewide banner which also included the elections of Jim Mattox
as state attorney general
, Bob Bullock
, who won his third term as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
-having been elected in 1974, Ann Richards
as state treasurer
, Garry Mauro
as Commissioner of the General Land Office, and Jim Hightower
as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture while Democrats easily maintained their majorities in both houses of the Texas Legislature
. As the state's forty-third chief executive from January 18, 1983 to January 20, 1987, White worked to "preserve and enhance... resources so that Texas would not fall back, but go forward as a state of the future." His main concerns were the economy and education. By focusing on Texas' resources, White was able to work on many problems facing the state in the early 1980s. The Texas economy during the early and mid 1980s were volatile. The price of oil declined and pushed Texas into a recession. This led Governor White to "lay the groundwork for a more diversified economy--one less reliant upon the...swings of a single industry."
By focusing on education, White was able to make Texas a "state of the future" with regard to its most important resource, its children. Through his diligent work as Governor of Texas, many of the problems of the present and future were alleviated. However, four years later, White was defeated by Clements, who opted for a second, nonconsecutive term. Some believe that the wildly unpopular "no-pass, no-play" policies of the White administration, which prohibited any high school student athletes from participating in varsity sports if they were failing any single element of their overall class load, sealed the doom of a second term. Clements polled 1,813,779 votes (52.7 %) to White's 1,584,515 votes (46.1 %) in the November 1986 general election and left office on January 20, 1987. Among those who were elected along with White in 1982, Hobby, Bullock, Richards, Mattox, Hightower, and Mauro were re-elected in their respective posts.
Among White's advisors as governor were the Dallas
industrialist H. Ross Perot and former State Senator Max Sherman
, who left a brief stint in the administration to become dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
in Austin.
White served as governor during Texas
' sesquicentennial in 1986 and oversaw a number of the celebrations concerning that anniversary. He also made a cameo appearance in the popular CBS
drama series Dallas
.
. White attempted to run for governor again in 1990, but he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Ann Richards
, who then defeated Jim Mattox
in a runoff election and the Republican Clayton W. Williams, Jr., in the general election
. During the 1990 campaign, a campaign commercial depicted White "walking down a hallway displaying larger-than-life photos of the men put to death during his administration in 1983-1986. 'Only a governor can make executions happen,' White declared as ominous music played in the background. 'I did, and I will.'"
White, who practices law, is chairman of the board for the Houston Independent School District
Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports the public schools. In recent years, White endorsed Houston City Council candidate Jolanda Jones in the 2003 and 2007 city elections; the latter endorsement led to winning an at-large seat.
In 2011, White publicly opposed Texas A&M's potential departure from the Big 12 conference to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
, who served as the 43rd Governor of Texas from January 18,1983-January 20,1987.
Biography
Born in HendersonHenderson, Texas
Henderson is a city in Rusk County, Texas, United States. The population was 11,273 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Rusk County...
, in Rusk County
Rusk County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 47,372 people, 17,364 households, and 12,727 families residing in the county. The population density was 51 people per square mile . There were 19,867 housing units at an average density of 22 per square mile...
, Texas, White attended Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
in Waco
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
, Texas, and was a member of the prestigious Tryon Coterie
Tryon Coterie
The Tryon Coterie, founded in 1947, was the oldest of Baylor University’s men’s social clubs. Try-C affiliated with Phi Delta Theta in 1977 it is now the Texas Lambda chapter of Phi Delta Theta. The chapter models itself as Phi Delta Theta - The Tryon Coterie. The Try-C’s started Sing!, Chili...
Club, now Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
(Texas Lambda Chapter) at Baylor. He graduated from Baylor Law School
Baylor Law School
Founded in 1857, Baylor Law School is the oldest law school in Texas and has been accredited by the American Bar Association since 1931 and a member of the Association of American Law Schools since 1938. Baylor Law School is affiliated with Baylor University and located in Waco, Texas...
in 1965. After spending time practicing law in a private practice in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
(Harris County
Harris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
), White served as the state's assistant attorney general. In 1973, White was appointed as Texas secretary of state under Governor Dolph Briscoe
Dolph Briscoe
Dolph Briscoe, Jr. was a Uvalde, Texas rancher and businessman who was the 41st Governor of Texas between 1973 and 1979....
and White also served in the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard
Texas National Guard
The Texas National Guard consists of the Texas Army National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. The Guard is administered by the adjutant general, an appointee of the governor of Texas. The Constitution of the United States specifically charges the National Guard with dual federal and state...
.
Career in Texas politics
White served as secretary of state until 1977, when he resigned to run for state attorney generalAttorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, where he served until 1983. In the 1978 general election, White defeated the Republican choice, James A. Baker, III, a Houston lawyer, businessman, and power broker affiliated with the Bushes
Bush family
The Bush family is a prominent American family. Along with many members who have been successful bankers and businessmen, across three generations the family includes two U.S. Senators, one Supreme Court Justice, two Governors, one Vice President and two Presidents...
of Houston. White polled 1,846,099 votes and (59.82 percent) to Baker's 1,239,974 votes and (40.18 percent). As the state's chief enforcement officer, he co-chaired the Federal-State Enforcement Coordinating Committee and was a member of the Governor's Organized Crime Prevention Council. On the national level, he was elected Chairman of the Southern Conference of Attorneys General in May 1981.
Governor
White declined to seek a second term as state attorney general, but chose to seek the governorship in 1982 against fellow Democrat Bob ArmstrongBob Armstrong (Texas politician)
Robert Landis "Bob" Armstrong served as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1963 to 1970, Commissioner of the General Land Office from 1970 to 1982, and member of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission from 1985 to 1991. He was appointed Assistant Secretary for Land and...
, who was the outgoing state Land Commissioner, who vacated the General Land Office following twelve years, and then the incumbent Bill Clements
Bill Clements
William Perry "Bill" Clements, Jr. was the 42nd and 44th Governor of Texas, serving from 1979 to 1983 and 1987 to 1991. Clements was the first Republican to have served as governor of the U.S. state of Texas since Reconstruction...
, Texas' first Republican governor since Reconstruction. In November 1982, he defeated Clements over concerns about the governor's poor economic numbers and lack of support from minority groups. White received 1,697,870 votes (53.2 percent) to Clements' 1,465,537 (45.9 percent) in a year where Texas Democrats swept all the statewide offices being led by U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen
Lloyd Bentsen
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. was a four-term United States senator from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1955. In his later political life, he was Chairman of the Senate...
(who won a third six-year term to the Senate) and the legendary Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Lieutenant Governor of Texas
The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the...
William P. Hobby Jr. (Hobby was first elected lieutenant governor in 1972) both of whom carried the Democratic Party's statewide banner which also included the elections of Jim Mattox
Jim Mattox
James Albon Mattox was a Dallas lawyer and Texas Democratic politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state Attorney General, but lost high profile races for Governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general...
as state attorney general
Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...
, Bob Bullock
Bob Bullock
Robert Douglas Bullock, known as Bob Bullock , was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991–January 19, 1999 during the terms of Governors Ann Richards and George W...
, who won his third term as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. As with nearly every other executive branch head, the Comptroller is popularly elected every four years concurrently with the Governor and the other elected executive branch positions...
-having been elected in 1974, Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
as state treasurer
Treasurer
A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The adjective for a treasurer is normally "tresorial". The adjective "treasurial" normally means pertaining to a treasury, rather than the treasurer.-Government:...
, Garry Mauro
Garry Mauro
Garry Mauro is an American Democratic Party politician from Texas, most noted for being the four-term commissioner of the Texas General Land Office from 1983 to 1999 during the administrations of Governors Mark White, Bill Clements, Ann Richards, and George W...
as Commissioner of the General Land Office, and Jim Hightower
Jim Hightower
James Allen "Jim" Hightower is an American syndicated columnist, activist and author.-Life and career:Born in Denison, Texas, Hightower came from a working class background. He worked his way through college as assistant general manager of the Denton Chamber of Commerce and later landed a spot as...
as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture while Democrats easily maintained their majorities in both houses of the Texas Legislature
Texas Legislature
The Legislature of the state of Texas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The Legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin...
. As the state's forty-third chief executive from January 18, 1983 to January 20, 1987, White worked to "preserve and enhance... resources so that Texas would not fall back, but go forward as a state of the future." His main concerns were the economy and education. By focusing on Texas' resources, White was able to work on many problems facing the state in the early 1980s. The Texas economy during the early and mid 1980s were volatile. The price of oil declined and pushed Texas into a recession. This led Governor White to "lay the groundwork for a more diversified economy--one less reliant upon the...swings of a single industry."
Achievements on Education
White sought to improve education, transportation, water resources, law enforcement, and taxes to lure new industry to Texas. Education was an essential factor for White. When he took office, Texas was ranked as one of the lowest performing states for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) also in teachers' salaries. After taking office, White immediately appointed a committee on Public Education, called a special session of the legislature in 1984, and worked with lawmakers to pass the Educational Opportunity Act (EOA). Through White's work, Texas saw the desired results. SAT scores increased by twelve points, Texas first graders improved in statewide tests and teacher salaries increased by $5,000.By focusing on education, White was able to make Texas a "state of the future" with regard to its most important resource, its children. Through his diligent work as Governor of Texas, many of the problems of the present and future were alleviated. However, four years later, White was defeated by Clements, who opted for a second, nonconsecutive term. Some believe that the wildly unpopular "no-pass, no-play" policies of the White administration, which prohibited any high school student athletes from participating in varsity sports if they were failing any single element of their overall class load, sealed the doom of a second term. Clements polled 1,813,779 votes (52.7 %) to White's 1,584,515 votes (46.1 %) in the November 1986 general election and left office on January 20, 1987. Among those who were elected along with White in 1982, Hobby, Bullock, Richards, Mattox, Hightower, and Mauro were re-elected in their respective posts.
Among White's advisors as governor were the Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
industrialist H. Ross Perot and former State Senator Max Sherman
Max Sherman
Max Ray Sherman is a former member of the Texas State Senate from Amarillo, Texas. He was also president of West Texas A&M University in Canyon, and dean of the Lyndon B...
, who left a brief stint in the administration to become dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
The Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs is a graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin that was founded in 1970 to offer professional training in public policy analysis and administration for students interested in pursuing careers in government and public affairs-related areas...
in Austin.
White served as governor during Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
' sesquicentennial in 1986 and oversaw a number of the celebrations concerning that anniversary. He also made a cameo appearance in the popular CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
drama series Dallas
Dallas (TV series)
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
.
Private Life
Following his departure from office, White worked for the law firm Keck, Mahin & CateKeck, Mahin & Cate
Keck, Mahin & Cate was a law firm based in Chicago, Illinois that was founded in 1886 and stopped operations in 1997.The firm worked in general practice, banking and bankruptcy law, corporate finances, mergers and acquisitions, and the like. By 1985, it employed 95 lawyers.The firm had branches in...
. White attempted to run for governor again in 1990, but he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Ann Richards
Ann Richards
Dorothy Ann Willis Richards was an American politician from Texas. She first came to national attention as the state treasurer of Texas, when she delivered the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Richards served as the 45th Governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995 and was...
, who then defeated Jim Mattox
Jim Mattox
James Albon Mattox was a Dallas lawyer and Texas Democratic politician who served three terms in the United States House of Representatives and two four-year terms as state Attorney General, but lost high profile races for Governor in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1994, and again as attorney general...
in a runoff election and the Republican Clayton W. Williams, Jr., in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
. During the 1990 campaign, a campaign commercial depicted White "walking down a hallway displaying larger-than-life photos of the men put to death during his administration in 1983-1986. 'Only a governor can make executions happen,' White declared as ominous music played in the background. 'I did, and I will.'"
White, who practices law, is chairman of the board for the Houston Independent School District
Houston Independent School District
The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and insular municipalities...
Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports the public schools. In recent years, White endorsed Houston City Council candidate Jolanda Jones in the 2003 and 2007 city elections; the latter endorsement led to winning an at-large seat.
In 2011, White publicly opposed Texas A&M's potential departure from the Big 12 conference to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
External links
- Photos of Mark White, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/modern/page2.html
- http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/modern/white-nopass-1.html Governor Mark White's press conference on No Pass, No Play on August 8, 1985.
- http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/modern/white-prisons.html O.L. McCotter letter to Governor White on state prisons, July 8, 1985.
- http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/modern/white-nopass-1.html Governor Mark White's press conference on No Pass, No Play on August 8, 1985.
- http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/governors/modern/page2.html