Frank D. White | |
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White in 1995
|
|
41st Governor of Arkansas | |
In office January 19, 1981 – January 11, 1983 |
|
Lieutenant | Winston Bryant |
Preceded by | Bill Clinton |
Succeeded by | Bill Clinton |
Personal details | |
Born |
Durward Frank Kyle Jr. June 4, 1933 Texarkana, Texas, U.S. |
Died | May 21, 2003 Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
(aged 69)
Resting place | Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock |
Political party |
Democratic (before 1980) Republican (after 1980) |
Spouse(s) |
Mary Blue Hollenberg White (m. 1961; div. 1973) Gay Daniels White (1975-2003; his death) |
Children | 3 |
Profession | Banker, |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Air Force |
Years of service | 1956–61 |
Rank | Captain |
Frank Durward White (June 4, 1933 – May 21, 2003) was an American banker and politician who served as the 41st Governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas. He served a single two-year term from 1981 to 1983. He is one of two people to have defeated Bill Clinton in an election, the other being former U.S. Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison, Arkansas.
White was born on June 4, 1933 in Texarkana in Bowie County, Texas, as Durward Frank Kyle, Jr. His father, Durward Frank Kyle, died when White was seven, and White's mother, the former Ida Bottoms Clark, married Loftin E. White of Highland Park, Texas. He took his stepfather's name and became "Frank Durward White". After the death of the stepfather in 1950, the Whites returned to Texarkana. White enrolled in the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico but was subsequently recommended to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, by then U.S. Senator John L. McClellan of Arkansas. He graduated from the academy with a bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1956. He also excelled in the study of Spanish. Though he was a Naval Academy graduate, White became a pilot in the United States Air Force. One of his first missions in the Air Force, in 1957, was to fly members of the 101st Airborne Division from Kentucky to Little Rock in the Little Rock Integration Crisis. White was discharged from the Air Force in 1961 with the rank of Captain.