Compton I. White

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 1949-1951, he was the first electoral district of the state of Idaho in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years

Already at an early age moved Compton White with his parents in the Rankin County, Mississippi. In 1890 the family then settled in Clark Fork in Bonner County, Idaho down. Compton White visited the respective public schools and later the Metropolitan Business College in Chicago and the Gonzaga University in Spokane. He then worked from 1897 to 1903 in a telegraph office, and from 1903 to 1906 as a railroad worker and subsequently to 1910 as a railroad conductor. In Clark Fork White was soon active in other areas such as agriculture, mining and the timber industry.

Political career

Compton White was a member of the Democratic Party, the Democratic National Convention he attended in the years 1928, 1932 and 1936 as a delegate. In 1930 he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House of Representatives. Two years later, in 1932, he was a candidate of his party the incumbent Burton L. French defeat and move in as a deputy in the Congress. This election victory is in connection with the then national trend in favor of the Democrats, who also won the presidential election this year, with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Compton White took up his new mandate on March 4, 1933 and could exercise in seven consecutive legislative periods after the elections corresponding to 3 January 1947. 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 Committee on Weights and Measures.

In the congressional elections of 1946, he was defeated by Republican Abe Goff, but already at the next election in 1948, he regained his seat in Congress. So that he could do another legislative session between January 1949 and January 3, 1951 3.

Further CV

In 1950, he decided not to run for another term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Instead, he applied unsuccessfully for his party's nomination for a seat in the U.S. Senate. In 1952, he sought once more to return to the House of Representatives, but was not nominated by his party. Afterwards, White withdrew from politics. He returned to Clark Fork, and devoted himself to his private businesses such as livestock and mining. He died in March 1956 in Spokane. His son of the same Compton represented 1963-1967 also the first electoral district of Idaho in Congress.