Hard to tell sometimes if someone is a winner or a loser. Frank White beat Bill Clinton, and lived to tell about it. A rare win. He also signed a law about “creation science”. Loser. And the fact of evolution rolls on.
Frank White, Rare Victor Over Clinton in Governor’s Race, Dies at 69
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 22 — Frank White, a former governor of Arkansas who was one of only two people to defeat Bill Clinton in an election, died at his home here on Wednesday. He was 69.
No cause was released.
Mr. White, a Republican, ousted Mr. Clinton from the governor’s office in 1980, after Mr. Clinton had served one term. Mr. Clinton came back to defeat Mr. White in 1982 and served as governor until he was elected president a decade later.
Mr. Clinton’s only other loss came in a Congressional race in 1974, his first try for elective office, to John Paul Hammerschmidt, the Republican incumbent.
As governor, Mr. White signed a measure approved by the legislature requiring Arkansas teachers to include “creation science” in the curriculum if the theory of evolution was also taught.
The law was later struck down as unconstitutional by a federal judge in a case that drew national attention.
After leaving the governor’s office in 1983, Mr. White went to work for Stephens Inc., a Little Rock investment banking firm. He later joined First Commercial Bank as a senior vice president, where he served until July 1998, when Gov. Mike Huckabee appointed him state banking commissioner.
Mr. White was born Durward Frank Kyle in 1933. His mother remarried and his stepfather, Frank White, adopted him.
He received an appointment to the Naval Academy and after graduation served five years in the Air Force.
Mr. White is survived by his wife, Gay, and three children from a previous marriage.
Copyright 2003 New York Times