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
3:50:28 PM 
|
|
