Frank D. White
Frank Durward White (1933-2003) was Republican governor of Arkansas from 1981 to 1983.
White was employed as an accounting supervisor for Merrill Lynch from 1961 to 1973, and then moved into management at Little Rock's Commercial National Bank. Then-governor David Pryor appointed White to the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (AIDC). White eventually left this post at AIDC for the presidency of the Capital Savings and Loan Association in Little Rock.
In 1980 White ran for governor against incumbent governor Bill Clinton. Clinton had suffered in popularity by increasing the fee charged for car registrations and by accepting the Carter administrations' relocating several thousand Cuban refugees to Fort Chaffee near Fort Smith, Arkansas.
White was born in Texarkana, Texas. He is a 1956 engineering graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Following graduation he became a United States Air Force pilot, serving until 1961. White was married twice, once to Mary Blue Hollenberg and again to Gay Daniels. White narrowly won the contest.
In office White passed a law to teach the the theory of creation science in Arkansas classrooms. The law was later overturned in the McLean v. Arkansas decision of 1982. White was defeated in a rematch with Clinton in 1982 and again in 1986.
Between 1998 and 2003 White served as Arkansas Banking Commissioner, an appointment received from governor Mike Huckabee.
White is buried at Mount Holly Cemetery in Little Rock.
