Booklet, Frank White Inaugural Program, Certificate from Presidential inauguration.

Gov. White Inauguration program - Reagan

Booklet, Frank White Inaugural Program, Certificate from Presidential inauguration.

Object number1999.004.10

DateJanuary 13, 1981

OriginLittle Rock, Arkansas

MediumPaper, ink

DimensionsOverall: 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. (12.1 x 17.1 cm)

Credit LineOld State House Museum collection

Terms

Descriptiona,b: White paper with the state seal embossed on the front with the words in black ink. The program has the scheduled activities for Governor White's inauguration. It also lists the Constitutional officers and members of the Supreme Court, the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Inaugural Committee. Sixteen pages including front and back. Two copies of the same program.

c: Certificate of the "Presidential Inauguration 1981," Presented to President Ronald W. Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush, Signed by all the nation's Governors. Image of Reagan and Bush on top left, American flags at top center, and The Capitol, White House, and Lincoln Memorial across the bottom. Brown and Black text on ivory paper. Also Ivory color folder with gold embossed presidential seal on top center,

Frank Durward White was born on June 4, 1993 in Texarkana, Texas. In 1961, White married Mary Blue Hollenberg of Little Rock and subsequently moved there. White became a prominent part of Little Rock’s business and social life. He served as president of the Little Rock Jaycees from 1965-1966, was active in Campus Crusade for Christ, and served on the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. White divorced Mary Blue Hollenberg in 1973 and married Gay Daniels in 1975. White also served as a member of Governor David Pryor’s cabinet, and in 1975 White was named director of the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission (now the Arkansas Economic Development Commission). In 1977, he became president of Capital Saving and Loan Co. in Little Rock, and in 1980 he ran against Bill Clinton for governor. White won the election and became the forty-first governor. During his tenure he obtained funding to start a vocational-technical education division in the Department of Education and increased funding for the Department of Correction. White’s administration was defined by Act 590 of 1981 which required schools to go give balanced treatment to evolutionism and creationism. This received national attention in McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education. Charges that White was beholden to large utility companies and he firing the top three leaders in the Department of Energy on his first day in office also left a lasting impression on his administration. White lost to Clinton in the 1982 election for governor. In 1988, White was appointed to State Banking Commissioner by Governor Mike Huckabee. White died on May 21, 2003 and is buried in Little Rock.

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