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{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|
| image = File:JamieWhitten1961cropped.jpg
| caption = Whitten in 1961
| office = 42nd [[Dean of the United States House of Representatives]]
| term_start = January 3, 1979
| term_end = January 3, 1995
| predecessor = [[George H. Mahon]]
| successor = [[John Dingell]]
| office1 = Chair of the [[House Appropriations Committee]]
|
| term_end1 = January 3, 1993
| predecessor1 = [[George H. Mahon]]
| successor1 = [[William Natcher]]
| state2 = [[Mississippi]]
| term_start2 = November 4, 1941
| term_end2 = January 3, 1995
| predecessor2 = [[Wall Doxey]]
|
| constituency2 = {{ushr|MS|2|c}} (1941–1973)<br>{{ushr|MS|1|c}} (1973–1995)
|
| term_start3 = 1931
| term_end3 = 1932
| predecessor3 =
| successor3 =
| birth_name = Jamie Lloyd Whitten
| birth_date = {{birth date|1910|4|18}}
| birth_place = [[Cascilla, Mississippi]], U.S.
| death_date = {{nowrap|{{death date and age|1995|9|9|1910|4|18}}}}
| death_place = [[Oxford, Mississippi]], U.S.
| party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| education = [[University of Mississippi]]
| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Rep. Jamie L. Whitten on the Urgency of Continuing Appropriations for FY1984.ogg|title=Jamie Whitten's voice|type=speech|description=Jamie Whitten on the urgency of continuing appropriations for FY1984<br/>Recorded November 10, 1983}}
}}
'''Jamie Lloyd Whitten''' (April 18, 1910{{spaced ndash}}September 9, 1995) was an American politician and member of the [[History of the Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] who represented his native state of [[Mississippi]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1941 to 1995. He was at the time of his departure the [[List of United States Congressmen by longevity of service#U.S. House time|longest-serving U.S. Representative ever]].
==Early life, education, and early career==
Jamie Whitten was born in [[Cascilla, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/10/obituaries/jamie-whitten-who-served-53-years-in-house-dies-at-85.html|title= Jamie Whitten, Who Served 53 Years in House, Dies at 85|author=David Binder|page=53|date=September 10, 1995|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> He attended local public schools and the [[University of Mississippi]] where he was a member of [[Beta Theta Pi]] fraternity. He worked as a school teacher and principal and was elected as a [[Mississippi Democratic Party|Democrat]] to the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]], where he served in 1931 and 1932.
==U.S. House of Representatives==
===Elections===
[[File:Jamie L. Whitten.jpg|250px|thumb|left|1983 portrait of Whitten]]
In 1941, Whitten was elected as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] to the [[United States House of Representatives]] in a [[special election]] to represent the state's 2nd District, in the northern part of the state. The seat had become vacant as a result of incumbent Congressman [[Wall Doxey]]'s election to the [[United States Senate]]. He was elected to a full term in 1942 and was re-elected 25 more times.
Whitten's district was renumbered as the 1st District after the 1970 Census.
===Tenure as leader in agricultural policy===
Whitten had the support of the Democratic caucus and served as chair of the Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture (1949-1953 and 1954-1978). He was chair of the entire committee 1979-1992. Throughout that period he had a decisive voice on agricultural spending and to a large extent on policies.
<ref>Sidney E. Brown, "An Analysis of the Federal Extension Service Appropriations," ''Journal of the Northeastern Agricultural Economics Council'' vol 8 (April 1979) DOI: 10.1017/s0163548400004611</ref>
In 1977, his subcommittee lost control of environmental issues. He lost his influence after suffering a debilitating stroke in February 1992.<ref>Michael Barone and Grant Ujifusa, ''The Almanac of American Politics 1996'' (1995) pp. 751–752.</ref> As a champion for American farmers, he fought against the FDA's early 1970s recommendation of restricting the use of antibiotics in livestock. He required that scientists prove the danger of antibiotic use.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fda-farmers-still-debate-the-use-of-antibiotics-in-animals/2014/10/12/f4d93e38-508e-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html|title=FDA, farmers still debate the use of antibiotics in animals|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=14 April 2015}}</ref>
Whitten was
=== Record on racial issues ===
Whitten was originally a [[segregationist]], as were many of his colleagues from Mississippi and the rest of the South. He signed the [[Southern Manifesto]] condemning the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]]'s decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', which ordered the desegregation of public schools. Along with virtually the entire Mississippi congressional delegation, he voted against the Civil Rights Acts of [[Civil Rights Act of 1957|1957]], [[Civil Rights Act of 1960|1960]], [[Civil Rights Act of 1964|1964]], and [[Civil Rights Act of 1968|1968]], as well as the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]] and the [[Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|24th Amendment to the Constitution]]. Whitten later apologized for these votes, calling them a "mistake" caused by severe misjudgment.{{cn|date=May 2024}} He voted for the [[Civil Rights Act of 1991]].
===
Throughout most of his tenure in the House, Whitten served on the [[U.S. House Committee on Appropriations|Appropriations Committee]], ultimately serving as
=== Retirement from the House ===
[[File:Jamie Whitten.png|thumb|right|Whitten's official photo for the [[102nd United States Congress]], 1991]]
Declining to run for reelection to a historic 28th term in 1994, Whitten retired from the House as America's longest-serving Congressman (53 years and two months). He retired to his home in [[Oxford, Mississippi]] and died there on September 9, 1995, aged 85. His service from November 4, 1941, to January 3, 1995 set a record for [[List of U. S. Congressmen By Longevity of Service#Uninterrupted Congressional Service (House only)|length of service in the House]], which remained unbroken until February 11, 2009, when [[Michigan]] Rep. [[John Dingell]] surpassed it. Whitten is also the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service#Combined U.S. Senate and U.S. House time|5th longest-serving Congressmember]] (House and/or Senate) behind Dingell, [[Daniel Inouye]], [[Carl Hayden]], and [[Robert Byrd]].
==Publications==
Whitten authored ''That We May Live'', written largely as a pro-development, pro-chemical pesticide answer to [[Rachel Carson]]'s ''[[Silent Spring]]'', the seminal 1962 book that helped spur the modern [[
==Legacy and honors==
In June 1995, Congress renamed the main headquarters building of the [[United States Department of Agriculture]] in [[Washington,
The Beta Beta chapter of [[Beta Theta Pi]] fraternity at the [[University of Mississippi]] has named their leadership award after brother Whitten. Each year, one graduating brother is selected to receive the award based on his leadership and commitment to the chapter, university, and community.
==References==
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==External links==
{{CongBio|W000428}}
*{{C-SPAN|
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Wall Doxey]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Mississippi|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Mississippi's 2nd congressional district]]|years=1941–1973}}
{{s-aft|after=[[David R. Bowen]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Abernethy (politician)|Thomas Abernethy]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States representatives from Mississippi|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Mississippi's 1st congressional district]]|years=1973–1995}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Roger Wicker]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[George H. Mahon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Chair of the [[House Appropriations Committee]]|years=1979–1993}}
{{s-aft|
|-
{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef|before=[[George H. Mahon]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Dean of the United States House of Representatives
{{s-aft|after=[[John Dingell]]}}
{{s-end}}
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