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{{Short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Jamie Whitten
| 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_start1 = January 3, 1979
| 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]]
| successor2 = [[Roger Wicker]]
| constituency2
| office3 = Member of the [[Mississippi House of Representatives]]
| 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
}}
'''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
==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|
In 1941, Whitten was
Whitten's district was renumbered as the 1st District after the 1970 Census.
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<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 [[
=== Committees ===
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]] [[United States Congress|Congressman]] [[John Dingell]] surpassed it. Whitten is also the [[List of members of the United States Congress by longevity of service#Combined U.S. House and Senate time|5th longest-serving Congressman]] (House and/or Senate) behind [[Daniel Inouye]], [[Carl T. Hayden]], [[Robert Byrd]] and John Dingell.▼
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 ===
▲Throughout most of his tenure in the House, Whitten served on the [[U.S. House Committee on Appropriations|Appropriations Committee]], ultimately serving as Chairman from the 1979 retirement of [[George H. Mahon]] until newly-elected [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] in the House Democratic Caucus removed him in favor of [[William Huston Natcher]] after the [[U.S. House election, 1992|1992 election]]. In 1985, when then-junior Appropriations Committee member [[Dick Durbin]] spoke with Chairman Whitten about possibly sitting on the Budget Committee, Whitten told him, "Well, if you want to be on that committee, you can be on that committee, but I want you to remember one thing, the Budget Committee deals in hallucinations and the Appropriations Committee deals in facts."<ref>164 Cong. Rec. S1881 (daily ed. March 21, 2018) (statement of Sen. Durbin) https://www.congress.gov/crec/2018/03/21/CREC-2018-03-21-pt1-PgS1881.pdf</ref> While on the floor of the Senate on March 21, 2018, now Senator Durbin referred to that quote from Whitten as "Whitten's Law," which implies that the Budget Committee is a political branch that makes budget promises while the Appropriations Committee is obliged to either make or break those promises during the budget-making process.
[[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]]
==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==
The Jamie Whitten Historical Site is located at the bridge of the [[Natchez Trace Parkway]] over the [[Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway]], two projects that Whitten had successfully fought to fund over his house tenure, overcoming strong opposition from [[American conservatism|conservatives]] to their construction using federal funds.
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.
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[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Deans of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi]]
[[Category:District attorneys in Mississippi]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Mississippi Democrats]]
[[Category:Mississippi lawyers]]
[[Category:People from Oxford, Mississippi]]
[[Category:People from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Signatories of the Southern Manifesto]]
[[Category:Former white supremacists]]
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