Jamie L. Whitten
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| Jamie L. Whitten | |
 Congressman Jamie L. Whitten in 1962 |
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| In office November 4, 1941 – January 3, 1995 |
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| Preceded by | Wall Doxey |
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| Succeeded by | Roger Wicker |
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| Born | April 18, 1910 Cascilla, Mississippi |
| Died | September 9, 1995 (aged 85) |
| Political party | Democratic |
Jamie Lloyd Whitten (April 18, 1910 – September 9, 1995) was a United States Representative from Mississippi. He is the longest serving U.S. Representative ever and the 3rd longest serving U.S. member of Congress ever.
Jamie Whitten was born in Cascilla, Mississippi. He attended local public schools and the University of Mississippi, and he briefly served as an educator before joining the bar in 1932.
In 1941, Whitten was elected as a 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 come open 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 reelected 25 more times. His district was renumbered as the 1st District after the 1970 Census.
Throughout most of his tenure in the House, Whitten served on the Appropriations Committee, ultimately serving as Chairman from the 1979 retirement of George H. Mahon until newly elected, liberal Democrats in the House Democratic Caucus removed him in favor of William Huston Natcher after the 1992 election. His service from November 4, 1941 to January 3, 1995 set a record for length of service in the House, which as of December 2007 is still unbroken, though Michigan Congressman John Dingell, if he remains in office, would surpass it in 2009. Whitten is also the 3rd Longest serving Congressman (House and/or Senate) behind Carl T. Hayden and Robert Byrd. Dingell is catching up to him in this record as well.
Whitten was originally a very conservative segregationist, as were many of his colleagues from Mississippi and the rest of the South. He signed the Southern Manifesto condemning the U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown vs. Board of Education, which desegregated public schools. Along with virtually the entire Mississippi congressional delegation, he voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1968. Whitten later apologized for these votes, calling them a "mistake" caused by severe misjudgment. He voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1991.
Later in his career he voted for many liberal issues and frequently clashed with the Reagan administration on policy matters. He voted against Reagan's economic plans, tax cuts, increased defense spending, balanced budget initiative, tort reform, welfare reform, abortion restrictions, missile defense system, and the Persian Gulf War. Although Whitten represented a district that grew increasingly suburban and Republican from the 1970s onward, his opposition to Reagan's program didn't get him in any trouble in the ballot box. Indeed, his seniority and popularity resulted in him facing only "sacrificial lamb" opponents on the occasions he faced opposition at all. Nonetheless, it was taken for granted that he would be succeeded by a Republican when he retired.
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). Whitten retired to his home in Oxford, Mississippi and died there on September 9, 1995, aged 85, eight months after leaving office.
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 Conservatives to their construction using federal funds.
He was also noted as the author of 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 to spur the modern environmental movement.
In June 1995, Congress renamed the main headquarters building of the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building in his honor.
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| Preceded by Wall Doxey |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 2nd congressional district 1941–1973 |
Succeeded by David R. Bowen |
| Preceded by Thomas G. Abernethy |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's 1st congressional district 1973–1995 |
Succeeded by Roger F. Wicker |
