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American politician (1940–2017)

Mark Wells White Jr. (March 17, 1940 – August 5, 2017) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 43rd governor of Texas from 1983 to 1987. He also held office as Secretary of State of Texas (1973–1977), and as Texas Attorney General (1979–1983). White was elected governor in the 1982 gubernatorial election, defeating the incumbent Bill Clements. A member of the Democratic Party, White sought to improve education, transportation, water resources, law enforcement, and taxes to lure new industry to Texas. He appointed the first Hispanic woman to serve as a judge of a district court in Texas, Elma Salinas Ender.

White was born in Henderson, Texas, to Mark Wells White Sr. and Sarah Elizabeth White. In Houston, he attended Woodrow Wilson Elementary School (now Baker Montessori School), Lanier Junior High School and Lamar High School. White attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he was a member of the Tryon Coterie Club (now the Texas Lambda chapter of Phi Delta Theta). He subsequently graduated from Baylor Law School in 1965. He later returned to Houston to begin private practice.

In 1973, White was appointed as Texas Secretary of State under Governor Briscoe and also served in the 36th Infantry Division of the Texas National Guard. White polled 1,249,846 votes and (55.13 percent) to Baker's 999,431 votes and (44.08 percent). On the national level, he was elected Chairman of the Southern Conference of Attorneys General in May 1981. In November 1982, he defeated Clements over concerns about the governor's poor economic numbers and lack of support from minority groups.

As the state's 43rd chief executive from January 18, 1983, to January 20, 1987, White worked to "preserve and enhance resources so that Texas would not fall back, but go forward as a state of the future". From 1983 until her retirement in 2012, Ender was judge of the 341st Judicial District, based in Laredo. White also appointed Myra McDaniel as the first African American to serve as general counsel to the governor in 1983 and later appointed her as Texas Secretary of State in 1984. When he took office, Texas was ranked as one of the lowest performing states for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) also in teachers' salaries. After taking office, White immediately appointed a committee on Public Education, called a special session of the legislature in 1984, and worked with lawmakers to pass the Educational Opportunity Act (EOA). By focusing on education, White was able to make Texas a "state of the future" with regard to its most important resource, its children.

In 1983 Gov. White reportedly used the phrase "cold, barren place" about the largest American state. The words "we’ll split Alaska in two and make Texas the third largest state" predate this by over a decade. In 1994 The Economist printed about "Texas representatives who were trying to block Alaska's
statehood" and a similar threat: "we'll divide Alaska."

In the 1986 gubernatorial election, White lost to former Republican Governor Clements, 52.7% to 46.0%. During the 1990 campaign, a campaign commercial depicted White "walking down a hallway displaying larger than life photos of the men put to death during his administration in 1983 1986. 'Only a governor can make executions happen,' White declared as ominous music played in the background. 'I did, and I will.'" White practiced law and was chairman of the board of the Houston Independent School District Foundation, a non profit organization which supports the public schools. White endorsed Houston City Council candidate Jolanda Jones in the 2003 and 2007 city elections. The latter endorsement helped lead to Jones winning an at large seat on the council. He also endorsed then United States Senator Barack Obama (D Illinois) in the Texas primaries for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, which Obama went on to win the presidency. In 2010, White voiced support for a posthumous exoneration of Cameron Todd Willingham, who is believed by many to be wrongfully convicted and executed for arson and murdering his three daughters. For the first time, White, who had before been a strong supporter of the death penalty and presided over 22 executions as governor, expressed openness to abolition of the death penalty under the reason of the possibility of innocent people being wrongfully executed. In 2011, White publicly opposed Texas A&M's potential departure from the Big 12 conference to join the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

White died from a heart attack at his home in Houston on August 5, 2017. He was survived by his wife Linda Gale and his three children. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, where a private graveside ceremony was held. Mark White's son Andrew announced a run for Governor of Texas in 2018. In the March 6, 2018 Democratic Party primary, he placed second, forcing a runoff with Lupe Valdez on May 22, 2018. White lost the runoff election, 52% to 47%.