Katharine Elkus White, United States diplomat. Member Annual Assay Coin Commission, 1937, 50; Member New Jersey Democratic Committee for Monmouth County, 1940-1964; Member Alumnae Association Vassar College (treasurer 1949-1952), American Association U. Women (treasurer 1950-1953), International Federation University Women (assistant honorary treasurer 1959-1964), General Federation Women's; Club: Soroptimists.
Background
White was born in 1906, the daughter of Abram Isaac Elkus and Gertrude Rosalie Hess. Her father was appointed by Woodrow Wilson to be the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. She lived in Constantinople while her father was ambassador there from 1916 to 1919.
Education
She graduated from Vassar College in 1928, and on October 3, 1929 married Arthur J. White, a stockbroker who later became the executive secretary of the New York Clothing Manufacturers Exchange.
Career
The family later settled in Red Bank, New Jersey. They raised two children in Red Bank (Lawrence Elkus White, b 1931, and Frances Elkus White, b 1933). White became involved in local Democratic politics and unsuccessfully ran for Red Bank Borough Council in 1933, losing by thirteen votes.
She also ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate from Monmouth County for the State Assembly in 1934, and for Monmouth County Board of Freeholders in 1935.
She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1936, 1940, 1944, and 1948. In 1950 she ran for Mayor of Red Bank, as the Democratic candidate in a predominantly Republican town.
She was re-elected twice, remaining Mayor until 1956. In 1954, Governor Robert B. Meyner appointed her a commissioner of the New Jersey Highway Authority, which operated the Garden State Parkway.
In 1955 she became chairman of the Highway Authority, a position she held for ten years.
She was the first woman in the United States to head a toll road body. In 1960 she ran for the 3rd congressional district in the House of Representatives, in an unsuccessful bid to unseat incumbent James C. Auchincloss. In 1961 she was named acting State Treasurer.
On March 4, 1964, at a Women"s National Press Club dinner, President Lyndon Johnson announced White"s appointment as United States Ambassador to Denmark.
At the same time Johnson also named nine other women to federal posts, pledging an end to "stag Government."
White served as Ambassador until 1968. After her retirement, she returned to Red Bank, where she worked with local and national organizations, including the United Negro College Fund.
She also served on the Board of Governors of Rutgers University from 1976 to 1980. White died at the Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank at the age of 78.
Achievements
Membership
Member Annual Assay Coin Commission, 1937, 50. Member New Jersey Democratic Committee for Monmouth County, 1940-1964. Member Alumnae Association Vassar College (treasurer 1949-1952), American Association U. Women (treasurer 1950-1953), International Federation University Women (assistant honorary treasurer 1959-1964), General Federation Women'son
Club: Soroptimists.
Connections
Married Arthur J. White, October 3, 1929. Children: Lawrence, Frances (Mistress John H. Cohen, Junior.