Background
Whitney was born in 1871 in Morris Plains, New Jersey, to Stephen and Josephine Whitney.
Whitney was born in 1871 in Morris Plains, New Jersey, to Stephen and Josephine Whitney.
He was educated at Saint Paul"s School in Concord, New Hampshire, before leaving to work at an iron plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
From his base in Morris County, Whitney was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1916 and was reelected the following year. He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1918, serving until 1925. In the Senate he was chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Appropriations.
In the general election Whitney faced Democratic candidate A. Harry Moore.
Moore ran on a "wet" anti-Prohibition platform against Whitney, who had the support of the Anti-Saloon League. The Republican campaign focused on the undue influence of Democratic party boss Frank Hague in state government.
Though Moore carried only three of the state"s 21 counties, Hague secured a sizable plurality of nearly 104,000 votes in his home county of Hudson, thus ensuring Whitney"s defeat. After his defeat in the gubernatorial race, Whitney retired to private life in Mendham Borough.
He died at his Mendham home in 1942 at the age of 71.