Jamie Lloyd Whitten Research Paper

One person in history I would like to have a conversation with is Jamie Lloyd Whitten. This summer I had my mind set on finding more information on my family history. While asking family members and researching on Ancestry, I came across Mr. Whitten. With a simple name search all kinds of articles came up about him. He served in the House for fifty-three years for the state of Mississippi. This is the fifth longest term served in the House in United States history. Whitten has also experienced many different time periods during his life. Between the ages of four and eight he lived through World War One. I would love to ask him questions of what it was like to live through everything. Did his father serve in the army? Did his family have to ration? When he was nineteen

the Great Depression hit. What changes did he make in his everyday lifestyle? How much did you have to cut back on spending? Did you know that the Depression was coming? When he was twenty-nine World War II came. What did he think of Hitler? How did he help America defeat the Nazi’s?

I want to ask him about my grandfather, if he knew him. What my family is like. I would also like to ask him how over his eighty-five years of life technology changed and other parts of life. I also want to ask him about his political beliefs. I want to ask him why he did not support desegregation. When he did change his mind, what caused him to change his mind on desegregation. On other political issues it appeared as though he changed his beliefs. Or he dropped his support for the issue when an opposing view came his way. Why did he decided to run for Senate, what were his favorite and least favorite parts of being in the Senate? I would want to know more about his life in the Senate. In the future I would love to run for some political office whether state or national. He is a family member who served in public office so he would be a great person to talk to. He served under eleven Presidents including: Franklin Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. I would ask him about the Presidents. Did he meet them, who was his

favorite? What was it like working under a president that held different beliefs? Did he ever try and run for president or think about it? What was Ronald Reagan like, did you like him? What was it like when John F. Kennedy was assassinated? Was security increased after? Did people have to follow you around or because you were in the senate it was not as big of a deal? Did you vote to impeach Nixon for the Watergate scandals, or to keep him in office? However, an hour is a very short amount of time so I would more than likely not go thru half of the questions.