Stephen M. White

Stephen Mallory White
United States Senator from California
In office March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1899
Preceded by	Charles N. Felton
Succeeded by	Thomas R. Bard
Born	January 19, 1853 San Francisco, California
Died	February 21, 1901 (aged 48) Los Angeles, California
Political party	Democratic

Stephen Mallory White (January 19, 1853 – February 21, 1901) was an American politician and an U.S. Senator from California.

Born in San Francisco, Stephen White attended Santa Clara College and read law in the office of Charles Bruce Younger Sr. in Santa Cruz, California and was admitted to the bar in 1874. He came to Los Angeles to practice and served as the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1882-1884. Before becoming district attorney in 1882, White was a charter member of the first Los Angeles County Bar Association. He was also a member of the California State Senate from 1887-1891, where he served as president pro tempore both sessions, as Acting Lieutenant Governor (1888), and later represented California for one term in the United States Senate from 1893-1899. He forever endeared himself to the people of Los Angeles for fighting and winning the Free Harbor Fight, a seven-year struggle to secure a deep-water harbor at San Pedro–forerunner to today’s Port of Los Angeles.^[1] He is also well remembered for his extraordinary skill as a criminal defense attorney. When he died in 1901 he was acclaimed in San Francisco and Los Angeles as the state’s “most brilliant genius,” as “perhaps the most eminent of the State’s native sons.”

References

Political offices
Preceded by Robert Waterman	Lieutenant Governor of California (Acting) 1887–1891	Succeeded by John B. Reddick
United States Senate
Preceded by Charles N. Felton	United States Senator (Class 1) from California 1893–1899 Served alongside: Leland Stanford, George C. Perkins	Succeeded by Thomas R. Bard