John C. White; Led Democratic Committee

John C. White, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and deputy agriculture secretary in the Jimmy Carter Administration, died Friday of pneumonia. He was 70.

President Clinton, who worked with White on George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign, said in a statement that he was “proud to have had the opportunity to work with him and learn from him.”

Former Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, a fellow Texas Democrat, said he was “saddened at the loss of a dear friend and trusted adviser.”

A confidant of presidents and friend to leaders of both parties, White guided the Democratic National Committee through a turbulent period when Carter’s presidency was challenged from within by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

“John had Texas good sense and judgment, loyalty and keen humor,” Carter said Friday night. “He was a true friend throughout my presidency, through thick and thin, and thereafter.”

White--who worked his way through Texas Tech University as a janitor and bellhop--was elected Texas agriculture commissioner at the age of 25 in 1950, sailing to reelection a dozen times without opposition.

In 1977, Carter appointed him deputy U.S. agriculture secretary and chose him to head the Democratic National Committee.

White’s first national party job, in 1953, was on the national Democratic policy agricultural panel. He later coordinated rural and city voter efforts for the winning Democratic presidential ticket in 1960 led by John F. Kennedy.

President Lyndon B. Johnson picked White to organize “Rural Texans for Johnson-Humphrey” in the next presidential election and the Democratic ticket carried Texas by nearly a 2-1 margin. Hubert Humphrey turned to White again in 1968 and the Democrat carried Texas, although Republican Richard Nixon won nationally.

After leaving the DNC, White--the son of a Texas tenant farmer--became a lobbyist and established a political consulting firm with a roster that included the Chicago Board of Trade and Goldman Sachs.