Dan White
Dan White was a San Francisco city supervisor who rose from a working-class background to hold a significant political position. Initially elected to represent the conservative District 8, White passionately opposed what he termed "political and social radicals," prominently opposing a gay rights bill championed by fellow supervisor Harvey Milk. His political career took a dramatic turn when, frustrated by political dynamics and feeling sidelined after his resignation, he fatally shot Mayor George Moscone and Milk on November 27, 1978. The subsequent trial garnered public sympathy for White, who was ultimately convicted of voluntary manslaughter rather than first-degree murder, a decision influenced by the controversial "Twinkie defense" that claimed his actions were a result of diminished capacity due to diet and stress.
The aftermath of the murders sparked significant unrest in San Francisco, culminating in the "White Night" riots, which highlighted deep societal divisions and galvanized the LGBTQ+ community. White's actions and the subsequent trial not only affected the individuals involved but also had a lasting impact on civil rights discussions and the perception of justice within marginalized communities. Tragically, White faced personal struggles following his release from prison, ultimately taking his own life in 1985. His story remains a complex chapter in the history of San Francisco, illustrating the intersections of violence, politics, and social justice.
Subject Terms
Dan White
American killer
- Born: September 2, 1946
- Birthplace: San Francisco, California
- Died: October 21, 1985
- Place of death: San Francisco, California
Major offense: Voluntary manslaughter
Active: November 27, 1978
Locale: San Francisco, California
Sentence: Seven years and eight months in prison; served less than five years
Early Life
San Franciscan Dan White (wit) came from a blue-collar, working-class family. Good-looking, religious, and self-righteous, White served San Francisco as both a police officer and a firefighter. His future seemed assured by his election to the post of San Francisco city supervisor, representing District 8, the city’s most conservative district and home to many working-class Roman Catholics. White vowed to wage war against political and social radicals, sexual deviates, and incorrigibles. He promised to fight to restore traditional values to city government.
Criminal Career
Despite his promises to reform San Francisco’s government, White had difficulty supporting his wife and newborn child on a supervisor’s $9,600 yearly salary. On November 10, 1978, he submitted his resignation from the Board of Supervisors to San Francisco mayor George Moscone. Shortly thereafter, with urging from various conservative groups, White reconsidered and asked Moscone to reappoint him.
An underlying cause of White’s resignation was his opposition to the gay rights bill introduced by supervisor Harvey Milk and passed by a ten-to-one vote by the Board of Supervisors. The dissenting vote was White’s. Mayor Moscone, who was dedicated to equal rights for all citizens, signed the bill into law immediately.
Moscone, about to announce the appointment of one of his political supporters, Don Horanzy, to fill White’s seat, turned a deaf ear to White’s request for reappointment. White falsely assumed that Milk was responsible for Moscone’s failure to reappoint him. (He did not realize that there was some friction between Moscone and Milk.) White brooded about Moscone’s silence over the weekend. Unable to sleep, White gorged himself on so-called junk food.
On the morning of Monday, November 27, an enraged White entered City Hall through a basement window, to avoid passing through metal detectors at the main entrance. He burst into Moscone’s office and, after confronting him, drew a .38-caliber handgun from his pocket and pumped four bullets into the mayor’s body at close range, two into his head.
White then reloaded his weapon, using devastating dumdum bullets, and proceeded to Milk’s office. Milk maneuvered White into White’s former office. White, standing between Milk and the door, drew the revolver from his tan jacket and pumped five bullets into the supervisor, killing him instantly. He fled and was soon found with his wife in Saint Mary’s Church, praying.
Legal Action and Outcome
White was arrested and brought to trial charged with the premeditated first-degree murders of Moscone and Milk. Although it was obvious that White had killed the two, many San Franciscans felt great sympathy for the accused. Police officers and firefighters raised a defense fund of more than $100,000 on White’s behalf.
When the White jury was impaneled, it excluded gays, blacks, and members of other minority groups. However, the jury selected was largely white and blue-collar, was politically and socially conservative, and clearly was homophobic. The capital charges against White were reduced to voluntary manslaughter, of which he was eventually found guilty.
White’s defense was the so-called Twinkie defense. It asserted that White was overstimulated by the high-carbohydrate foods he consumed the night before the killings. This defense, designed to reduce his culpability, succeeded: He was sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison, which, with reductions for good behavior, resulted in his serving slightly less than five years.
Released from Soledad Prison on January 6, 1984, White, plagued by financial problems, went to Los Angeles but found the atmosphere there inhospitable. He returned to San Francisco, where, on October 21, 1985, he ended his life by attaching a garden hose to the exhaust pipe of his wife’s Buick Le Sabre and inhaling the carbon monoxide fumes.
Impact
The immediate impact of Dan White’s killing of Moscone and Milk was to divide the city of San Francisco. Thousands of protesters marched to City Hall to honor the two dead politicians. The day of their deaths is commemorated annually by a march in the Castro district, which Milk represented.
The verdict in the White trial was announced on May 21, 1979. That evening, thousands of protesters marched on City Hall and, in what is termed the “White Night” riots, fought with police and burned a number of police cars. The protesters broke into City Hall and created more than a million dollars in damage.
Police officers, covering their shields, dealt brutally with the protesters and invaded several gay bars, whose patrons they beat. In the long term, however, this violence focused attention on the inhumanity of mistreating gays in the name of justice.
Bibliography
Krakow, Kari. The Harvey Milk Story. Ridley Park, Pa.: Two Lives Publishing, 2001. A valuable account of White’s killing spree in San Francisco. Comments on the aftermath of the murders.
Marcus, Eric. Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights. New York: HarperCollins, 1992. Focuses on how the killings in San Francisco’s City Hall helped gays achieve civil rights gains both in San Francisco and throughout the United States.
Ridinger, Robert B. Marks. The Gay and Lesbian Movement: References and Resources. New York: G. K. Hall, 1996. Ridinger cites accounts of Dan White’s killing of Moscone and Milk from the standpoint of White’s conflicted views of homosexuality.
Shilts, Randy. The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982. Assesses Harvey Milk’s contributions to the lesbian/gay movement, emphasizing how his death galvanized segments of mainstream society to support equal rights.
Weiss, Mike. Double Play: The San Francisco City Hall Killings. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1984. The most comprehensive account in print of the city hall killings. At 422 pages, the book contains very useful documentation and information.