Dan White

Dan White (September 2, 1946 - October 21, 1985) was the former city supervisor of San Francisco who assassinated Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone on November 27, 1978 at City Hall. Milk was the first open homosexual to hold the position of city supervisor in San Francisco, and was one of the first openly gay politicians in American politics.

Related Topics:
September 2 - 1946 - October 21 - 1985 - San Francisco - Harvey Milk - George Moscone - November 27 - 1978 - City Hall - Homosexual - Politics

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The primary motivation for the murders was likely depression and desperation after White resigned his post as city supervisor. White had resigned the office of city supervisor shortly after the defeat of California's so-called Briggs Initiative, which would have required schools to fire teachers that were gay. Days later after his resignation, White had asked Moscone to reinstate him. Moscone agreed to his reinstatement while furtively courting a replacement at the behest of Milk, who despised White. After learning of Moscone's deception and Milk's attempts to sabotage his reinstatement, White returned to City Hall with a gun, entering an open window in order to evade metal detectors. White went to Moscone's office and shot him, and then went down the hall to Milk's office and shot him as well.

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During his trial, White's attorneys produced a witness who testified that the normally health-conscious White's increased consumption of Twinkies and other junk food was evidence that he suffered from depression when he committed the crime. His attorneys argued that this depression was a mitigating circumstance, giving rise to the term "Twinkie defense". (The Twinkie Defense is frequently understood as an attempt by the defense to blame White's depression on the junk food, whereas the junk food was actually meant as an indicator of White's depression--in other words, according to White's attorneys, the Twinkies were a symptom, not the cause.) White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and served five years at Soledad State Prison; protests by San Franciscans who saw this sentence as too light were called the "White Night Riots". Two years after his parole, he killed himself with carbon monoxide from his car's exhaust.

Related Topics:
Twinkies - Junk food - Depression - "Twinkie defense" - Soledad State Prison - White Night Riots - Carbon monoxide

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