Democratic Party: National: General 1952-1959

The collection documents the activities of Sam Wilhite (1919-1998), who served as executive assistant to Mississippi Governor Hugh White in his second term (1952-1956) and was deeply involved in Democratic political work on the state, regional, and national levels during the late 1940s and 1950s. Among the candidates for whom he campaigned were Adlai Stevenson, John C. Stennis, and Hugh White. Wilhite also worked with the chambers of commerce in Florence, Alabama, and in West Point and Aberdeen, Mississippi. He has always maintained close relations with his alma mater, Mississippi State University.

The collection dates from 1871 to 1976 with the main body of the files dating from 1940 to 1975. Included are correspondence, speeches, press releases, political broadsides, an architectural drawing, clippings, a scrapbook, photographs, and publications.

The collection is arranged in the following series: correspondence, subject files, miscellany, clippings and scrapbook, publications, and Robert C. Stovall. With the exception of the last series, the documents pertain to Wilhite and his activities. The Stovall series, composed of correspondence, speeches, campaign literature, and clippings, concern the efforts of Robert Stovall, a Mississippi Democrat, to campaign for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.