Christine Todd Whitman
Christine Temple Whitman (née Todd; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. As of 2024, Whitman is the only woman to have served as governor of New Jersey.
Christine Todd Whitman
Position established
Donald DiFrancesco
Scott Weiner
Doris W. Dealaman
Forward (2022–present)
Republican (until 2022)
Webster B. Todd (father)
Born in New York City to a Republican political family, Whitman graduated from Wheaton College in 1968 and began her political career in the Nixon administration's Office of Economic Opportunity. After coming within three percentage points of unseating U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1990, she ran for governor of New Jersey, defeating Democratic incumbent Jim Florio. A self-described Rockefeller Republican, Whitman defeated Democrat Jim McGreevey to win re-election in 1997. She remained governor until stepping down in 2001 to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where she served until 2003. During her tenure at the EPA, Whitman was noted for having assured the public that the air in lower Manhattan was safe to breathe following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; she apologized in 2016 for having made this statement.
In 2022, Whitman joined former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang to form the Forward Party, a centrist third party.
Early life, family, and education[edit]
Christine Todd Whitman was born Christine Temple Todd in New York City on September 26, 1946. Her mother was Eleanor Prentice Todd (née Schley) and her father businessman Webster B. Todd.[1] Both the Todds and the Schleys were wealthy and prominent New Jersey political families.[2] The Schleys were among the first New Yorkers to move to the area that later became Far Hills, New Jersey, which became a popular suburb for wealthy, moderate Republicans.[2] Webster B. Todd amassed a fortune as a building contractor on projects including Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. He used his wealth to donate to Republican politicians and became an advisor to Dwight D. Eisenhower and chaired the New Jersey Republican State Committee twice.[3][4] Eleanor Prentice Todd served as a Republican national committeewoman, led the New Jersey Federation of Republican Women,[3] and served as vice chair of the Republican National Committee.[4] Eleanor Prentice Todd's political activity caused a newspaper to speculate that she could be a viable candidate for governor, although she never chose to run for office.[2]
Christine Todd grew up on her family's farm, Pontefract, in Oldwick, New Jersey.[5][2] She had three older siblings, including brothers Webster and Danny.[2][3] At the age of nine, she attended the 1956 Republican National Convention and met President Eisenhower.[6] As a child, Todd attended Far Hills Country Day School before being sent to boarding school at Foxcroft in Virginia.[2][7] Todd disliked being so far away from home and after a year, she transferred to the Chapin School in Manhattan, allowing her to return home on the weekends.[2]
After graduating from Wheaton College in 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, Todd worked for Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign.[5][4]
Early career[edit]
Christine Todd married John Whitman in 1974.[8] Christine Todd Whitman worked for the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Republican National Committee.[9]
Whitman served on the board of trustees of Somerset County College (later renamed Raritan Valley Community College).[6] Elected to two terms on the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders, she served for five-and-one-half years beginning in 1983.[6] From 1988 to 1990, during the tenure of Gov. Thomas Kean, she served as president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.[2][6]
In 1990, Whitman ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Bill Bradley, losing a close election.[10] She was considered an underdog against the popular Bradley, but performed better than expected despite being outspent 12-to-one.[6] Her performance endeared her to the party base and made her the leading public advocate of the anti-tax cause.[11]
Whitman continued to build her profile by founding a political action committee, the Committee for an Affordable New Jersey, through which she campaigned for Republican candidates in the 1991 midterm elections.[12] Whitman took on a full campaign speaking schedule through October 1992.[13]
In 1993, Whitman helped to found the Committee for Responsible Government, an advocacy group espousing moderate positions in the Republican Party. In 1997, the group renamed itself the Republican Leadership Council.[14]
Vice presidential speculation[edit]
Whitman was mentioned as a potential Republican vice presidential candidate in 1996.[39][2]
According to The New York Times, Whitman "seemed to be on a short list of vice presidential candidates in 2000, right up until July 8, 2000 – days before the opening of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia – when a four-year-old photograph surfaced showing an oddly smiling Governor Whitman, surrounded by law enforcement agents, frisking a black drug suspect on a street in Camden".[40] In 1996, Whitman had joined a New Jersey State Police patrol in Camden, New Jersey. During the patrol, the officers stopped a 16-year-old African American male named Sherron Rolax and frisked him. The police did not find any contraband on Rolax's person, but Whitman frisked the youth as well. A state trooper photographed the act. In 2000, the image of the smiling governor frisking Rolax was published in newspapers statewide, drawing criticism from civil rights leaders who saw the incident as a violation of Rolax's civil rights and an endorsement of racial profiling by Whitman (especially since Rolax was not arrested or charged). Whitman later told the press that she regretted the incident, and pointed to her efforts in 1999 to oppose the New Jersey State Police force's racial profiling practices.[41][42]
Ultimately, then-Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney as his running mate in the 2000 presidential election.
Personal life[edit]
At a 1973 inaugural ball for Richard Nixon, Christine had her first date with John R. Whitman (1944–2015), an old friend she had met while a student at Chapin.[2][8] The pair married the next year.[8] Whitman was a businessman and an investment banker; he was also the grandson of early 20th-century Governor of New York Charles S. Whitman.[86]
While governor, Whitman used Pontefract, the family farm on which she was raised, as her primary residence.[2] Whitman had purchased the property in 1991 following the death of her mother.[2]
John Whitman died on July 2, 2015, at age 71 following a June 2015 head injury.[87] With her late husband, Whitman had two children: daughter Kate and son Taylor.[2] Kate Whitman has followed her mother into politics, including an unsuccessful run for the U.S. House of Representatives and having worked as a congressional aide.[88][89] In 2007, Kate Whitman was named executive director of the Republican Leadership Council, her mother's organization which promotes moderate Republicanism.[90] Whitman has seven grandchildren.[8]
Whitman has been a resident of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey.[91]