If you don't have a policeman to stop traffic and let you walk across the street like you are somebody, how are you going to know you are somebody?

White resigned his post in 1978 when President Carter tapped him to lead the Democratic National Committee. From 1977 to 1978 he was United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. Department of Agriculture.

From 1978 to 1981 he was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was the longest-serving Texas Commissioner of Agriculture first elected in 1950 and serving until his resignation in 1977. From 1977 to 1978 he was United States Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.