Frank D. White

Tenure White signed a law that required the teaching of creationism in Arkansas public schools, along with the theory of evolution.

1982 and 1986 campaigns

White was unable to secure a hold on the governorship. Chrisman and a third candidate, nutritionist Connie Voll of Lonoke, challenged him in the 1982 primary. Voll was the first woman to seek the GOP nomination for governor and the second to seek the party nomination for a statewide office since Leona Troxell. Clinton then defeated him in a rematch of the 1980 contest during the general election: 431,855 (54.7%) to 357,496 (45.3%). White won only nineteen counties in the 1982 rematch, which occurred in a nationally Democratic year when the nation was in a recession.

In 1986, White again challenged Clinton for the governorship but lost.

Later career and death After his 1986 defeat, White returned to First Commercial Bank in Little Rock as senior vice president He remained in the post until shortly before his death from a heart attack in 2003, at age 69. White's time in the Banking Department was noted by his practice of visiting all of Arkansas' state-chartered banks at least once a year.