Dan White

White was born in Long Beach, California,[1] the second of nine children. He was raised by Irish-American, working-class parents in the Visitacion Valley neighborhood of San Francisco.[2] He attended Archbishop Riordan High School until he was expelled for violence in his junior year. He went on to attend Woodrow Wilson High School[3] (later renamed Phillip and Sala Burton HS), where he was valedictorian of his class.

White enlisted in the United States Army in June 1965. He was a sergeant with the 101st Airborne Division in the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970 and was honorably discharged in 1971.

White worked as a security guard at A. J. Dimond High School in Anchorage, Alaska, in 1972. He returned to San Francisco to work as a police officer. According to a SF Weekly newspaper account, he allegedly quit the force after reporting another officer for beating a handcuffed suspect.[2]

White then joined the San Francisco Fire Department. While on duty, according to the SF Weekly story, White's rescue of a woman and her baby from a seventh-floor apartment in the Geneva Towers was covered by the San Francisco Chronicle.[2] The city's newspapers referred to him as "an all-American boy".[4]

After a disagreement over a proposed drug rehabilitation center in the Mission District, White frequently clashed with Milk, as well as other members of the board.[6] On November 10, 1978, White resigned his seat as supervisor.[5] The reasons he cited were his dissatisfaction with what he saw as the corrupt practices of San Francisco city politics, as well as the difficulty of earning a living without a police officer's or firefighter's salary, jobs he could not retain legally while serving as a supervisor. White had opened a baked-potato stand at Pier 39, which failed to become profitable.[7] He reversed his resignation on November 14, 1978, after his supporters lobbied him to seek reappointment from George Moscone.

Moscone initially agreed to White's request, but later refused the appointment at the urging of Milk and others. On November 27, 1978, White visited San Francisco City Hall with the later-declared intention of killing not only Moscone and Milk, but also two other San Francisco politicians, California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (who would later serve as Mayor of San Francisco), and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, whom he also blamed for lobbying Moscone not to reappoint him.[8] He climbed through a first-floor window on the side of City Hall carrying a Smith & Wesson Model 36 .38 caliber revolver and 10 rounds of ammunition. By entering the building through the window, White managed to avoid the recently installed metal detectors. After entering Moscone's office, White pleaded to be reinstated as supervisor, but Moscone refused. White then killed Moscone by shooting him in the shoulder and chest, and twice in the head. He then walked to the other side of City Hall to Milk's office, reloaded the gun, and fatally shot Milk five times, firing the final two shots with the gun's barrel touching Milk's skull, according to the medical examiner. White then fled City Hall, surrendering to the police at San Francisco's Northern Police Station where he had formerly been a police officer. While being interviewed by investigators, White recorded a tearful confession, stating, "I just shot him."

White served five years of his seven-year sentence at Soledad State Prison and was paroled on January 7, 1984. Fearing White might be murdered in retaliation for his crimes, California State Corrections Officials secretly transported him to Los Angeles, where he served a year's parole.[13] At the completion of his parole, White sought to return to San Francisco; Mayor Dianne Feinstein urged White not to return on the basis that doing so would jeopardize public safety.[14] Joel Wachs, a Los Angeles City Council member, also argued to keep White out of Los Angeles. White eventually did move back to San Francisco, where he lived with his wife and children.[15]

White's headstone

On October 21, 1985, less than two years after his release from prison, White killed himself by carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage. His body was discovered by his brother, Thomas, shortly before 2:00 p.m. the same day.[15]

White was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California, with a traditional government-furnished headstone issued for war veterans. He was survived by his two sons, daughter, and his widow.[15]

The story of the assassinations is told in the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), which was released a year before White died by suicide.

The American hardcore punk rock band Dead Kennedys altered the lyrics to the song "I Fought The Law" to tell the story of the assassinations from White's perspective, which was released on the 1987 compilation Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death.

The Law & Order episode "Pride" is heavily based on Dan White's assassination of Harvey Milk. The killer in the episode is a former police officer and current politician who assassinates a victim known for his support for gay rights.

White was portrayed by Josh Brolin in the 2008 film Milk. The film depicted White from his first meeting with Harvey Milk up to and including the assassination of Milk.[2][16] Brolin's nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor was one of eight nominations the film received overall.

White's life, the assassinations, and his trial are covered in the 1984 book Double Play: The San Francisco City Hall Killings by Mike Weiss, which won the Edgar Award as Best True Crime Book of the Year. An expanded second edition, Double Play: The Hidden Passions Behind the Double Assassination of George Moscone and Harvey Milk, was issued in 2010 and updated White's story to include his life after prison and his suicide. The second edition also includes a DVD with a half-hour video interview of White.

Execution of Justice, a play by Emily Mann, chronicles the events leading to the assassinations. In 1999, the play was adapted to film for cable network Showtime, with Tim Daly portraying White.

Harvey Milk is an opera in three acts composed by Stewart Wallace to a libretto by Michael Korie. A joint commission by Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, and San Francisco Opera, it was premiered on January 21, 1995, by Houston Grand Opera.

• "48 Drawings from the trial by David Newman"
• Dan White at IMDb