Oil on canvas, ca. 1950, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

WHITTINGTON, William Madison, a Representative from Mississippi; born in Little Springs, Franklin County, Miss., May 4, 1878; attended the public schools of Franklin County; was graduated from Mississippi College at Clinton in 1898 and from the law department of the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1899; was admitted to the bar in 1899 and commenced practice in Roxie, Franklin County, Miss., January 1, 1901; in January 1904 moved to Greenwood, Miss., where he continued the practice of law and also engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the city council, Greenwood, Miss., from January 1, 1907, to January 1, 1911; member of the State senate from January 1, 1916, to January 1, 1920; reelected in 1923 for a four-year term and served from January 1 to August 16, 1924, when he resigned to accept the Democratic nomination for Representative in Congress; delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1920, 1928, 1936, 1940, and 1948; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-ninth and to the twelve succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1925-January 3, 1951); chairman, Committee on Flood Control (Seventy-fifth through Seventy-ninth Congresses), Committee on Public Works (Eighty-first Congress); was not a candidate for renomination in 1950; resumed the practice of law; was a resident of Greenwood, Miss., until his death August 20, 1962; interment in Odd Fellows Cemetery.