Whitman, Christine Todd, 1946-

CHRISTINE T. WHITMAN was born in New York City and was raised in Oldwick in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government in 1968 from Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She is a former director of the Somerset County Board of Freeholders and a former president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. She was elected governor in 1993, becoming the first woman to hold that office in New Jersey. In her tenure as governor, voters approved her proposal to provide state funds to reach her goal of permanently preserving one million acres of open space and farmland by 2010. She signed several tough anticrime measures, including Megan’s Law and “Three Strikes and You’re In.” Whitman resigned as governor when she was named EPA Administrator by President George W. Bush in January 2001.

<p>Christine Todd Whitman (born September 26, 1946) is an American Republican politician and author who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey, from 1994 to 2001, and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the administration of President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2003. She is the first and only woman to be governor of New Jersey, to date.</p>

<p>Whitman was born Christine Temple Todd in New York City, the daughter of Eleanor Prentice Todd (née Schley) and businessman Webster B. Todd. Her parents were involved in Republican politics, and both the Todds and the Schleys were wealthy and prominent New Jersey political families. Her mother's family were among the first New Yorkers to move to what became Far Hills, New Jersey, which became a popular suburb for wealthy, moderate Republicans. Her maternal grandfather, Reeve Schley, was a member of Wolf's Head Society at Yale and the vice president of Chase Bank. He was also a longtime president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.</p>

<p>Christine grew up on her family's farm, Pontefract, in Oldwick, New Jersey. On the farm, Christine grew up riding horses and fishing. She has three older siblings including her brothers, Webster and Danny. Her parents were politically active, taking Christine to her first political convention in 1956 for the renomination of Dwight D. Eisenhower. Her mother's political activity caused a newspaper to speculate that she could be a viable candidate for governor, although Eleanor never chose to run for office. As a child she attended Far Hills Country Day School before being sent to boarding school at Foxcroft in Virginia. Christine disliked being so far away from home and after a year transferred to the Chapin School in Manhattan, allowing her to return home on the weekends. After graduating from Wheaton College in 1968, earning a bachelor of arts degree in government, she worked for Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign.</p>

<p>Christine Todd Whitman, the 50th Governor of the State of New Jersey, and its first woman governor, was elected on November 3, 1993 by a 1% margin or 26,093 votes, defeating incumbent Governor James J. Florio. Inaugurated on January 18, 1994, she resigned on January 31, 2001 to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in President George W. Bush’s administration. She was succeeded by Donald DiFrancesco, who was serving as President of the New Jersey Senate.</p>

<p>Whitman was the first challenger to defeat an incumbent governor of New Jersey since the adoption of the 1947 state constitution. She entered the Statehouse as New Jersey’s first woman governor, the second Republican woman chief executive in any state, and the thirteenth woman governor in American history. Whitman was one of four women among the 50 governors serving in 1994.</p>

<p>Throughout the almost two terms of her governorship, while pursuing her substantive policy agenda, Whitman served as a role model for women and girls. Soon after her election, she named the first woman to serve as a New Jersey governor’s chief of staff. Subsequent appointees included the state’s first woman attorney general, later named by Whitman as the first woman chief justice of the state supreme court, as well as several other cabinet officials. These top level appointments were accompanied by many others throughout the government.</p>