 His early newspaper experience included reporting for "The Pittsburg Headlight" in 1918 and "The Salina Journal" in 1919, and working as a telegraph editor of "The Kansas City Journal" in 1920.White studied at the University of Kansas for two years (1920–21) before transferring to Columbia University.He received a Bachelor of Literature degree (1923) and a Master of Science degree (1924) from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.