Horace White Wilkie (January 9, 1917May 23, 1976) was an American attorney, judge, and Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He was the 21st Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (1974–1976) and served a total of 14 years on the court (1962–1976). Before being appointed to the Court, he served five years in the Wisconsin State Senate, representing Madison, Wisconsin.
Wilkie was in Madison, Wisconsin, He attended elementary school and high school locally. He then attended what is now the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduating in 1933 with a Bachelor of Arts. He received his law degree from George Washington University in 1944. He also completed some graduate work in the field of public administration at various institutions, including the University of Minnesota, the National Institute of Public Affairs, and American University.
During World War II, Wilkie served in the United States Coast Guard.
Wilkie's father, Harold M. Wilkie, was a prominent Wisconsin lawyer, and served as member of the Board of Regents for the University of Wisconsin. One of Wilkie's brothers, Edwin (a member of the Republican Party) served as both the district attorney of Dane County and as a Dane County Circuit Court judge.
After the war, he helped revive the Democratic Party of Wisconsin with other young liberals and former members of the Wisconsin Progressive Party in what was known as the Democratic Organizing Committee. Wilkie ran for Congress three times in 1948, 1950, and 1952.
In 1956, Wilkie was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate, representing the 26th district. As a state senator, he frequently backed liberal legislation. This included supporting more liberal laws regarding public welfare, stricter campaign finance and election laws, and pay increases for faculty at state universities. During the governorship of fellow Democrat Gaylord Nelson, Wilkie was a legislative ally of Nelson's.
Wilkie served on the Education; Welfare; Labor; Taxation; Insurance and Banking; and Joint Finance committees.
In 1962, Nelson appointed Wilkie to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Grover L. Broadfoot. Wilkie was subsequently elected to two full terms on the court in 1964 and 1974. He became chief justice of the court in 1974, serving until his death.
Wilkie died of a heart attack in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1976.
An odd coincidence of Justice Wilkie's career is that his successors in the Wisconsin State Senate and Wisconsin Supreme Court both became the longest-serving members of those respective bodies. Fred A. Risser, who succeeded him in the Senate, served from 1962 through 2021. Shirley Abrahamson, who succeeded him on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, served from 1976 through 2019. She died on December 19, 2020, in Berkeley, California.