Whittle, the son of Dr. Herbert and Rita Whittle, grew up in
Etowah, a small Tennessee town in the foothills of the
Smoky Mountains. One of his first jobs was delivering newspapers, and he later became a high-school stringer and writer for the local Etowah Enterprise, and for two of the region's dailies, the
Chattanooga Times and the
Knoxville News-Sentinel. He was also elected the student body president of Etowah High School, and, after graduation, attended the
University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville. Inspired by his attendance of a
National Student Association conference on educational change in
Manhattan, Kansas, and signaling his future career focus, Whittle ran to be the student government president of UT's 30,000-student campus. He campaigned on an education-reform platform (its bumper sticker: “For A Better Education”) and he won by a significant margin. Whittle also led large student demonstrations protesting evening
curfews for women. While at UT, he also was an in-state staff member running youth operations for United States
Senator Howard Baker. Whittle graduated from UT in 1969 as a “Torchbearer,” the university's highest distinction for student leaders. During this period, Whittle began what would become a lifetime of international work and study. He received a scholarship for a summer in Czechoslovakia with the Experiment in International Living program and was in Prague during the “Prague Spring” when the country attempted to leave the Soviet bloc, and later spent time in other Iron Curtain countries, including Hungary, Romania, and
Yugoslavia. In the fall of 1969, Whittle attended
Columbia University Law School but dropped out to embark on a self-styled “gap” year, where his world travels took him to Greenland, Mexico,
North Africa, Afghanistan, Iran, India,
Nepal, Thailand, Hong Kong, and
Japan. This year abroad was so meaningful that, 20 years later, when he funded 100 full-ride UT scholarships, he included an extra fifth year abroad for each of these “Whittle Scholars.” ==Career==