Daniel James "Dan" White (September 2, 1946 – October 21, 1985) was a San Francisco supervisor who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, on November 27, 1978, at City Hall. In a controversial verdict that led to the coining of the legal slang "Twinkie Defense," White was convicted of the manslaughter rather than the murder of Milk and Moscone. Soon after serving a sentence of five years, White returned to San Francisco and committed suicide two years later. San Francisco Weekly

Daniel James White was born in San Francisco, the second of 10 children. He was raised by working-class parents in a Roman Catholic household. He attended Riordan High School. He was valedictorian of his class. He enlisted in the Army in 1965 and served in the Vietnam War before being discharged in 1972 and returning to San Francisco to work as a police officer. He quit the force after stopping another cop from beating a handcuffed black prisoner.

He then worked as a firefighter. A rescue of a woman and her baby from a seventh-floor apartment in the Geneva Towers by White was covered by The San Francisco Chronicle. Due to his background, city newspapers referred to him as "an all-American boy".