Editing Charles Whitman (section)

==Early life and education==
Charles Whitman was born on June 24, 1941, in [[Lake Worth Beach, Florida|Lake Worth, Florida]], the eldest of three sons born to Margaret E. ({{née}} Hodges) and Charles Adolphus Whitman Jr.<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=4}}</ref> Whitman's father was raised in an [[orphanage]] in [[Savannah, Georgia]],<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 40">{{harv|Time-Life Books|1993|p=40}}</ref> and described himself as a self-made man. His wife, Margaret, was 17 years old at the time they met. The marriage of Whitman's parents was marred by [[domestic violence]]; Whitman's father was an admitted authoritarian who provided for his family but demanded near perfection from all of them. He was known to be [[physical abuse|physically]] and [[emotional abuse|emotionally abusive]] towards his wife and children.<ref name=trutv2>{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/charlie_2.html|title=Charles Whitman: The Texas Tower Sniper (Early Charlie)|last=Macleod|first=Marlee|publisher=trutv.com|page=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701063429/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/whitman/charlie_2.html|archive-date=July 1, 2012}}</ref>
[[File:Charles Whitman 1943.jpg|160px|thumb|left|Whitman, age two, c. early 1944]]
As a boy, Whitman was described as a polite child who seldom lost his temper.<ref>{{cite news|title=Killers So Often Tagged 'Nice' Boys|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lkk0AAAAIBAJ&pg=2934,2047588&/|newspaper=The Miami News|date=August 9, 1966|page=2–B}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was extremely intelligent—an examination at the age of six revealed his [[IQ test|IQ]] to be 139.<ref name=lavergne>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=6}}</ref> Whitman's academic achievements were encouraged by his parents, and any indication of failure or a lethargic attitude were met with discipline—often physical—from his father.<ref>{{harv|Time-Life Books|1993|p=42}}</ref>

Margaret was a devout [[Roman Catholic]] who raised her sons in the same denomination. The Whitman brothers regularly attended [[Catholic Mass|Mass]] with their mother, and all three brothers served as [[altar boy]]s at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Lake Worth.<ref name="leduc">
[http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/leduc.pdf "Chaplain Leduc."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708154138/http://alt.cimedia.com/statesman/specialreports/whitman/leduc.pdf |date=2011-07-08 }} ''cimedia.com.'' Retrieved: November 2, 2010.
</ref>

Whitman's father was a firearms collector and enthusiast, who taught each of his young sons to shoot, clean, and maintain weapons. He regularly took them on hunting trips, and Charles became an avid hunter and accomplished [[marksman]]. His father said of him: "Charlie could plug the eye out of a squirrel by the time he was sixteen."<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=3}}</ref>

Whitman joined the [[Boy Scouts of America]] at age 11.<ref name=lavergne /> He became an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]] at twelve years three months, reportedly the youngest of any Eagle Scout up to that time.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 40"/><ref name=trutv2/> Whitman also became an accomplished pianist at the age of 12.<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=5}}</ref> At around the same time, he began an extensive newspaper route.<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|pp=6–7}}</ref>

===High school===
[[File:Charles Whitman (ca 1955).jpg|160px|thumb|upright|Whitman around 1959 (age 18)]]
In September 1955, Whitman entered St. Ann's High School in [[West Palm Beach]], where he was regarded as a moderately popular student.<ref>
{{cite news|title=Whitman Always Quick On The Dare When In Florida High School|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PPUjAAAAIBAJ&pg=3725,322205&/|newspaper=Ocala Star-Banner|date=August 3, 1966|page=2|access-date=2019-03-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160516171127/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PPUjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YgUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3725%2C322205&%2F|archive-date=2016-05-16|url-status=live}}</ref> By the next month, he had saved enough money from his newspaper route to purchase a [[Harley-Davidson]] motorcycle, which he used on his route.<ref name="Lester 2004 22">{{harv|Lester|2004|p=22}}</ref>

Without telling his father beforehand, Whitman enlisted in the [[United States Marine Corps]] one month after his June 1959 graduation from high school, where he had graduated seventh in a class of 72 students.<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 40"/> Whitman told a family friend that the catalyst for his enlistment was an incident a month earlier, in which his father had beaten him and thrown him into the family swimming pool because Whitman had come home drunk.<ref name=trutv2 /> Whitman left home on July 6, having been assigned an eighteen-month tour of duty with the Marines at [[Guantánamo Bay]], Cuba. As Whitman traveled toward [[Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island|Parris Island]], his father, who still had not known of Whitman's enlistment,<ref name="Mass Murderers' p. 40"/> learned of his action and telephoned a branch of the federal government trying to have his son's enlistment canceled.<ref name="leduc"/>

===U.S. Marine and college student===
During Whitman's initial eighteen-month service in 1959 and 1960, he earned a [[sharpshooter]]'s badge and the [[Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal]]. He achieved 215 of 250 possible points on marksmanship tests, doing well when shooting rapidly over long distances as well as at moving targets. After completing his assignment, Whitman applied for a scholarship to the Naval Enlisted Science and Education Program (NESEP), an initiative designed to send [[Enlisted rank|enlisted personnel]] to college to train as engineers, and after graduation, be [[Commissioned officer|commissioned as officers]].<ref>{{harv|Lavergne|1997|p=19}}</ref><ref name="officer1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.officer.com/investigations/article/12159322/the-texas-tower-incident-part-one|title=The Texas Tower Incident, Part One|website=Officer|date=19 January 2016 |access-date=2019-09-26|archive-date=2019-09-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190926163133/https://www.officer.com/investigations/article/12159322/the-texas-tower-incident-part-one|url-status=live}}</ref> Whitman earned high scores on the required examination, and the selection committee approved his enrollment at a preparatory school in [[Maryland]], where he completed courses in mathematics and physics before being approved to transfer to the [[University of Texas at Austin]] to study mechanical engineering.<ref name="officer1"/>