Whitman was born in Denver, Colorado on April 23, 1897. He was the son of Charles Nicholas Whitman (1840-1899) and Pauline W Lingenbrink (1867-1925). His family moved from Denver to St. Louis, Missouri when he was a young boy. After going to a preparatory school in the East, Whitman became a student at Yale University. When World War I broke out, he went into the United States Army from 1918 to 1921. After the war, he continued with studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He married Anita Hedwig Moll on October 18, 1921, and had three children.
