Neat looking machine! I agree it's older than 1988. Oldsewandsew(Jim) had one of those machines as his avatar for a while. Maybe he'll chime in with some more info.
The foot looks like typical short shank to me too. I think that once White started having their machines made in Japan sometime in the late 40s or early 50s they went with short shank feet like pretty much everyone else instead of continuing to use their original top clamp setup. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Standardization makes it easier to find parts and accessories that fit but you also lose some individuality and creativity if you just do what everyone else is doing.
Rodney