Wilbur Daigh Mills

Wilbur Daigh Mills

Wilbur Daigh Mills (born May 24, 1909 in Kensett , White County , Arkansas , † May 2, 1992 in Searcy , Arkansas) was an American politician and represented the state of Arkansas in the US House of Representatives . He was chairman of the tax approvals committee in the 1960s and a short-term candidate for the US presidency in 1972 .

Career

Wilbur Daigh Mills had two older siblings: Abbie Lois Daigh Mills and Ardra Pickens Mills. Wilbur attended a private school in Kensett run by his father, but gave his farewell speech at Searcy High School . He then graduated from Hendrix College in Conway as a "Salutatorian". He then began to study law at Harvard University in Cambridge . He did so under Felix Frankfurter before he was nominated and confirmed as a federal judge of the United States Supreme Court . Wilbur was admitted to the bar in 1933. Mills was White County's district judge during the Depression years and started a state-funded program to pay for medical exams, prescription drugs, and hospital treatment for those in need.

Tax Approval Committee

Mills served in Congress from 1939 to 1977 and was chairman of the influential Tax Approvals Committee for eighteen years (1957–1975), a position he held longer than anyone in US history before him. He was often referred to as "the most powerful man in Washington" during his tenure. The same was said of his adversary, US Senator and Senate Treasury Committee chairman Russell B. Long of Louisiana .

His accomplishments in the US House of Representatives also played a large role in creating the Medicare program. Mills initially had reservations about the cost of this program, but eventually ran it through Congress and had a free hand in shaping his program. He was also known as the senior tax expert in Congress and gave his vote for the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Mills advocated conservative tax policies and a balanced budget, while also supporting various liberal programs.

Presidential candidate

Mills ran as a Democratic candidate for the US presidency in 1972 . His campaign was aimed at the elderly. It was supposed to give them the impression that Mills advocated the self-adjustment of the cost of living (COLA) for social security . His campaign went poorly at first, but he won 36 delegate votes for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention for Senator George McGovern . His name also fell as a possible Treasury Secretary in McGovern's cabinet; his defeat by President Richard Nixon made this irrelevant.

Scandal and resignation

On October 7, 1974, Mills was involved in an intoxication incident with Argentine stripper Annabelle Battistella, better known as Fanne Foxe . His car, driven by a former Nixon employee, was stopped by US parking police late at night because the driver forgot to turn on the lights. Mills was drunk and his face was bruised from a fight with Foxe. When the police got to the car, Foxe jumped out of the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin . Mills, known for his alcoholism, sought medical treatment at the West Palm Beach Institute and went to see Alcoholics Anonymous . Despite the scandal, he was re-elected to Congress in November 1974. The Democrats had nearly 60 percent of the vote that year. He defeated the Republican Judy Petty Wolf , former secretary of former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller .

In December 1974, to everyone's dismay, Mills appeared on the stage of a Boston strip club where Ms. Foxe was performing. Shortly after that second embarrassing appearance, Mills was forced by public opinion to step down from his chairmanship of the Tax Approval Committee. Mills is one of numerous public officials known to have had drinking problems during this period. He did not seek re-election in 1976 and the seat went to Attorney General Jim Guy Tucker .

Wilbur Daigh Mills died on May 2, 1992 in Searcy and was buried in Kensett. Many schools, highways, and other structures in Arkansas bear his name.

Notes / individual evidence

1. ↑ = second-best graduate of the year of an institution who gives a speech at the graduation ceremony
2. ^ McGovernomics: A More Modest Proposal, September 11, 1972, at time.com , accessed April 20, 2008
3. ↑ Telephone Conversation Between President Lyndon Johnson and Wilbur D. Mills, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee of June 11, 1964, on vcdh.virginia.edu (English) ( Memento of the original of March 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 20, 2008 
4. ↑ Governing under the influence; Washington alcoholics: their aides protect them, the media shields them , New York Times, October 3, 1987, at findarticles.com , accessed April 20, 2008

literature

• Zelizer, Julian E. Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1745-1975. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

Web links

• Time magazine cover
• Wilbur Daigh Mills in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)