William E. Miller

This article is about the politician William E. Miller. For the musician, see William Edward Miller (composer) .

William E. Miller

William Edward Miller (born March 22, 1914 in Lockport , Niagara County , New York , †  June 24, 1983 in Buffalo , New York) was an American politician . He was the Republican candidate for vice presidency alongside Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election .

Life

After attending school, Miller studied at the University of Notre Dame at South Bend , where he graduated in 1935, and the Union University Law School in Albany , from which he graduated in 1938. In the same year he was inducted into the bar and began practicing in Lockport.

In 1942 Miller joined the US Army , for whose intelligence service he worked during World War II . From May to August 1945 he was assigned to the War Criminals Division in Washington, DC , before serving on the prosecution staff at the Nuremberg Trial of Major War Criminals until the following March .

Public offices

After his return to the United States, Miller initially held the office of assistant district attorney in Niagara County; on January 1, 1948, Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed him district attorney.

His political career began in 1950 with the election to the US House of Representatives , to which he belonged after multiple re-elections from January 3, 1951 to January 3, 1965 as a representative of the 40th electoral district of New York. From 1961 to 1964 he was chairman of the Republican National Committee .

After Barry Goldwater , representatives of the conservative wing of the party of the Republicans at the Republican National Convention in July 1964 in San Francisco for a challenger to US President Lyndon B. Johnson was elected, he won the national relatively unknown William Miller as running mate to his side. Goldwater declared his vote for the RNC chairman with the words: "One reason I chose Miller is that he drives Johnson nuts." ("One reason I chose Miller is that he drives Johnson crazy." )

In the November 3, 1964 election, Goldwater and Miller received just 38.5 percent of the vote, one of the worst results in American history. Miller resigned from Congress the following January, retired from politics, and returned to Lockport as a lawyer.

Personal

Miller was a Catholic and the first Catholic to be nominated by the Republican Party as a candidate for national government office. His son William Miller Jr. wanted to succeed his father, but in 1992 and 1994 each unsuccessfully applied for a seat in the US House of Representatives for the 29th District of New York State. Miller's youngest of three daughters, Stephanie , was a successful stand-up comedian in the 1980s and later hosted a national radio talk show .

William E. Miller died in 1983 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Web links

• William E. Miller in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)