William Milliken

William Milliken (1962)

William Grawn Milliken (born March 26, 1922 in Traverse City , Michigan , † October 18, 2019 there ) was an American politician . He was the 44th governor of the state of Michigan from 1969 to 1983 .

Early years and political advancement

William Milliken came from a very well-known political family in Michigan. Both his father and grandfather had served on the State Senate . Young William graduated from Yale University . He then participated in the family business, which consisted of three stores in different cities in Michigan. During the Second World War he was with the Air Force of the Army. There he belonged to a bomber squadron.

Between 1960 and 1964, Milliken continued the family tradition and was a Republican member of the Michigan Senate. For the last two years he was Republican parliamentary leader there. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1964 and 1966 . Thereafter, following a constitutional amendment, the terms of office were extended to four years. When incumbent Governor George W. Romney resigned from office on January 22, 1969 to take up a ministerial post in Nixon's cabinet , Milliken became the new governor of Michigan.

Michigan governor

After Milliken had initially ended the term of office of his predecessor, he was elected governor again for four years in 1970, 1974 and 1978. He remained in office until January 1, 1983. At nearly 14 years old, Milliken holds the record in office of Michigan governors, and it is no longer possible to hit that mark under today's constitution, which limits governor terms to two four-year terms. The energy crisis of the 1970s and the associated economic recession fell during his term of office. Despite the crisis and the problems it caused, the governor remained popular with the people. In addition to the economic crisis, he also had to deal with a strike at General Motors in 1970. A chemical poison called PBB has endangered the food chain. The health system for the mentally handicapped was also hotly contested at the time. The governor managed to get all of these problems under control. In addition, he campaigned for the environment, art and the elderly in his state. Noteworthy is the environmental protection law passed in 1970, which served as a national example. He was also a member of several governors' associations. At the end of his tenure, Dorothy Comstock Riley's appointment as judge in the Michigan Supreme Court was controversial because it happened weeks before the end of his term and his elected successor, James Blanchard , believed Milliken should have left that appointment up to him. The other members of the Tribunal then voted to cancel the appointment. Two years later Dorothy Riley was called to that court after all.

Another résumé

In 1982 Milliken declined to run again. Instead, he later became a member of Chrysler's board of directors . He was also a member of a private organization for the protection of the great lakes ( Center for the Great Lakes ). During the 2004 presidential election, Milliken temporarily left the party line and supported the Democrat John Kerry in his campaign against Republican President George W. Bush . In 2008 he was back on the party line and supported the election campaign of John McCain .

The former governor and his wife Helen Milliken had two children; Son William and daughter Elaine, who died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 45 .

Individual proof

1. ^ William G. Milliken, Michigan Governor in a Transformative Era, Dies at 97

Web links

• William Milliken in the National Governors Association (English)