Wilbur Mills
Wilbur Daigh Mills ( born May 24, 1909 in Kensett, White County, Arkansas; † 2 May 1992, Searcy, Arkansas ) was an American politician and represented the state of Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was in the 1960s, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee in 1972 and briefly a candidate for the U.S. presidency.
Career
Wilbur Daigh Mills had two older siblings: Abbie Lois Daigh Mills and Ardra Pickens Mills. Wilbur attended a private school run by his father in Kensett, but held his farewell speech to the Searcy High School. After he graduated from Hendrix College in Conway as " Salutatorian ". Then he began to study law at Harvard University in Cambridge. He did this under Felix Frankfurter before it was nominated as a federal judge of the United States Supreme Court and confirmed. The license to practice law was Wilbur 1933. Mills was District Judge of White County during the Depression years and launched a nationwide funded program to pay medical examinations, prescription drugs and hospital care for the needy.
Tax Grants Committee
Mills served in Congress 1939-1977, and was eighteen years ( 1957-1975 ), chairman of the influential Ways and Means Committee, a position he held longer than anyone in U.S. history before him. They called him frequently during his tenure as " the most powerful man in Washington ." The same was said about his opponent U.S. Senator and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Russell B. Long of Louisiana.
His performances in the U.S. House of Representatives also played a major role in the creation of the Medicare program. Mills initially had reservations about the cost of this program, however, he introduced it ultimately by the Congress and had a free hand in shaping his program. He was also known as a priority tax expert in Congress and gave his voice for the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Mills advocated a conservative fiscal policy and a balanced budget, where he supported various liberal programs.
Presidential Candidate
Mills joined in 1972 as the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency. His campaign was designed for the older citizen. It should be awakened in them the impression that Mills championed the automatic adjustment of the cost of living ( COLA ) for Social Security. His campaign was initially poor, but he won 36 delegate votes for the presidency at the Democratic National Convention for Senator George McGovern. His name was mentioned as a possible Treasury in McGovern's Cabinet; his defeat against the President Richard Nixon made this but irrelevant.
Scandal and resignation
On October 7, 1974 Mills was in a drunken incident with the Argentine stripper Annabelle Battistella, better known as Fanne Foxe, entangled. His car, driven by a former Nixon staff was stopped late at night by the U.S. Park Police, as the driver had forgotten to turn on the lights. Mills was drunk and his face was battered by a brawl with Foxe. When the police reached the car, Foxe leapt from the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin. Mills, known for his alcoholism, sought medical treatment in the West Palm Beach Institute and went to the Alcoholics Anonymous. Despite the scandal, he was re-elected in November 1974 to Congress. The Democrats had joined this year nearly 60 percent of the vote. He defeated the Republican Judy Petty Wolf, former secretary of the former Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.
In December 1974, Mills appeared to the dismay of all on the stage of a Boston strip club where Ms. Foxe occurred. Shortly after this second embarrassing appearance Mills was forced by public opinion to resign from his chairmanship of the tax Grants Committee. Mills is one of numerous public officials, of whom it was known that they had problems with alcohol during this time. He sought no 1976 re-election and the seat went to the Attorney General Jim Guy Tucker.
Wilbur Daigh Mills died on 2 May 1992 in Searcy and was buried in Kensett. Many schools, highways and other structures in Arkansas bear his name.