William Milliken

William Grawn Milliken ( born March 26, 1922 in Traverse City, Michigan ) is a retired American politician. He was from 1969 to 1983, the 44th Governor of the State of Michigan.

Early years and political rise

William Milliken was born into a well-known political family in Michigan. Both his father and his grandfather had been members of the State Senate. The young William studied at Yale University. Then he 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 forces of the army. There he was a member of a bomber squadron.

Between 1960 and 1964 sat Milliken continues the family tradition and his part as a Republican member of the Senate of Michigan. During the last two years he was there republican party leader. In the years 1964 and 1966 he was elected vice- governor each. Then, after a constitutional amendment the terms of office were extended to four years. As the incumbent Governor George W. Romney resigned on 22 January 1969 by his office to take a ministerial post in the cabinet Nixon, was Milliken new Governor of Michigan.

Governor of Michigan

After Milliken had initially terminated the tenure of his predecessor, he was elected in 1970, 1974 and 1978 for four years again for governor. Thus he remained until 1 January 1983 in office. With almost 14 years Milliken holds the office record of the governors of Michigan and it is according to the currently valid constitution that limits the terms of office of the governor to two four -year periods no longer possible to reach this mark. His tenure covered the energy crisis of the 1970s and the economic recession related. Despite the crisis and the problems associated with the governor of the people remained popular. He had in addition to the economic crisis even with a strike at General Motors in 1970 to deal. Through a chemical toxin called PBB the food chain has been compromised. The health system for the mentally retarded at that time was also highly controversial. The governor managed to get all these problems under control. In addition, he sat on the environment, art and the elderly in his State. Noteworthy is the law adopted in 1970 Environmental Protection Law, which had nationwide examples. He was also a member of several associations governor. At the end of his tenure, the appointment of Dorothy Comstock Riley to the judge at the Michigan Supreme Court was controversial because this happened a few weeks before the end of his term and his successor elected James Blanchard took the view Milliken should have left him this appointment. Then voted the other members of the Court for the cancellation of the appointment. Two years later, Dorothy Riley was then still called to this Court.

Further CV

In 1982, Milliken opted not to run again. Instead, he later became a member of the Board of Chrysler. He was also a member of a private organization for the protection of the Great Lakes ( Center for the Great Lakes ). During the presidential elections of 2004 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 then swung back to the party line and supported the election campaign of John McCain. Together with his wife Helen Milliken, the former governor two children.