William E. Miller

Quick Facts

Intro

American politician

Places

United States of America

was

Politician Lawyer

Work field

Law Politics

Gender

Male

Birth

22 March 1914 People who share this birthday

Place of birth

Lockport

Star sign

Aries People who share this birthday

Death

24 June 1983 People who died on this day

Place of death

Buffalo

Age

69 years

The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

William Edward Miller (March 22, 1914 – June 24, 1983) was a New York politician. He was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 1964 election. He was the only Catholic vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party until Paul Ryan in 2012.

Life and career

Miller was born in Lockport, New York, the son of Elizabeth (Hinch), who owned a small millinery shop, and Edward J. Miller, a factory floor sweeper. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants, and his mother was of Irish descent. Miller attended the University of Notre Dame and Albany Law School. He served in the United States Army during World War II and later helped prosecute German war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. Miller was appointed district attorney of Niagara County, New York in 1948, by Governor Thomas E. Dewey. Miller served in the United States House of Representatives from 1951 to 1965 and was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1961 to 1964.

Goldwater stated that he chose Miller to be his running mate simply because "he drives Johnson nuts" with his Republican activism. But by some other accounts, Johnson "was barely aware of Miller's existence." Miller's Eastern roots and Catholic faith balanced the ticket in some ways, but ideologically he was conservative like Goldwater. His relative obscurity—"he was better known for snipes at President Kennedy than for anything else"—gave birth to the refrain "Here's a riddle, it's a killer / Who the hell is William Miller?"

Following the defeat of the Goldwater-Miller ticket, Miller returned to his hometown of Lockport, where he resumed his law practice. He also appeared in one of the first "Do you know me?" commercials for American Express. Mark Z. Barabak suggests that by the time he died, Miller was "better known for his advertising appearance than his years in Congress." He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He and his wife, Stephanie (Wagner), had three daughters and one son. His youngest daughter, Stephanie Miller, was a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, CNBC and late night TV host in the 1990s and is now a nationally syndicated liberal radio talk show host based on the West Coast. His son, William E. Miller, Jr. ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the House of Representatives in 1992 and 1994 to represent New York's 29th district.

Electoral history

New York's 42nd district, 1950

William E. Miller (R) – 75,377 (58.57%)
Mary Louise Nice (D) – 53,310 (41.43%)

New York's 40th district, 1952

William E. Miller (R) – 102,565 (59.64%)
E. Dent Lackey (D) – 69,087 (40.17%)
John Touralchuk (American Labor) – 329 (0.19%)

New York's 40th district, 1954

William E. Miller (R) (inc.) – 77,016 (60.92%)
Mariano A. Lucca (D) – 46,956 (37.14%)
Louis Longo (Liberal) – 2,233 (1.77%)
Nick Curtis (American Labor) – 222 (0.18%)

New York's 40th district, 1956

William E. Miller (R) (inc.) – 117,051 (64.34%)
A. Thorne Hills (D) – 64,872 (35.66%)

New York's 40th district, 1958

William E. Miller (R) (inc.) – 90,066 (60.80%)
Mariano A. Lucca (D) – 54,728 (36.94%)
Hel J. Di Pota (Liberal) – 3,354 (2.26%)

New York's 40th district, 1960

William E. Miller (R) (inc.) – 104,752 (53.62%)
Mariano A. Lucca (D) – 85,005 (43.51%)
Albert J. Taylor (Liberal) – 5,621 (2.88%)

New York's 40th district, 1962

William E. Miller (R) (inc.) – 72,706 (52.04%)
E. Dent Lackey (D) – 67,004 (47.96%)

United States presidential election, 1964

Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey (D) – 43,127,041 (61.1%) and 486 electoral votes (44 states and D.C. carried)
Barry Goldwater/William E. Miller (R) – 27,175,754 (38.5%) and 52 electoral votes (6 states carried)