William Milliken

William Grawn Milliken (March 26, 1922 – October 18, 2019) was an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Michigan as a member of the Republican Party. He is the longest serving governor in Michigan history to date, serving from 1969 to 1983.

Early life
Milliken was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the second child in a family familiar with the intricacies of public service. His father, James T. Milliken, served as mayor of Traverse City and as Michigan State Senator for the 27th District, 1941–50, and his mother Hildegarde (née Grawn) had been elected to the Traverse City school board; she was the first woman elected to public office there. Milliken's paternal grandfather James W. Milliken also served as a Michigan state senator from the 27th District, 1898–1900.

Upon graduating from high school, Milliken entered Yale University, where he met his future wife, Helen Wallbank. In 1942, he interrupted his studies to enlist in the Army Reserve Corps and, in early 1943, volunteered for the Army Air Corps. During World War II he flew 50 combat missions as a waist-gunner on B-24 bombers and survived two crash landings. He received seven military honors, including the Purple Heart and Air Medal.

On October 20, 1945, one month after he was discharged honorably, he and Helen were married. The couple had two children: a daughter, Elaine, a lawyer and feminist, who died of cancer in 1993, and a son, William, Jr. The following spring, Milliken graduated from Yale. William and Helen Milliken moved to Traverse City, Michigan that year and he became president of J.W. Milliken, Inc., a department store founded by his grandfather, and later run by his father. Helen Milliken died the age of 89 on November 16, 2012 at their Traverse City home, following a battle with ovarian cancer.

Political career
In 1947, Governor Kim Sigler appointed Milliken to the Michigan Waterways Commission. In 1960, Milliken was elected as a state senator from the 27th District, serving from 1961 to 1964. He was the 52nd Lieutenant Governor of Michigan from 1965 to 1969, and became governor after George W. Romney resigned from office to serve in President Richard Nixon's cabinet. He was subsequently elected to full four-year terms in 1970, 1974, and 1978. He was considered to be a moderate Republican governor in the Nelson A. Rockefeller mold. In June 1982, the governor led the formation of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

Milliken was governor for 14 years and is the longest-serving governor in state history. With governors limited to two elected terms in office since 1992, it is unlikely that any will serve longer than Milliken. John Engler had served for 12 years as governor from 1991 to 2003, making him the second Republican to serve three four-year terms alongside Milliken.

In December 1982, Milliken appointed Dorothy Comstock Riley to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Blair Moody, Jr.. Riley had run for election to the Supreme Court in the 1982 general election and had been defeated. Milliken was leaving office in less than a month and newly elected Democratic Governor James Blanchard argued he should have made the appointment to replace Moody rather than Milliken. In 1983, the other Supreme Court Justices voted 4-2 to remove Riley from the court. Riley was elected to the court in 1985.

Later life
In 2004, Milliken broke with party ranks to endorse John Kerry in his bid to unseat George W. Bush as President of the United States: "The truth is that President George W. Bush does not speak for me or for many other moderate Republicans on a very broad cross section of issues."

He spoke at the funeral of former Mayor of Detroit Coleman Young in 1997. In 2008, he endorsed John McCain for president, but backed away in October after McCain's campaign began attacking Democratic candidate Barack Obama. He told the Grand Rapids Press "He is not the John McCain I endorsed." Milliken voiced concern at the direction of the Republican Party: "Increasingly, the party is moving toward rigidity, and I don't like that. I think Gerald Ford would hold generally the same view I'm holding on the direction of the Republican Party." In 2010, he endorsed businessman Rick Snyder in the Republican gubernatorial primary. He backed Snyder in the general election, but also supported Democrat Gary Peters in the 2014 Senate race instead of the Republican candidate, Terri Lynn Land.

In 2015, he signed an amicus brief in support of same-sex marriage. In August 2016, Milliken announced that he would vote for Hillary Clinton for president in the 2016 presidential election, saying that Donald Trump does not embody Republican ideals. On October 18, 2019, William Milliken died after years of declining health at his home in Traverse City.

Honors

 * In 1976, Governor Milliken was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by Yale University, his alma mater.
 * In 2006 Dave Dempsey published a biography on Milliken titled, William G. Milliken: Michigan's Passionate Moderate. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press (ISBN 0472033638/ISBN 978-0472033638)
 * In fall 2009, the state of Michigan named a new state park (William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor), located on the riverfront in Detroit, in honor of the former governor.
 * Rooms 290, 291, and 292 of Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island are collectively known as the Milliken Suite. They are located at the east end of the second floor overlooking the golf course.