William E. Miller

Bill Miller
43rd Chair of the Republican National Committee
In office June 2, 1961 – June 15, 1964
Preceded by	Thruston Morton
Succeeded by	Dean Burch
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 40th district
In office January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1965
Preceded by	Kenneth Keating
Succeeded by	Henry P. Smith III
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 42nd district
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953
Preceded by	William L. Pfeiffer
Succeeded by	John R. Pillion
Personal details
Born	William Edward Miller (1914-03-22)March 22, 1914 Lockport, New York, U.S.
Died	June 24, 1983(1983-06-24) (aged 69) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Stephanie Wagner (m. 1943)
Children	4, including Stephanie
Education	University of Notre Dame (BA) Union University, New York (LLB)

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.^[1] 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.^[2][3] His paternal grandparents were German immigrants, and his mother was of Irish descent.^[4] Miller attended the University of Notre Dame and Albany Law School of Union University, New York. He served in the United States Army during World War II and later helped prosecute German war criminals at the Nuremberg trials. He served as an assistant district attorney of Niagara County, New York from 1946 to 1948. Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed Miller district attorney of in January 1948, and Miller won election to a full term in November. In 1950, Miller ran successfully for the United States House of Representatives; he served from 1951 to 1965 and was chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1961 to 1964.

Miller's seventh House term coincided with the 1964 presidential election. The Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, chose Miller to be his running mate. In Goldwater's telling, this was 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?"^[5]

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.^[6] Mark Z. Barabak suggests that by the time he died, Miller was "better known for his advertising appearance than his years in Congress."^[7] He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

He and his wife, Stephanie (Wagner), had three daughters and one son.^[8] 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.^[9]

Electoral history

New York's 42nd district, 1950^[10]

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

New York's 40th district, 1952^[11]

• 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^[12]

• 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^[13]

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

New York's 40th district, 1958^[14]

• 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^[15]

• 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^[16]

• 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)

See also

• List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee

References

• Fitzgerald, Libby Miller (2004). Bill Miller: Do You Know Me? A Daughter Remembers. Warwick House. ISBN 1-890306-73-8.

External links

• Official Congressional Biography
• Photos of Miller's gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery
• William E. Miller at Find a Grave