William Milliken
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William Grawn Milliken (born March 26, 1922), American politician, served as the Republican governor of Michigan from January 1969 to December 1982. A veteran of World War II, Milliken bercame a state senator in the early 1960s. He served as lieutenant governor from 1965 to 1969. Milliken became governor after governor George W. Romney left to serve in President Richard Nixon's cabinet. Milliken was elected to full four-year terms in 1970, 1974, and 1978. Milliken was considered to be a moderate governor in the Nelson A. Rockefeller mold.
In December 1982, Milliken appointed Dorothy Comstock Riley to the Michigan Supreme Court to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Blair Moody. Riley had ran 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 1984.
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.
| Preceded by: George W. Romney | Governors of Michigan | Succeeded by: James Blanchard |