Wilbur Mills
Wilbur Daigh Mills (
May 24,
1909-
May 2,
1992), was a powerful
Democratic member of the
United States House of Representatives from the state of
Arkansas. He was the son of Ardra Pickens Mills and Daigh Mills.
Wilbur Daigh Mills was born on
24 May,
1909 in
Kensett, (White County, Kensett was the first public school in Arkansas to integrate, under Mr. Mills' father as first superintendent and then as chair of the school board and always the banker for the school district.) Mills attended public schools in Kensett, graduated from Searcy High School as validictorian and later graduated from
Hendrix College in
Conway, Arkansasas salutarian and high honors. He studied constitutional law at
Harvard University, under Felix Frankfurter, before he was nominated and confirmed as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court and was admitted to the bar in 1933.
Mills served in the House of Representatives from 1939 to 1977 and served as the chair of the powerful
House Ways and Means Committee, a post he held longer than any other in
American history. Mills was often termed "the most powerful man in Washington" during his tenure.
Mills served as County Judge of White County,
Arkansas during the depression years and began a county-funded program to pay medical bill, prescription drugs, and hospital treatment for the poor.
His accomplishments in
Congress included playing a large role in the creation of the
Medicare program. Mills initially had reservations about the program because he was worried about the eventual cost of the program, but eventually shepherded it through
Congress and had a large hand in shaping its program. Mills was also acknowledged as the primary tax expert in the Congress and a voice for the Tax Reform Act of 1969. Mills favored a conservative fiscal policy and a balanced budget but also supported various liberal programs. He was clearly a fiscal conservative and a liberal on social policy.
Mills ran for
President of the United States in the
1972 Democratic primaries. In order to position himself to appeal to senior citizens during the 1972 presidential campaign Mills championed the automatic Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) to
Social Security. His campaign fared poorly in the primaries but he won 33 votes for president at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.
Unfortunately, Mills is perhaps best known for a scandal involving a drunken incident on
October 7,
1974, with an
Argentine stripper known as
Fanne Foxe. Mills' car, driven by a former Nixon staffer, was stopped by US Park police late at night because the driver had not turned on the lights. Mills was intoxicated, and his face was cut from a scuffle with Foxe. When police approached the car, Foxe leapt from the car and jumped into the nearby Tidal Basin. Mills acknowledged his alcoholism, sought treatment at the West Palm Beach Institute, joined
Alcoholics Anonymous, and resigned as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Mills is one of numerous public officials known to have drinking problems during the time. [
1] Despite the scandal, he was re-elected to Congress in 1974 by 60%. He did not seek re-election in 1976.
Wilbur Mills died on
May 2,
1992, in
Searcy, Arkansas. Mills is buried at Kensett Cemetery in Kensett,
Arkansas.
Various schools, highways, and other structures in
Arkansas are named after Mills.
*
Mills University Studies High School - (Little Rock, Arkansas)
*
Time Magazine Cover
