CHAPTER IV 



The Early Miller Years 



As one of the few Members of Congress with a civil engineering 

 background. Representative George P. Miller (Democrat of California) 

 used to like to needle his lawyer colleagues in the House of Repre- 

 sentatives this way: 



You guys think in circles. I am one of the few guys around here who has been 

 trained to think in straight lines. 



Upon the death of Overton Brooks, George Miller officially was 

 named chairman of the House Committee on Science and Astronautics 

 on September 21, 1961. In the dozen years he served until January 3, 

 1973, Miller strengthened the committee's internal structure, broadened 

 its activity in the scientific area, created the influential Subcommittee 

 on Science, Research and Development first chaired by Representative 

 Daddario, presided over the highly successful Gemini and Apollo 

 programs under the jurisdiction of Representative Teague's Manned 

 Space Flight Subcommittee, and also helped stimulate the growth of 

 the National Science Foundation, international cooperation, weather 

 and communications satellites, and the many unmanned space ventures 

 handled by Representative Karth's subcommittee. 



Born in San Francisco in 1891, Miller represented the East Bay 

 area from the southern edge of Oakland south and eastward through 

 Alameda, and towns like San Leandro and Castro Valley. Like Overton 

 Brooks, he had served in World War I, graduating from the School 

 of Fire for Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Okla., and was a lieutenant in 

 the field artillery from 1917 to 1919. He was a practicing civil en- 

 gineer both before and after the war, having studied engineering at 

 St. Mary's College near San Francisco. 



After running a travel agency that failed during the Great Depres- 

 sion, for a brief period he helped sweep the streets of Alameda, Calif., 

 to qualify for relief allotments. This proved to be a good entrance into 

 politics, and Miller served two terms in the California State Assembly 

 from 1937 to 1941, and in 1941 became executive secretary of the Cali- 

 fornia Division of Fish and Game. At the age of 53 he was elected to 

 the House of Representatives in 1944, the same year Franklin D. 

 Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term as President. 



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