George Miller, Jr.

George Miller, Jr., (January 7, 1914– January 1, 1969) was a Democratic California State Senator from 1948 to 1969 and a leader of the liberal wing of the California Democratic Party in the early 1950s when the Republican Party dominated State Government.

Miller was a native Californian, educated at St. Mary's College in Contra Costa County, where he began his political career.

After his election to the legislature, Miller ran unsuccessfully for Lt. Governor in 1950 as running mate to losing gubernatorial candidate James Roosevelt, who, together with US Senate candidate Helen Gahagan Douglas, was deserted by the old-line state Democratic organization of San Francisco boss William M. Malone, with the acquiescence of Truman's Washington. The only Democratic state candidate to win in 1950 was Attorney General Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.

Miller had another disappointment that year when he sought the chairmanship of the California Democratic Party. Roosevelt and Douglas at first encouraged and supported him for the position, but then "double-crossed" Miller, who was opposed by Malone, and instead chose a little-known man from the San Joaquin Valley. Miller chose not to contest the back-room decision. "If that's the way they want it", he said in his gruff voice, "to hell with it."

Two years later, in 1952, Miller was one of the few California Democratic office-holders to become an early supporter of Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver's campaign for the presidency. The regular Party organization had originally supported the re-election of President Harry Truman, but when Truman withdrew from the race, the Party professionals, in desperation, coalesced around Pat Brown as their "favorite son". In the June Primary, Kefauver easily defeated the Brown slate and the winning California delegation to the 1952 Democratic National Convention, largely composed of Kefauver supporters, chose Miller as delegation chairman.

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