During the next six years, Milliken held positions as general manager of two lumber companies and an axe manufacturer and as president of a local telephone company.
Political career
His political career began in 1905, when he was elected to the Maine House of Representatives. Milliken moved up to the Maine State Senate in 1909, and was president of that body from 1913 to 1915.
As governor
Running for Governor of Maine as a Republican Party candidate in 1916, Milliken easily defeated the Democratic Party incumbent, Oakley C. Curtis.[1] He was reelected in 1918, this time by a smaller margin over Bertrand McIntire. As governor, he strictly enforced state and federal alcohol prohibition laws, which he strongly supported. Milliken lost renomination to Frederic Hale Parkhurst in the 1920 Republican primary.[2]
Motion Picture career
Milliken left office on January 5, 1921. The following year, he became executive secretary and chief spokesman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors Association (later the Motion Picture Association of America), the movie industry's first self-censorship body. Milliken served as executive secretary for more than two decades, retiring in 1947.
In retirement
After stepping down from the MPAA, Milliken served as the managing trustee of Teaching Film Custodians, a trust for educational films, and also served a term as president of the American Baptist Foreign Missionary Society.
Personal life
Milliken married twice. His first wife, the former Emma Chase, died in 1930. He then married her sister, Caroline Chase. With his first wife, Milliken had one son and six daughters. His first wife was the daughter of his alma mater's president George Colby Chase, while his second wife was Chase's other daughter.[3]
