As governor, William Milliken saw Detroit as critical to Michigan's success

Editor's note: This story has been updated to note that GM plans to use Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly to build a future electric pickup truck there. 

LANSING — Soon after he took office in 1969, Gov. William Milliken refused to move into the official governor's residence in southwest Lansing, which had been recently donated to the state by a wealthy businessman.

The reason? Milliken, who died Friday at age 97, learned of a deed restriction intended to preserve what was then an all-white neighborhood.

Milliken, a Republican who was Michigan's longest-serving governor, put Democratic Attorney General Frank Kelley on the case. Kelley declared the restriction null and void so Milliken could move in, according to a March 1969 article in the Free Press.

Milliken's work to protect Michigan's natural environment is usually cited first when his legacy is discussed. But Milliken, who took office less than two years after the Detroit riot and served until the end of 1982, also played an important role in trying to improve Michigan's race relations.

One of his central beliefs was that the success of Michigan as a state was dependent on the success of Detroit.

Milliken was born to a wealthy family in Traverse City, more than 250 miles from the Motor City.

The white Republican appeared to have little in common with Coleman A. Young, a Democrat who in 1974 took office as the black mayor of Michigan's largest city.

More:Former Michigan Governor William Milliken dies at 97

More:Michigan officials, leaders react to death of former Gov. William Milliken

Yet Milliken and Young developed a bond of mutual respect that continued as a friendship after both left their respective offices. Analysts say their connection had benefits for both politicians — more Detroit votes for Milliken and more state funds and Lansing influence for Young. 

"When I turned 18, the first person I voted for was Bill Milliken," said Detroit political consultant Adolph Mongo, who is black and worked in Young's administration.

Still, both Milliken and Young took heat for working closely with a politician from the other party.

Mongo and other analysts say Young, who was mayor through 1993 and died in 1997, worked with Milliken on a range of issues that were critical to Detroit at the time, including:

• The "Detroit equity package," under which the state, beginning in the late 1970s, paid close to $30 million annually to compensate the city for some of the costs related to facilities that were used by the entire region or state, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Detroit Zoo, and the Detroit Public Library. Such payments were later extended to other large Michigan cities under Milliken's successor, Democratic Gov. James Blanchard.
• A state law that allowed Detroit to use condemnation to quickly assemble property for GM's Poletown plant on the Detroit-Hamtramck border, which opened in 1985. It was a highly controversy decision because it resulted in the leveling of a largely Polish neighborhood to make way for the plant. But Detroit political consultant Mario Morrow and many other analysts say the plant was critical to Detroit's success at the time and many thousands benefited from the dependable middle-class wages the plant provided. GM early in 2018 said it would close Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly but now says the plant will build a future electric pickup truck. 

Nothing Milliken or Young did was able to stop Detroit's slide into the largest municipal bankruptcy in the state's history in 2013, but it was not for a lack of trying. Milliken was unable to get final legislative approval for other proposals intended to boost Detroit, including millions more in state payments and a light rail project.

"I've never had a more productive relationship with a public servant," Young said of Milliken.

And in an interview with biographer Dave Dempsey, Milliken described his relationship with Young as "one of the most meaningful and important friendships and alliances I had in my entire 14 years as governor."

Why were they so close?

Blanchard, who succeeded Milliken in office, said Milliken and Young had more in common than first appearances might suggest.

Both were former state senators, where they served together, and both were former military airmen, with Milliken flying 50 combat missions and receiving a Purple Heart in World War II and Young serving in the same war as a lieutenant, bombardier and navigator with the Tuskegee Airmen.

"They were very good friends," said Blanchard, who said the Detroit equity package Milliken championed brought strong criticism — especially from Republicans — about alleged special treatment for Detroit.

Detroit historian Ken Coleman said Milliken opened a Detroit office shortly after becoming governor. Milliken benefited from his close relationship with Young by receiving historically large vote counts for a Republican in the city of Detroit and Young was able to leverage his relationship with Milliken to have increased influence with the state Legislature, Coleman said.

It was also Milliken who in the 1970s gave the Michigan State Police a permanent presence on Detroit freeways, which had previously been patrolled by the Detroit police, said Coleman, who also researched the incident involving Milliken and the deed restriction on the Lansing governor's residence.

When Milliken was sworn in for his final term on Jan. 1, 1979, he asked Detroit Common Pleas Judge Jessie Slaton, a black woman he appointed to the bench, to administer the oath of office, rather than the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, as was traditional. That was an important first, Coleman said.

Morrow said that Milliken developed strong ties with other important political figures in Detroit, even before Young was elected mayor, including Nicholas Hood, who was already on the Detroit City Council, Erma Henderson, who was elected to the City Council in 1972, and Richard Austin, who was Democratic secretary of state from 1971 to 1995.

"The governor was way ahead of his time ... working with Democrats and blacks," Morrow said. "He went beyond the call of duty," in the face of opposition from his own party.

Morrow, CEO of Mario Morrow and Associates, also credits Milliken's wife Helen, who was politically active and died in 2012. "She had a great deal of influence over his politics," Morrow said. "She cared a great deal about children, regardless of their race or religion."

Former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who led Detroit into a controlled bankruptcy, sometimes identified Milliken as one of his models as governor. Snyder, too, repeatedly said that Detroit's success and Michigan's success are inseparable. And Snyder has received considerable credit for Detroit's resurgence following the bankruptcy.

But Morrow, who worked for Snyder, said Snyder was not a natural politician in the way Milliken was and never had the comfort level Milliken did in relating to people from diverse backgrounds. While Detroit residents were receptive when a state park on the Detroit riverfront was renamed for Milliken in 2009, "I don't think you're going to have a Snyder park in Detroit," he said

Blanchard said Milliken never left the Republican Party, but over time the party left him.

"They don't make them like Milliken anymore," said Mongo. "He went against his party." Today, "he couldn't survive in D.C., as a Republican. They would probably throw him on the railroad tracks and run him over."

A memorial service for Milliken will be held in May, likely in Traverse City, family spokesman Jack Lessenberry said. He will be cremated and his ashes will be buried on Mackinac Island, where his late wife and daughter are buried, he said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.