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WALTER D. MILLER was born in Viewfield, South Dakota and attended the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He was a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1967 to 1986, serving as Assistant Majority Leader, Majority Leader, Speaker pro-tempore, Speaker, and Majority Whip. He was president of the Dakota National Life Insurance Company from 1970 to 1985. He was state chair of the Reagan-Bush campaign in 1984 and state co-chair of the Bush-Quayle campaign in 1988. In 1987 he became South Dakota’s first full-time Lieutenant Governor, and in that position succeeded to the governorship upon the death of George S. Mickelson. Issues of focus during Miller’s tenure as governor included state air service, education, state employee health insurance, the Rural Development Telecommunications Network, and the flood that occurred in eastern South Dakota in 1993.

Sources:

Governors' Portraits of South Dakota

South Dakota State Historical Society

Governors of the American States, Commonwealths and Territories, National Governors Association, 1994.