Wilbur Mills was for many years one of the most powerful members of the United States Congress, an Arkansas Democrat whose mastery of tax and fiscal policy made him a dominant force in Washington before a spectacular personal scandal ended his career. Born in the small town of Kensett, Arkansas, he studied law at Harvard and entered local politics before winning election to the House of Representatives in 1938.
Mills built his power on expertise. For nearly two decades he chaired the House Ways and Means Committee, which writes the nation's tax laws, and he came to be regarded as the foremost authority in Congress on taxation, trade, and Social Security. Cautious, meticulous, and deeply knowledgeable, he wielded enormous influence over the federal budget and the shape of major legislation.
He played a central role in some of the landmark measures of the 1960s, including the creation of Medicare, the government health program for the elderly, which bore the marks of his careful legislative craftsmanship. His command of detail and his control over the flow of fiscal legislation made him one of the most respected and feared figures on Capitol Hill.
His long career came to a sudden and humiliating end in the mid-1970s, when a series of public episodes revealed problems with alcohol and an affair with a stripper, forcing him to give up his chairmanship and ultimately to leave Congress. Mills acknowledged his alcoholism and later worked to help others with addiction. He died in 1992.