September 1

He was called "Zig–Zag" for a reason.

As a politician, Zell Miller has always been flexible. So it shouldn't have been a surprise to see the lifelong Democrat address the Republican National Convention on this date in 2004.

The man who served Georgians as mayor, state senator, lieutenant governor, governor and U.S. senator was born in Young Harris in 1932. He always credited his success to the independence he learned from his widowed mother, Birdie, and the discipline taught by the U.S. Marine Corps.

Miller was teaching at Young Harris College when he entered politics, and he never looked back. He served 16 years as lieutenant governor before his election as governor in 1990. The HOPE Scholarship was his greatest achievement.

Miller endorsed Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic Convention and seemed a solid Democrat when he was appointed to the Senate following Republican Paul Coverdell's death. But Senator Miller staunchly supported President George W. Bush's policies and the lifelong Democrat asserted the independence he had learned from his mother when he endorsed the Republican president's re-election on September 1, 2004, Today in Georgia History.