b'Left: The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway is one of the worlds most valuable trade routes, a project spear-headed by Roy Miller. Right: The Port of Corpus Christi is the #1 port by revenue in the U.S. and the economic engine of the Coastal Bend. Roy Miller is credited for bringing it to reality.ter at the art of the deal, leveraging alliances with power brokers of the daySeeing the need for a protected shipping route along the U.S. Gulf Coast, Miller like Congressman Richard M. Kleberg, whose campaign he managed, and Johnorganized and led the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association that lobbied for a Nance Garner, the Uvalde legend who served in congress and ran as vice pres- secure waterway that ran from the mouth of the Mississippi River near New ident with Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932a successful campaign that wasOrleans to Corpus Christi. Today, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway extends over managed by none other than Corpus Christis Roy Miller. He was even in- 1,000 miles from the Florida Panhandle all the way to Brownsville and serves strumental in finding and hiring a high school teacher named Lyndon Bainesas one of the most important trades routes in the world.Johnson in 1931, as Klebergs legislative secretary in the U.S. House of Repre- As part of a team of united South Texans that included Vice President John sentatives, marking LBJs entry into politics. Nance Garner and Representative Richard M. Kleberg, Roy Miller lobbied for a That would be to say that Roy Miller, over a period of just two years, playedpilot training base on the northern end of Flour Bluff, which opened as Naval vital roles in the careers of the two most consequential U.S. presidents of theAir Station Corpus Christi in the summer of 1941. More World War II aviators 20th Century. Separate and apart from elected politics, Millers positive im- were trained at NASCC than anywhere in the world, playing an immeasurable pact on the country would extend far beyond the Coastal Bend. Following a de- role in the Allied victory over Japan in the War in the Pacific.cade of lobbying in Congress and in the Texas State Capitol, the Port of CorpusRoy Miller is known as the namesake of Corpus Christis oldest high school, Christi officially opened for business in September 1926, creating an economicwhich was named in his honor, in 1950. Millers impact however, extends far engine that today is the number one port in the U.S. in revenue tonnage. beyond South Texasacross the United States and around the world.70THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'