[5][6] He arrived at Queen Anne High School in Seattle in 1919 as a history teacher and athletic coach.
He resigned from the high school eleven years later, working for a book publisher and the Department of Labor and Industries.
[8] Millikin was mayor at the time of the Bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States's entry into World War II.
[9][10] On March 8, 1942, Millikin was at the launching of the USS Carmick (DD-493) when he said it would be "heard in Australia and Tokyo" in front of ten thousand shipyard workers and United States Navy men.
[13] Millikin would go on to work for the State Department of Veteran Affairs and as a distillery representative before serving on the civil staff of King County Sheriff Tim McCullough until his permanent retirement in 1960.