![Miller Center of Public Affairs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Miller_Center_of_Public_Affairs.jpg)
The Miller Center is a nonpartisan affiliate of the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
that specializes in
United States presidential scholarship, public policy, and political history.
History
The Miller Center was founded in 1975 through the philanthropy of Burkett Miller, a 1914 graduate of the
University of Virginia School of Law and prominent
Tennessean
Tennessean refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the state of Tennessee, including:
* ''The Tennessean'' newspaper
* Tennessean (train)
See also
* List of people from Tennessee
* Tennessine
Tennessine is a synthetic chemic ...
, in honor of his father,
White Burkett Miller
White Burkett Miller (September 30, 1866 – October 4, 1929) was an American lawyer from Tennessee. He served as special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States twice. He is the namesake of the Miller Center of Public Affairs at ...
.
Troubled by the partisan rancor he saw developing throughout the nation, Miller envisioned a place where leaders, scholars, and the public could come together for discussion grounded in history in order to find solutions. Through Miller's lead gift, as well as through past and present gifts by the center's supporters, the Miller Center's combined endowment now stands at more than $70 million. The center, under the oversight of its Governing Council, is an integral part of the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
, with maximum autonomy within the university system. Its programs are supported fully by funds it solicits (through the Miller Center Foundation) and its endowment.
Programs
The Presidential Oral History Program interviews the principal figures in presidential administrations to create a historical record in the words of those who knew each administration best. The oral histories of
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
,
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
,
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
,
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
,
Edward Kennedy
Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic ...
, and
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
have been released.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
are in progress.
The Presidential Recordings Program researches, transcribes, and annotates the thousands of hours of secret
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
tapes recorded by U.S. presidents, from
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
to
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
, plus
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
.
The National Fellowship Program funds and supports PhD candidates who are studying the historical roots of today's policy issues. The program pairs fellows with leading scholars in their field, and teaches them how to make their scholarship more accessible to the public.
Academic Programs conduct scholarly study of modern political and presidential history, and convene conferences and symposia on the historical roots of contemporary policy issues.
Policy Programs bring together scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders to develop insights – grounded in scholarship and based on the lessons of history – to illuminate and offer solutions to the nation's policy challenges.
American President: An Online Reference Resource provides in-depth information on every presidential administration, including essays on all aspects of that administration that have been written or reviewed by presidential scholars.
Leadership
William J. Antholis is director and CEO of the Miller Center.
Previous directors include Gerald Baliles—the 65th governor of Virginia—for eight years (2006–14). Dr. Phillip Zelikow was director from 1999-2005 and is currently White Burkett Miller Professor History at the University of Virginia and previously the executive director of the 9/11 Commission, in addition to numerous posts in many levels of government service. Dr. Kenneth W. Thompson, who had previously served as the vice president for International Programs at the Rockefeller Foundation, led the Miller Center from 1978 to 1998. He created and expanded the center's Forum program (which he ran until 2004), its Presidential Oral History Program (with James Young), and the Miller Center Bipartisan National Commissions. The center's longest serving director, Professor Thompson was also the J. Wilson Professor of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia and the author of many books on international affairs published by LSU Press and the Miller Center.
University of Virginia office
The core of the Miller Center's facilities is the historic
Faulkner House, built in 1856 and named for novelist
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
, the university's writer-in-residence in 1957. Faulkner House was the home of United States senator
Thomas S. Martin, who represented Virginia in the U.S. Senate from 1895 to 1919 and served as majority leader. In 1989, the center added the Newman Pavilion, which houses the Forum Room, and in 2003, it built the Thompson Pavilion and Scripps Library. The additions are prominent examples of new traditional architecture.
References
External links
*
{{University of Virginia
University of Virginia
Nonpartisan organizations in the United States
1975 establishments in Virginia
Political and economic think tanks in the United States
Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States
Non-profit organizations based in Virginia