William Miller
Miller,c. 1964
44th Chair of theRepublican National Committee
In office June 2, 1961 – June 15, 1964
Preceded by	Thruston Morton
Succeeded by	Dean Burch
11th Chair of theNational Republican Congressional Committee
In office January 7, 1960 – January 3, 1961
Leader	Charles A. Halleck
Preceded by	Richard M. Simpson
Succeeded by	Bob Wilson
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York
In office January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1965
Preceded by	William L. Pfeiffer
Succeeded by	Henry P. Smith III
Constituency	42nd district (1951–1953) 40th district (1953–1965)
District Attorney ofNiagara County
In office 1948–1951
Preceded by	John Marsh
Succeeded by	Jack Gellman
Personal details
Born	William Edward Miller (1914-03-22)March 22, 1914 Lockport, New York, U.S.
Died	June 24, 1983(1983-06-24) (aged 69) Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Stephanie Wagner ​ (m. 1943)​
Children	4, includingStephanie
Education	University of Notre Dame (BA) Albany Law School (LLB)
Military service
Branch	United States Army
Service years	1942–1946
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	Army Judge Advocate General's Corps
Conflict	World War II

William Edward Miller (March 22, 1914 – June 24, 1983) was an American politician who served in theUnited States House of Representatives fromNew York as aRepublican. During the1964 presidential election, he was the Republican nominee for vice president, the firstCatholic nominated for the office by the Republican Party.

A native ofLockport, New York, Miller graduated from theUniversity of Notre Dame in 1935, and fromAlbany Law School in 1938, afterwards becoming an attorney in Lockport. In 1942, he was appointed a commissioner for theU.S. District Court inBuffalo, New York. Miller served in theUnited States Army duringWorld War II – first as a member of an intelligence unit inRichmond, Virginia, and then as a prosecutor ofNazi war criminals during theNuremberg trials.

Miller was an assistant district attorney inNiagara County, New York, from 1946 to 1948. In January 1948, the district attorney's position became vacant, and the governor of New York appointed Miller. Miller was elected to a full term later that year, and served as district attorney until January 1951, when he resigned.^[1]

In 1950, Miller was a successful Republican candidate for theUnited States House of Representatives. He was re-elected six times, and served from January 1951 until January 1965. In 1960, he was selected to lead theNational Republican Congressional Committee, and led Republicans to gain more than 20 seats in that year's elections. In 1961, he became chairman of theRepublican National Committee, a position he used to advocate for the party to become more conservative. In 1964, Miller was selected as the Republican nominee for vice president. The ticket of SenatorBarry Goldwater and Miller for vice president lost to the Democratic nominees, PresidentLyndon Johnson and SenatorHubert Humphrey.

After leaving Congress, Miller resumed practicing law in Lockport. He died in Buffalo on June 24, 1983, and was buried atArlington National Cemetery.

William Edward Miller was born inLockport, New York on March 22, 1914, a son of Elizabeth Hinch and Edward J. Miller.^[2][3] He attended the parochial schools of Lockport, and graduated fromLockport High School in 1931.^[4] Miller attended theUniversity of Notre Dame, where he graduated with aB.A. in 1935, andAlbany Law School, from which he graduated with anLL.B. in 1938.^[5] He was admitted to the bar in 1938, and practiced in Lockport.^[6] In 1942, Miller was appointed a commissioner for theU.S. District Court inBuffalo.^[5]

Miller enlisted in theUnited States Army on July 1, 1942, and received training in theMilitary Intelligence branch.^[7] After serving with an Intelligence unit inRichmond, Virginia, in May 1945, Miller received his commission as afirst lieutenant and was assigned to the War Criminals Branch of theWar Department staff.^[5] In August 1945, he was assigned as assistant prosecutor ofNazi war criminals during theNuremberg trials.^[5] Miller was discharged in March 1946, and returned to Lockport.^[5]

Miller served as an assistant district attorney ofNiagara County, New York from 1946 to 1948.^[6]GovernorThomas E. Dewey appointed Miller to fill a vacancy asdistrict attorney in January 1948, and Miller won election to a full term in November.^[6] He served until resigning in January 1951 as he prepared to assume his seat in Congress.^[8]

In August 1950, Miller won the Republican nomination in New York's 42nd Congressional district after defeating Melvin L. Payne and James W. Heary in a primary.^[9] He won the general election in November by defeating the Democratic nominee, Mary Louise Nice.^[10]

After redistricting placed Miller in New York's 40th Congressional District, he was easily reelected every two years from 1952 to 1962.^[11] He rose through seniority to become the second-ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, and received credit for two major pieces of legislation.^[12] The first was a compromise on the development of Niagara Falls hydroelectric power, and the second was a law authorizing construction of a newLake Erie‐Lake Ontario canal east of theNiagara River.^[7][13] Miller voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1957,^[14]1960,^[15] and1964,^[16] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.^[17]

Miller became influential with respect to the internal workings of the House.^[7] In 1959, he took part in the Republican caucus' action to replace Minority Leader (and former Speaker)Joseph W. Martin Jr. withCharles Halleck.^[7] Republicans had lost House seats in the 1958 election, and decided to replace the moderate Martin with the more conservative Halleck.^[7] In 1960, Miller won election as head of theNational Republican Congressional Committee.^[6] In theNovember election, the party gained 22 House seats, an achievement that was notable because it occurred as Republicans were losing the presidential election.^[6]

Miller's success with the 1960 House elections led to his selection as head of theRepublican National Committee.^[7] He served from 1961 to 1964, and advocated for the party to become more conservative, including tacitly supporting Goldwater for the1964 presidential nomination.^[7]

As chairman, Miller oversaw the party's efforts during the1962 Congressional elections.^[18] Though Republicans lost five seats in the Senate, they gained four in the House.^[18] In addition, Democratic candidates in several races throughout the South experienced tougher than expected races, indicating that the domination the Democrats had enjoyed regionally since the Civil War was in peril.^[18] These included the moderate-to-liberal SenatorJ. Lister Hill of Alabama, who defeated business Republican businessmanJames D. Martin by just 50.9 percent to 49.1.^[19] Martin's strong showing demonstrated his viability as a candidate, and in 1964 he was elected to the U.S. House.^[20]

In the early 1960s, leading Republicans including Miller and SenatorBarry Goldwater began advocating for a plan they called theSouthern Strategy, an effort to make Republican gains in theSolid South, which had been pro-Democratic since theAmerican Civil War.^[21][22] Under the Southern Strategy, Republicans would continue an earlier effort to make inroads in the South, Operation Dixie, by ending attempts to appeal toAfrican American voters in the Northern states, and instead appeal to white conservative voters in the South.^[23] As documented by reporters and columnists includingJoseph Alsop andArthur Krock, on the surface the Southern Strategy would appeal to white voters in the South by advocating against theNew Frontier programs of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy and in favor of a smaller federal government andstates' rights, while less publicly arguing against theCivil Rights movement and in favor of continuedracial segregation.^{[22][24][25][26]}

Miller concurred with Goldwater, and backed theSouthern Strategy, including holding private meetings of the RNC and other key Republican leaders in late 1962 and early 1963 so they could decide whether to implement it.^[27] Overruling the moderate and liberal wings of the party, its leadership decided to pursue the Southern Strategy for the 1964 elections and beyond.^[28]

After winning the Republican presidential nomination, Goldwater chose Miller to be his running mate.^[6] In Goldwater's telling, he picked Miller because "he drivesJohnson nuts" with his Republican activism.^[29] But by some other accounts, Johnson "was barely aware of Miller's existence."^[29] Miller's Eastern roots and Catholic faithbalanced the ticket in some ways, but ideologically he was conservative like Goldwater.^[29] His relative obscurity—"he was better known for snipes atPresident Kennedy than for anything else"—gave birth to the refrain"Here's a riddle, it's a killer / Who the hell is William Miller?"^[29]

In thegeneral election, incumbentLyndon Johnson won a landslide victory. The Goldwater/Miller ticket carried only six states − Goldwater's home state of Arizona, plus Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina.^[30] Despite the defeat, the ticket's inroads into the previously Solid South were seen as an indication that the Southern Strategy was viable, and Republicans continued to pursue it in subsequent campaigns.^[28]

Following the defeat of the Goldwater–Miller ticket, Miller returned to his hometown ofLockport, New York, where he resumed his law practice.^[6] He also appeared in one of the first "Do you know me?" commercials forAmerican Express.^[31] Mark Z. Barabak later wrote in theLos Angeles Times that by the time he died, Miller was "better known for his advertising appearance than his years in Congress."^[32]

He participated in an interview in 1979 in which he stated that he did not miss politics as he had "had such a saturation of it in my life".^[33]

On June 5, 1983, he was admitted to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital inWilliamsville, New York, for diagnostic tests.^[34] He suffered a stroke in mid-June and died inBuffalo, New York, on June 24, 1983.^[34] Miller was buried atArlington National Cemetery.^[6][35] In noting Miller's passing, Goldwater stated "he was one of the greatest men I have ever known and I feel his loss very deeply".^[36]

Miller and his wife, Stephanie (née Wagner; 1923–2023) were the parents of three daughters and a son.^[6] Their youngest daughter,Stephanie Miller, was astand-up comedian in the 1980s, andCNBC late night TV host in the 1990s. Since 2004 she has hosted a nationally syndicated politically liberalradio talk show based inLos Angeles.^[6] Their son, William E. Miller Jr., was the unsuccessful 1992 and 1994 Republican nominee inNew York's 29th congressional district.^[37]

• List of members of the House Un-American Activities Committee

• Official Congressional Biography
• Fitzgerald, Libby Miller (2004).Bill Miller: Do You Know Me? A Daughter Remembers. Warwick House.ISBN 1-890306-73-8.

• 1914 births
• 1983 deaths
• 20th-century American lawyers
• Albany Law School alumni
• American prosecutors
• Barry Goldwater
• Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
• New Right (United States)
• New York (state) lawyers
• Politicians from Lockport, New York
• Republican National Committee chairs
• Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
• 1964 United States vice-presidential candidates
• University of Notre Dame alumni
• Catholics from New York (state)
• 20th-century New York (state) politicians
• 20th-century United States representatives
• Members of the House Un-American Activities Committee

• CS1: long volume value
• Webarchive template wayback links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata