Zell Miller | |
|---|---|
 Portrait, c. 2000–2005 | |
| United States Senator fromGeorgia | |
| In office July 24, 2000 – January 3, 2005 | |
| Appointed by | Roy Barnes |
| Preceded by | Paul Coverdell |
| Succeeded by | Johnny Isakson |
| 79thGovernor of Georgia | |
| In office January 14, 1991 – January 11, 1999 | |
| Lieutenant | Pierre Howard |
| Preceded by | Joe Frank Harris |
| Succeeded by | Roy Barnes |
| 8thLieutenant Governor of Georgia | |
| In office January 14, 1975 – January 14, 1991 | |
| Governor | George Busbee Joe Frank Harris |
| Preceded by | Lester Maddox |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Howard |
| 25thChair of the National Lieutenant Governors Association | |
| In office 1984–1985 | |
| Preceded by | William Scranton III |
| Succeeded by | John Mutz |
| Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 50th district | |
| In office January 14, 1963 – January 11, 1965 | |
| Preceded by | Hamilton McWhorter Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Robert King Ballew |
| Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 40th district | |
| In office January 9, 1961 – January 14, 1963 | |
| Preceded by | Russell Ellis Cannon |
| Succeeded by | Dan I. MacIntyre III |
| Mayor ofYoung Harris | |
| In office 1959–1960 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Zell Bryan Miller (1932-02-24)February 24, 1932 Young Harris, Georgia, U.S. |
| Died | March 23, 2018(2018-03-23) (aged 86) Young Harris, Georgia, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | [1] |
| Children | 2[1] |
| Education | Young Harris College (AA) University of Georgia (BA,MA) |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Marine Corps |
| Years of service | 1953–1956 |
| Rank | Sergeant |
Zell Miller speaks on the consequences of thedirect election of senators Recorded April 28, 2004 | |
Zell Bryan Miller (February 24, 1932 – March 23, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 79thgovernor of Georgia from 1991 to 1999 and as aUnited States senator representing the state from 2000 to 2005. He was a member of theDemocratic Party and before 2021 was the last Democratic senator from Georgia. He is also the last Democrat as of 2025 to be elected twice as Governor of Georgia.
Miller served as lieutenant governor of Georgia from 1975 to 1991. He was aconservative Democrat as a senator in the 2000s. In 2004, he backedRepublican presidentGeorge W. Bush over Democratic nomineeJohn Kerry in thepresidential election. Miller was a keynote speaker at both major American political parties' national conventions–Democraticin 1992 and Republicanin 2004.
He did not seek re-election to the Senate in2004. After retiring from the Senate, he joined the law firmMcKenna Long & Aldridge as a non-lawyer professional in the firm's national government affairs practice.[2] Miller was also aFox News contributor. After he left his office in 2005, no Georgia Democrats were elected to the United States Senate for 16 years untilRaphael Warnock won Miller's former seat in the2020–2021 special runoff election andJon Ossoff won the Class 2 seat in the2020–2021 regular runoff election.[3]
Miller was born in the small mountain town ofYoung Harris, Georgia. His father, Stephen Grady Miller (1891–1932),[4] was a teacher who died of cerebralmeningitis[5] when Miller was a 17-day-old infant,[1] and the future politician was raised by his widowed mother, Birdie Bryan (1893–1980).[6][7] He had a sister, Jane, who was six years older than he.[1][5] As a child, Miller lived both in Young Harris andAtlanta. Miller received anassociate degree fromYoung Harris College in his home town[8] and later attendedEmory University.[1]
Less than a month after the Korean Wararmistice, Miller wound up in adrunk tank in the mountains of North Georgia. Miller stated later that this incident was the lowest point of his life.[9] Upon his release, Miller enlisted in the Marines. During his three years in theUnited States Marine Corps, Miller attained the rank ofsergeant. He often referred to the value of his experience in the Marine Corps in his writing and stump speeches. In his book on the subject, entitledCorps Values: Everything You Need to Know I Learned in the Marines, he wrote:
In the twelve weeks of hell and transformation that wereMarine Corps boot camp, I learned the values of achieving a successful life that have guided and sustained me on the course which, although sometimes checkered and detoured, I have followed ever since.[9]
After serving in the Marines, Miller enrolled in 1956[1] and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history from theUniversity of Georgia.[8] He taught history atYoung Harris College following his graduation from theUniversity of Georgia.[10]
Miller's parents were both involved in local politics in the North Georgia mountains. Miller, a Democrat, taught history and political science at Young Harris College,[1] before becoming mayor of Young Harris from 1959 to 1960. He was elected to two terms as aGeorgia state senator from 1961 until 1964.[11] In 1964 and 1966, Miller unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for theUnited States House of Representatives. He endorsedsegregation in both races. In these congressional races, Miller denounced Lyndon Johnson as ""a Southerner who has sold his birthright for a mess of dark porridge.".[12] Miller later served in state government as the executive secretary to GovernorLester Maddox[1] and in theGeorgia Democratic Party, and was the Georgia state chairman forWalter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign.[13]
Miller's first experience in the executive branch of government was as Chief of Staff for Georgia governorLester Maddox. Although Maddox had run on a segregationist platform, Miller convinced Maddox to do many shocking things in office, such as integrating the Georgia State Patrol, appointing African Americans to government positions, and reforming prisons.[14] Miller was electedLieutenant Governor of Georgia in 1974, serving four terms from 1975 to 1991, through the terms of GovernorsGeorge Busbee andJoe Frank Harris, making him the longest-serving lieutenant governor in Georgia history. In 1980, Miller unsuccessfully challengedHerman Talmadge in the Democratic primary for his seat in theUnited States Senate.[15] Some analysts surmised that Miller so severely weakened Talmadge in the primary, considered one of Georgia's nastiest, that it caused Talmadge to narrowly lose in the fall to Georgia's first Republican elected to the Senate since Reconstruction,Mack Mattingly.[16]
Miller was elected governor of Georgia in1990, defeatingRepublicanJohnny Isakson (who later became his successor as U.S. Senator) after defeating formerAtlanta MayorAndrew Young and future GovernorRoy Barnes in the primary.[15][17] Miller campaigned on the concept of term limits and pledged to seek only a single term as governor. He later ran for and won re-election in1994.[18]James Carville was Miller's campaign manager.[19]
In 1991, Miller endorsed GovernorBill Clinton ofArkansas for president.[20] Miller gave thekeynote speech at the 1992Democratic National Convention atMadison Square Garden in New York City.[20] In two oft-recalled lines, Miller said that PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush "just doesn't get it", and he remarked of a statement by Vice PresidentDan Quayle:
I know what Dan Quayle means when he says it's best for children to have two parents. You bet it is! And it would be nice for them to havetrust funds, too. We can't all be born rich and handsome and lucky. And that's why we have a Democratic Party. My family would still be isolated and destitute if we had not hadF.D.R.'s Democratic brand of government. I made it because Franklin Delano Roosevelt energized this nation. I made it becauseHarry Truman fought for working families like mine. I made it becauseJohn Kennedy's rising tide lifted even our tiny boat. I made it becauseLyndon Johnson showed America that people who were born poor didn't have to die poor. And I made it because a man with whom I served in the Georgia Senate, a man namedJimmy Carter, brought honesty and decency and integrity to public service.[21]
Twelve years later, Miller would give the keynote address at the opposing party's convention, also held at New York's Madison Square Garden,in 2004.
As governor, Miller was perhaps best known for his advocacy of a law passed in Georgia known as "two strikes and you're out", as any person convicted for the second time of any included offense would automatically be sentenced tolife imprisonment without the possibility of parole. The law derives its name from and stands in contrast to thethree strikes law, and is also known as theSeven-deadly-sins law. The law was passed in April 1994, although it had been advocated by Miller for many years previously. It was approved by voters on November 8, 1994, and was signed into law by then Governor Zell Miller on December 15, 1994, and went into effect on January 1, 1995. The law is codified and found under Title 17, Chapter 10, Section 7 (OCGA Section 17-10-7) of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated. The law states that those convicted of second-degree murder, armed robbery, or kidnapping (of a person 14 years of age or older) must serve a minimum term of 10 years in prison, and those convicted of rape, kidnapping of a minor under 14 years old, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated sodomy or aggravated child molestation must serve a minimum term of not less than 25 years in prison. First-degree murder is punishable by death, life without parole, or life in prison with no parole until the offender serves at least 30 years in prison. These crimes are known in Georgia as the "seven deadly sins".
As governor, Miller was a staunch promoter of public education. He helped found theHOPE Scholarship, which paid for the college tuition of Georgia students who both established aGPA of 3.0 in high school and maintained the same while in college, and who were from families earning less than $66,000 per year.[22] The HOPE Scholarships were funded by revenue collected from the state lottery. In December 1995, his office announced a proposal for $1 billion more in spending on education.[23] HOPE won praise from national Democratic leaders. The HOPE Scholarship program still to this day provides Georgia students with an opportunity to attend a public college or university, who otherwise may have no opportunity to do so.
Upon leaving the governor's office in January 1999, Miller accepted teaching positions at Young Harris College, Emory University, and the University of Georgia. He was a visiting professor at all three institutions when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2000.[8]
Miller's successor as governor,Roy Barnes, appointed Miller to a U.S. Senate seat following the death ofRepublican senatorPaul Coverdell in July 2000. Although the Democratic Party's historic control of Georgia politics had been waning for years, Miller remained popular. He defeated former U.S. SenatorMack Mattingly in aspecial election to keep the seat in November 2000.[10]
Miller often supported Republicans and criticized Democrats during his tenure in the Senate. He supported much ofGeorge W. Bush's agenda, including tax cuts (which Miller co-sponsored[24]) and oil drilling in theArctic National Wildlife Refuge.[10] He supportedanti-abortion policies as a senator, after supportingabortion rights as governor. He also supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage as senator, after inviting the Gay Games to Atlanta as governor.[13] However, Miller remained a Democrat, saying, "I'll be a Democrat 'til the day I die."[25] Miller campaigned for fellow Georgia DemocratMax Cleland in his2002 re-election campaign against Republican CongressmanSaxby Chambliss, despite their ideological differences.[26]
Miller argued in his bookA National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat (authored and published in 2003) that the Democratic Party lost its majority because it did not stand for the same ideals that it did in the era ofJohn F. Kennedy. He argued that the Democratic Party, as it now stood, was a far left-wing party that was out of touch with the America of today and that the Republican Party now embraced the conservative Democratic ideals that he had held for so long. The book spent nine weeks in theNew York Times Best Seller list for hardcover non-fiction, peaking at number four.[27]
In 2003, Miller announced that he would not seek re-election after completing his term in the Senate.[28] He also announced that he would support PresidentGeorge W. Bush in the2004 presidential election rather than any of the nine candidates then competing forhis own party's nomination.[29] Shortly after announcing his retirement, Miller began to call for the repeal of theSeventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which allowed for the direct election of U.S. Senators, rather than having U.S. Senators be elected by state legislatures.[30] During his four years in the Senate, Zell Miller received a cumulative rating of 70% from theAmerican Conservative Union, including a rating of 96% in 2004.[31]
In his keynote speech at the2004 Republican National Convention, delivered on September 1, 2004, Miller criticized the state of the Democratic Party. He said, "No pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two senators from Massachusetts –Ted Kennedy andJohn Kerry." He also criticized John Kerry's Senate voting record, claiming that Kerry's votes against bills for defense and weapon systems indicated support for weakening U.S. military strength.
TheB-1 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, dropped 40 percent of the bombs in the first six months ofEnduring Freedom. TheB-2 bomber, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered air strikes against theTaliban in Afghanistan andHussein's command post inIraq. TheF-14A Tomcats, that Senator Kerry opposed, shot downKhadafi's(sic) LibyanMiGs over theGulf of Sidra. The modernizedF-14D, that Senator Kerry opposed, delivered missile strikes againstTora Bora. TheApache helicopter, that Senator Kerry opposed, took out those Republican Guard tanks inKuwait in the Gulf War. TheF-15 Eagles, that Senator Kerry opposed, flew cover over our Nation's Capital and this very city after9/11. I could go on and on and on: against thePatriot Missile that shot downSaddam Hussein'sScud missiles over Israel; against theAegis air-defense cruiser; against theStrategic Defense Initiative; against theTrident missile; against, against, against. This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?![32]
The speech was well received by the convention attendees, especially the Georgia delegates. Conservative commentatorMichael Barone compared the speech to the views and ideology ofAndrew Jackson.[33]
Miller's combative reaction to post-speech media interviews received almost as much attention as the speech itself. First, in an interview withCNN, Miller had a dispute withJudy Woodruff,Wolf Blitzer, andJeff Greenfield when they questioned him on his speech, particularly on whether he had misinterpreted the context and full content of Kerry's votes, and the fact thatDick Cheney, as Defense Secretary, had opposed some of the same programs he attacked Kerry for voting against.[34]
Shortly thereafter, Miller appeared in an interview withChris Matthews on theMSNBC showHardball. After Miller expressed irritation at Matthews' line of questioning, Matthews pressed Miller with the question, "Do you believe now – do you believe, Senator, truthfully, that John Kerry wants to defend the country with spitballs?" Miller angrily told Matthews, "That was a metaphor, wasn't it? Doyou know what a metaphor is? This is your program, and I'm a guest on your program, so I want to try to be as nice as I possibly can to you. I wish I was over there where I could get a little closer up into your face...I knew you was gonna be coming with all of that stuff...I think we ought to cancel this interview...get out of my face", and declared, "I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to aduel."[35] Miller later said about the interview, "That was terrible. I embarrassed myself. I'd rather it had not happened."[36]
After Bush won the election of 2004, Miller referred to the Republican victories in that election (including a sweep of five open Senate seats in the South) as a sign that Democrats did not relate to most Americans. Calling for Democrats to change their message, he authored a column, which appeared inThe Washington Times on November 4, 2004, in which he wrote:
Fiscal responsibility is unbelievable in the face of massive new spending promises. A foreign policy based on the strength of 'allies' like France is unacceptable ... A strong national defense policy is just not believable coming from a candidate who built a career as an anti-war veteran, an anti-military candidate and an anti-action senator. ... When will national Democrats sober up and admit that that dog won't hunt? Secular socialism, heavy taxes, big spending, weak defense, limitless lawsuits and heavy regulation – that pack of beagles hasn't caught a rabbit in the South or Midwest in years.[37]
In 2008, afterBarack Obama was elected president and Democrats increased their majorities in the House and Senate, Miller endorsed RepublicanSaxby Chambliss in theSenate run-off against DemocratJim Martin and criticized Obama over "spreading the wealth."[38]
In 2012, Miller served as the national co-chair to the campaign of Republican presidential candidateNewt Gingrich.[39] The same year, Miller endorsedDoug Collins, the Republican candidate in the 9th District of Georgia congressional race.[36]
In 2014, Miller endorsed major Georgia candidates in both parties. He made a TV ad supporting the candidacy ofMichelle Nunn, who was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. He appeared in the ad with her, saying he was "angry about what's going on in Washington, partisanship over patriotism" and praised Nunn as a "bridge-builder, not a bridge-burner."[40] However, he also endorsed incumbent Republican governorNathan Deal for reelection.[41]
In August 2005, President Bush appointed Miller to theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission.[42]
In 2005, Miller was elected to the board of directors of theNational Rifle Association of America.[43]
Miller was a speaker at "Justice Sunday II", an event organized by conservativeChristian evangelicals to combat alleged liberal bias in the federal judiciary of the United States. The event was held inNashville, Tennessee on August 14, 2005, and featuredTony Perkins andJames Dobson. Miller criticized theUnited States Supreme Court, saying that it had "removed prayer from our public schools ... legalized the barbaric killing of unborn babies and it is ready to discard like an outdated hula hoop the universal institution of marriage between a man and a woman."[44]
The Student Learning Center (SLC) at theUniversity of Georgia was renamed to theZell B. Miller Learning Center (Miller Learning Center or MLC for short) in October 2008.[45]
Miller's health took a downward turn in the late 2000s when he developedParkinson's disease and other health concerns, which ended in various complications. In 2016, Miller's grandson, Bryan Miller, started the Miller Institute Foundation as a way to preserve and promote his grandfather's legacy.[46] By October 2017, Miller had officially retired from public life and was undergoing treatment for Parkinson's.[47]
Miller died on March 23, 2018, at his home inYoung Harris, Georgia, from complications ofParkinson's disease.[1][5][48] His state funeral was held in Atlanta on March 28 with incumbent governorNathan Deal,U.S. secretary of agricultureSonny Perdue, U.S. senatorJohnny Isakson, former senatorMax Cleland, formerlieutenant governorPierre Howard and three formerU.S. presidents—Jimmy Carter,Bill Clinton andGeorge W. Bush—in attendance.[49][50]
| Georgia State Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Russell Ellis Cannon | Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 40th district 1961–1963 | Succeeded by Dan I. MacIntyre, III |
| Preceded by Hamilton McWhorter Jr. | Member of theGeorgia State Senate from the 50th district 1963–1965 | Succeeded by Robert King Ballew |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Lieutenant Governor of Georgia January 14, 1975–January 14, 1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Georgia January 14, 1991–January 11, 1999 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of Georgia 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Georgia 1990,1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theDemocratic National Convention 1992 Served alongside:Bill Bradley,Barbara Jordan | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromGeorgia (Class 3) 2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Keynote Speaker of theRepublican National Convention 2004 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Georgia July 24, 2000–January 3, 2005 Served alongside:Max Cleland,Saxby Chambliss | Succeeded by |
 | ||
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
