University of Virginia Library

Miller Contributes Personal Papers
To Alderman Library Collection

By SANDRA DIVINE

Francis Pickens Miller, the liberal
Democrat who challenged the Byrd
political machine in Virginia after World
War II, has donated his personal
papers to Alderman Library.

Mr. Miller, who lives in Kitty Hawk,
N.C. recently presented the
University's library with 45,000
documents, tape recordings and other
material covering much of his political
life and religious involvement.

Library Received Papers

The George C. Marshall library at
Virginia Military Institute at Lexington
has received papers relating to Mr. Miller's
World War II military service.

The material presented to the
University covers about 80 per cent of
Mr. Miller's public life, primarily his
General Assembly membership and
unsuccessful political candidacy opposing
Byrd candidates.

Alderman Library manuscript
department curator Edmund Berkely
said, "This is an exceptionally good
collection, particularly as a complement
to the papers of Senator Byrd and
Governor Battle."

According to a news release, students
of Virginia politics will have particular
interest in documents and tapes covering
Mr. Miller's late 1940's and early 1950's
career when he ran unsuccessfully in the
1949 gubernatorial and the 1952 U.S.
Senate campaigns.

Mr. Miller served in the Virginia House
of Delegates from 1938 to 1941.

Mr. Miller's opposition to the "Byrd
machine" grew out of philosophical
differences toward government attitudes.
For instance, Mr. Miller found that
Virginia had the lowest white adult voter
proportion of any English speaking
community in the world.

Mr. Miller was born in Kentucky and
graduated from Washington and Lee
University. He enlisted as a private in the
American Expeditionary Force in Europe
during World War I, and later received a
commission.

Miller Attended Oxford

Mr. Miller also attended Oxford
University in England as a Rhodes
Scholar following the war.

Throughout his life, Mr. Miller was
involved in religious organizations,
including the Student Christian
Federation, the Presbyterian Synod of
Virginia, and the Central Committee of
the World Council of Churches.

Mr. Miller was instrumental in bringing
about the Lend-Lease arrangement with
England that at the start of World War II
exchanged American destroyers for
British military bases.

When the United States entered the
war, Mr. Miller re-entered the Army and
served with the SHAEF headquarters
organization in Europe.

He has served in other government
positions since then, including State
Department special assistant for
educational and cultural affairs.