UVA Today News Blog

U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, celebrating its 35th anniversary this year held an event Monday night to honor former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, a longtime member of the center’s governing council and foundation board. The event provided a somewhat historic photo opp, as Holton (left) posed with two other former Virginia governors, Tim Kaine (center) and Gerald Baliles (right). (Baliles is the current director of the Miller Center.)

Together, the governors’ terms touched parts of five decades. Holton was the 61st governor, from 1970-74; Baliles the 65th, from 1986-90; and Kaine the 70th, from 2006-10.

Miller Center of Public Affairs, People | Tuesday, June 29th | By: Dan @1:20 pm | 0 Comments     

This just in from Kim Curtis at U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs:

Over time, presidents have undertaken a variety of different approaches toward tax policy in an effort to respond to the large and often unpredictable U.S. economy. Whether the president was raising or lowering taxes, his attempts to inform the public about tax policy have been met with varying success.

As Tax Day approaches, the Miller Center has put together an online exhibit, looking at presidential tax policy. This exhibit includes a wide array of Miller Center resources, such as presidential speeches, Forums, presidential recordings, and oral histories.

For example, we have included a video of President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 visit to the Internal Revenue Service. President Kennedy, the first president ever to visit the IRS, was trying to bring attention to the Special Message on Taxation that he had delivered to Congress just days earlier.

Miller Center of Public Affairs, News | Monday, April 12th | By: Dan @5:37 pm | 0 Comments     

In honor of Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, and the tradition of U.S. presidents throwing out the ceremonial first pitch — as Barack Obama will do Monday as the Washington Nationals host the Philadelphia Phillies at Nationals Park — U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs offers a look back at presidential pitching form through the years. (Images after the break.)

Continue reading…

Miller Center of Public Affairs, Sports | Friday, April 2nd | By: Dan @4:09 pm | 0 Comments     

If you’re an undergrad looking to research something having to do with the American presidency, U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs may be able to help.

The center offers a $5,000 undergraduate research award — $4,000 to the student and $1,000 to his/her faculty sponsor — for independent work related to the center’s work. Helpful hint: Student who choose advisers from among the center’s faculty will receive priority.

The application deadline has been extended to April 15. Applicants will be notified in May, and final reports are due in April 2011.

Miller Center of Public Affairs, Student Life, research | Tuesday, March 16th | By: Dan @11:09 am | 2 Comments     

The headline may be a little deceptive; U.Va.’s Miller Center of Public Affairs is still safely headquartered in its fantastic building on Old Ivy Road. But now the center has a second address: 1900 K Streeet NW in Washington.

It makes a lot of sense. The center has opened a satellite office to “facilitate its unparalleled study of the American presidency, to build on its work developing practical public-policy solutions, and to connect with the tens of thousands of U.Va. alumni in the area.”

The improved access will be of great benefit for the center’s Presidential Oral History Project, as just one example. It will be a lot easier to get key figures from past administrations to pop over to K Street than to make the trek to Charlottesville, the release points out.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone involved.

Miller Center of Public Affairs, News | Thursday, October 29th | By: Dan @4:03 pm | 0 Comments     

Today’s release of 154 hours of tapes made by President Nixon in January and February 1973 are creating a bit of a stir over at the Miller Center of Public Affairs‘ Presidential Recordings Program, which features audio and transcripts of the recordings of six American presidents, plus research and annotation to put them in context.

For today’s release, Ken Hughes, the coordinator of the Nixon Project for the Presidential Recordings Program and a research fellow at center, has created a primer for journalists covering the release.

Hughes has launched an all-out social media blitz, writing about the tapes on his blog, Fatal Politics, and also Twittering about them.

Already, he’s repairing history. A previously released version of a Jan. 20, 1973 telephone conversation between Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger over the Vietnam War had only been documented from Kissinger’s side; the new Nixon tapes have allowed Hughes to fill in some missing words and phrases. The result can be pretty illuminating:

On January 20, 1973, when Nixon and Kissinger were discussing the threat of a cutoff of U.S. aid to South Vietnam spearheaded by congressional conservatives — a threat designed to force South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu to accept Nixon and Kissinger’s settlement terms, which all three realized would lead to a Communist military victory following a face-saving (for Nixon) “decent interval” — Nixon said, “I don’t know whether the threat goes too far or not, but I’d do any damn thing, that is, or to cut off his head if necessary.”

Pretty important sentence, no? But whoever transcribed the conversation for Kissinger didn’t include it.

Miller Center of Public Affairs, News | Tuesday, June 23rd | By: Dan @2:28 pm | 1 Comment