Benjamin M. Miller

Infobox Governor
name= Benjamin Meek Miller


caption= Benjamin Meek Miller, Alabama Governor 1931-1935
order= 39^th
office= Governor of Alabama
term_start= January 19, 1931
term_end= January 1935
lieutenant=1st Termndash Hugh D. Merrill
predecessor= Bibb Graves
successor= Bibb Graves
birth_date= March 13, 1864
birth_place= Oak Hill, Alabama
death_date= February 6, 1944
death_place= Selma, Alabama
spouse= Margaret Otis Duggan Miller
profession= attorney, judge
party= Democrat
religion=Associate Reformed Presbyterian

Benjamin Meek Miller (March 13 1864 ndash February 6 1944) was an American Democratic politician

Miller was born in Oak Hill, Wilcox County, Alabama, on March 13, 1864, to Rev. John Miller, D.D., and Sarah Pressly Miller. His father was pastor of the Bethel Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at Oak Hill for 31 years. His mother was a descendant of the Hearst family of Abbeville County, South Carolina. He received his early education in Oak Hill and Camden, Alabama. He entered Erskine College from which he graduated in 1884. While a student at Erskine, he was a member of the Euphemian Literary Society. Upon his graduation from Erskine, he returned to Wilcox County where he served as principal of the Lower Peach Tree Academy until 1887. He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1889. After graduating from law school, he established a practice of law in Camden. On September 21, 1892, he married Margaret Otis Duggan of Mobile, Alabama. In 1890, he was a founding member of the Camden Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Miller represented Wilcox County in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1888 to 1889. He was elected judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Alabama in 1904 and served in that capacity until 1921. Miller was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 1921 to 1927. He sought reelection to the Supreme Court of Alabama in 1926, but was defeated by a candidate supported by the Ku Klux Klan.

In 1930, Miller sought the governorship of Alabama. The Democratic primary pitted Miller against W.C. Davis (his strongest opponent), Woolsey Finnell, Watt T. Brown, J.A. Carney and Charles C. McCall. During the campaign Miller attacked the extravagant reformed of the Bibb Graves administration and the political power of the Ku Klux Klan. Miller's election as governor was a strong blow to the Klan.

When Miller was inaugurated as governor on January 19, 1931, the State of Alabama was $20,000,000.00 in debt. Miller considered the reduction of the State's debt the primary objective of his administration. After twice calling the Alabama Legislature into special session, Miller was able to secure an amendment to the Alabama's Constitution permitting the collection of state income tax. A state inheritance tax was passed along with budget control act which prohibited the State of Alabama from spending beyond incoming revenues. The salaries of state employees were also drastically reduced. Miller did not consider the income tax or budget control act his greatest achievement; instead he considered the state bank holiday he declared in March 1933, eight days before Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a national bank holiday his greatest achievement.

In 1932, Miller commissioned Brookings Institution to conduct a study of Alabama's state and local governments in order to achieve a more efficient government. Most of the study's findings, however, were not adopted by the Alabama Legislature. During Miller's administration, the miles of paved roads in Alabama doubled, and all highway work was paid in cash.

Miller was known for his frugality, and he shocked many in Montgomery when brought his personal milk cow from Camden to the Governor's Mansion.

After leaving the governor's office in 1935, Miller returned to Camden where he resumed the practice of law. He died at his daughter's residence in Selma, Alabama, on February 6, 1944, and is buried in the Camden Cemetery, in Camden, Alabama. Margaret Duggan Miller preceded her husband in death on February 16, 1934, and is also buried in the Camden Cemetery.

References

[http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_miller.html|Alabama Governor Benjamin Miller]