The Miller Center's National Commissions
The National Commission on Federal Election Reform (2001)
In the wake of the 2000 presidential election and the intense scrutiny of the institutions of election administration that followed it, the Miller Center assembled the Commission to examine the voting systems in place and recommend election reform designed to improve America's electoral system. The Commission's proposed improvements to the federal, state, and local voting systems were largely adopted in the Help America Vote Act, a landmark piece of election reform legislation signed by President George W. Bush in 2002.
Honorary Co-Chairs:
- President Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States, 1974–1977
- President Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States, 1977–1981
Co-Chairs:
- Robert H. Michel, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-Ill.), 1956–1994
- Lloyd N. Cutler, White House Counsel, 1977–1981, 1994; Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
Vice Chairs:
- Slade Gorton, U.S. Senator (D-Wash.), 1981–1987, 1989–2001; Of Counsel, Preston Gates & Ellis; Commissioner, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States
- Kathleen Sullivan, Dean and Professor of Law, Stanford Law School
Commissioners:
- Griffin B. Bell, U.S. Attorney General, 1977–1979; Senior Partner and Counsel, King and Spalding
- Rudy Boschwitz, U.S. Senator (R-Minn.), 1978–1991; U.S. Ambassador, United Nations Commission on Human Rights
- John C. Danforth, U.S. Senator (R-Mo.), 1976–1994; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
- Christopher F. Edley, Jr., Associate Director for Economics and Government at the Office of Management and Budget (1993–1995); Special Counsel to the President (1995); Dean and Professor at Law, University of California at Berkeley; Member of U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Hanna Holborn Gray, President Emeritus, University of Chicago; Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of History, University of Chicago
- Colleen C. McAndrews, Partner, Bell, McAndrews, Hiltachk & Davidian
- Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator (D-N.Y.), 1977–2000
- Leon Panetta, White House Chief of Staff, 1994–1997; Founder and Director, Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, California State University
- Deval L. Patrick, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, The Coca-Cola Company; Governor-elect of Massachusetts (D), 2006
- Diane Ravitch, Assistant Secretary of Education (1991–1993); Historian of American Education and Research Professor of Education, New York University
- Bill Richardson, Secretary of the Department of Energy, 1998–2001; U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 1997–1998; Governor of New Mexico (D), 2003–present
- John Seigenthaler, Editor, Publisher, CEO, and Chairman Emeritus, The Tennesean; Founder of First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University
- Michael Steele, Chairman, Maryland Republican Party; Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, 2003-present
Commission Director:
- Philip D. Zelikow, Director of the Miller Center, 1998–2005
- Howard H. Baker, Jr., White House Chief of Staff, 1987–1988; U.S. Senator (R-Tenn.), 1967–1985; Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, 1981–1985; U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Senior Advisor, Citigroup
- Griffin B. Bell, U.S. Attorney General, 1977–1979; Senior Partner and Counsel, King and Spalding
- R.W. Apple, Jr., Chief Washington Correspondent, New York Times
- Lloyd N. Cutler, White House Counsel, 1977–1981, 1994; Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
- William P. Barr, U.S. Attorney General, 1991–1993; Vice President & General Counsel, Verizon
- Andrew H. Card, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, 1992–1993; White House Chief of Staff, 2001–2006
- Lawrence S. Eagleburger, U.S. Secretary of State, 1992–1993; Chairman, International Commission on Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims; Member, Iraq Study Group
- William Frenzel, U.S. Representative from Minnesota, 1971–1991; Chairman Emeritus, Ripon Society
- Paul D. Gewirtz, Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law, Yale Law School; Founder and Director, The China Law Center, Yale Law School
- Juanita Kreps, James B. Duke Professor, Duke University; U.S. Secretary of Commerce, 1977–1979
- Daniel J. Meador, Assistant Attorney General, 1977–1979; James Monroe Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of Virginia School of Law
- Joshua I. Smith, Chairman and CEO of MAXIMA Corp; Chairman, U.S. Commission on Minority Business Development; Chairman and Managing Partner, The Coaching Group
- Sander Vanocur, Domestic Correspondent, NBC News; Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, ABC News
- William Webster, Director of the FBI, 1978–1987; Director of Central Intelligence, 1987–1991; Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, U.S. Attorney General, 1965–1966; Chairman, MCI, Inc.
- Harold R. Tyler, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, 1956–1960; Deputy Attorney General, 1975–1977; Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
- Howard H. Baker, Jr., White House Chief of Staff, 1987–1988; U.S. Senator (R-Tenn.), 1967–1985; Majority Leader, U.S. Senate, 1981–1985; U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Senior Advisor, Citigroup
- Birch E. Bayh, Jr., U.S. Senator (D-Ind.), 1963–1981; Partner, Venable
- Lovida H. Coleman, Jr., Special Assistant to the Attorney General, 1977–1980; Partner, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP
- Lloyd N. Cutler, White House Counsel, 1977–1981, 1994; Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
- Fred F. Fielding, White House Counsel, 1981–1986, 2006-present; Commissioner, National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States; Partner, Wiley, Rein & Fielding
- Leon A. Higginbotham, Jr., Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1977–1993; Of Counsel, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Frederick B. Lacey, United States District Judge, 1971–1986; Special Counsel, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae
- Daniel J. Meador, Assistant Attorney General, 1977–1979; James Monroe Professor of Law, Emeritus, University of Virginia School of Law
- Kimba M. Wood, Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1987–present; Chief Judge, Southern District, 2006
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- Charles McC. Mathias, U.S. Senator (R-Md.), 1968–1986
- Edmund S. Muskie, U.S. Senator (D-Maine), 1959–1980; U.S. Secretary of State, 1980–1981
- R.W. Apple, Jr., Chief Washington Correspondent, New York Times
- Robert S. Bergland, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, 1977–1981
- M. Caldwell Butler, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-Va.), 1972–1983
- William T. Coleman, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, 1975–1977; Senior Counselor, O'Melveny & Myers
- Lloyd N. Cutler, White House Counsel, 1977–1981, 1994; Partner, Wilmer Cutler & Pickering
- Stuart E. Eizenstat, Assistant for Domestic Affairs and Foreign Policy and Executive Director of the Domestic Policy Staff, 1977–1981; Under Secretary of State for Economic, Business and Agricultural Affairs, 1997–1999; Partner, Covington & Burling
- Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., Chairman, Republican National Committee, 1983-1988; President & CEO, American Gaming Association
- Judith Richards Hope, Vice Chairman of the President's Commission on Organized Crime, 1983–1986; Partner and Senior Advisor, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker
- Max M. Kampelman, Counselor to the U.S. Department of State, 1987–1988; Of Counsel, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
- Melvin R. Laird, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1969–1973; Counselor to the President for Domestic Affairs, 1973–1974; Senior Counselor for National and International Affairs, Reader's Digest Foundation
- Richard Moe, Chief of Staff to Vice President Walter F. Mondale, 1977–1981; President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
- John J. Rhodes, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (R-Ariz.), 1943–1982; House Minority Leader, 1973–1981
- Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1975–1977, 2001-2006
- Robert S. Strauss, U.S. Trade Representative, 1977–1979; U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union & Russian Federation, 1991; Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- Dr. Dale R. Corson, President of Cornell University, 1969–1977; Founding Chairman of Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable and the National Academy of Science and Engineering
- General Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor, 1975–1977, 1989–1993; President, The Scowcroft Group
- Dr. Solomon J. Buchsbaum, Chairman, White House Science Council
- Prof. Ashton Carter, Acting Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Assistant Secretary of Defense, 1993–1996; Professor, Kennedy School
- Dr. John Deutsch, Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Director of Central Intelligence, 1995–1996; Professor, MIT
- Dr. Denis J. Prager, Deputy Director, Health Program, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- John Walsh, Senior Science Writer, Science magazine
- James S. Young, Miller Center Faculty and Bancroft Prize Winner, 1967
- Herbert Brownell, U.S. Attorney General, 1953–1957
- Birch E. Bayh, Jr., U.S. Senator (D-Ind.), 1963–1981; Partner, Venable
- Mortimer M. Caplin, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1961–1964, Founder and Member, Caplin & Drysdale; Professor Emeritus of the University of Virginia School of Law
- Phillip W. Buchen, Counsel to the President, 1974–1977
- Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States, 1969–1986
- M. Caldwell Butler, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-Va.), 1972–1983
- Carolyne K. Davis, Administrator, Health Care Financing Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1981–1985
- Nancy M. Neuman, Manager of the Healthcare Financing Administration, 1981–1985
- Karen O'Neil
- Chalmers M. Roberts, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, Washington Post, 1953–1971
- Dr. M. Roy Schwartz, Senior Vice President of the American Medical Association; Dean of the University of Colorado School of Medicine; Vice Chancellor of the Health Sciences Center
- W. Reece Smith, Jr., President, American Bar Association; Of Counsel, Carlton Fields
- William B. Spong, Jr., U.S. Senator (D-Va.), 1966–1973
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- William P. Rogers, U.S. Attorney General, 1957–1961; U.S. Secretary of State, 1969–1973
- Cyrus R. Vance, U.S. Secretary of State, 1977–1980
- David E. Bell, Assistant to the Chief, Fiscal Division, Bureau of the Budget, 1948–1949; Administrative Assistant to the President, 1951–1953
- Harold Brown, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1977–1981
- Phillip W. Buchen, Counsel to the President, 1974–1977
- Clark Clifford, U.S. Secretary of Defense, 1968–1969
- Walter Cronkite, Anchor, CBS Evening News, 1962–1981
- David R. Gergen, Special Counsel to the President, 1975–1977; Editor, U.S. News & World Report; Counselor to the President; Director of Center for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
- General Andrew J. Goodpaster, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander and Commander in Chief, United States European Command, 1969–1974
- Carol C. Laise, U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, 1966–1973
- Charles McC. Mathias, U.S. Senator (R-Md.), 1969–1987
- Jane Cahill Pfeiffer, Chairman of NBC, 1978–1980
- Dean Rusk, U.S. Secretary of State, 1961–1969
- Theodore C. Sorensen, Special Counsel for President Kennedy, 1961–1963; Of Counsel, Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
- Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., President & Chairman, National Urban League; Chairman, Presidential Transition Team, 1992; Senior Counsel, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Senior Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co.
- Jack H. Watson, Jr., White House Chief of Staff, 1980–1981
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- A. Linwood Holton, Jr., Governor of Virginia, 1970–1974
- Dean Burch, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, 1969–1974
- William T. Coleman, Jr., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, 1975–1977; Senior Counselor, O'Melveny & Myers
- William Frenzel, Member, U.S. House of Representatives (R-Minn.), 1971–1991
- Richard Gordon Hatcher, Mayor, Gary, Indiana, 1967–1987
- Austin Ranney, American Enterprise Institute, Senior Staff, 1975–1985
- Robert S. Strauss, U.S. Trade Representative, 1977–1979; U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union & Russian Federation, 1991; Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Anne Wexler, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce, 1977–1978; Assistant to the President 1978–1981
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
- A. Linwood Holton, Jr., Governor of Virginia, 1970–1974
- Ray Scherer, Chief White House Correspondent, NBC News
- Douglass Cater, Special Assistant to the President, 1964–1968
- Robert Pierpoint, International Correspondent, CBS News; White House Correspondent, CBS News
- Julius Duscha, Head of the Washington Journalism Center, 1968–1990, Editorial Writer, Reporter, National correspondent, Washington Post, 1958–1966
- James Rowe
- Carroll Kilpatrick, Assistant Press Secretary at the State Department; White House Correspondent, Washington Post
- Felicia Warburg Rogan
- Kenneth W. Thompson, Director of the Miller Center, 1978–1998
Read the Commission's Final Report
Read the Final Report's companion Task Force Reports
The National Commission on the Separation of Powers (1998)
Members of the Commission conducted a methodical and scholarly survey over two and a half years in order to examine "gray areas" where the separation of powers was not clearly delineated. In their report, the Commissioners identified five areas where the branches of the government grapple from time to time for dominance, and made specific recommendations for future procedures in each. The group identified those "gray areas" as the office of independent counsel, the uses of inspectors general throughout the government, the doctrine of executive privilege, the issuance of executive orders, and the War Powers Resolution passed in 1973.
Co-Chairs:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on the Selection of Federal Judges (1996)
The current judicial selection process, which requires nomination by the President and confirmation by the Senate, has led to increasing delays in filling open judicial seats as the size of the federal judiciary continues to grow. The Commission brought together a number of scholars to review the selection process of federal judges and outline means for streamlining the confirmation process so that vacant judicial seats would be filled more expeditiously.
Co-Chairs:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on Choosing and Using Vice Presidents (1992)
Growing recognition of the importance of the vice presidency led the Miller Center to organize a commission examining the criteria and qualifications for the selection of a vice president. The Commission recommended three criteria for the selection of the vice presidency: (1) The vice presidential nominee should be of presidential caliber, given the strong likelihood of succession. (2) The nominees for president and vice president should be compatible to assure full partnership in office and continuity of philosophy and world view, should succession occur, and (3) attention should continue to be given to the political support a vice presidential nominee is expected to bring to a presidential ticket.
Co-Chairs:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on the Presidency and Science Advising (1989)
The growth of science related questions and the magnitude and urgency of issues involving economic problems, advances in biotechnology, and concerns about ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect suggested to the Miller Center a need to re-examine the basic relationships between science and government. The Commission concluded that the argument for a science advisory mechanism within the White House was conclusive. It proposed the assembly of a strong system of science advising that would include a skilled chief science adviser, assisted by a well-qualified staff, with ready access to nongovernmental sources of advice and knowledge.
Co-Chairs:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment (1988)
The Commission examined the 25th Amendment in order to identify potential difficulties in presidential succession that might arise in extremely complicated scenarios. Following its examination, the Commission strongly urged the provision of a guide for future applications of the 25th Amendment and contingency planning intended to assure prompt application in a matter faithful both to the spirit of the Constitution and the intent of the framers of this Amendment.
Co-Chairs:
Vice-Chair:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on Presidential Transitions and Foreign Policy (1986)
Whenever it confronts the age-old problems of the transfer of power and authority, the United States faces no set of issues more pressing and important that those concerning foreign relations. The Commission, which included representatives of both incoming and outgoing administrations in each of the postwar transitions, examined the impact of changes in administrations and their impact on foreign policy. In their subsequent report, the members aimed to codify successful practices and suggest areas where further improvements might be made to enable greater continuity of foreign policy between administrations.
Co-Chairs:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on the Presidential Nominating Process (1982)
The Miller Center organized a Commission to examine every facet of the process by which our two major political parties go about seeking their respective candidates for president in response to the significant transformations the presidential nominating process has undergone since 1960. In their report, the Commission members sought to elicit a set of concrete objectives that would not only promote the goals of the nominating process, but also serve as a practical guide for party officials and legislators.
Chair:
Commissioners:
Commission Director:
Read the Commission's Final Report
The National Commission on Presidential Press Conferences (1981)
The Miller Center convened a national commission to examine the technological and institutional developments in the arranging of presidential press conferences. The Commission's report suggested reforms to the practice of presidential press conferences, including a minimum of one monthly live TV press conference, with a better method of questioning, and weekly informal meetings between the President and members of the press.
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