Jay A. Miller, a passionate advocate of civil liberties for decades, whose work earned him a spot on Richard Nixon’s infamous “enemies list,” died in Skokie, Ill. on Jan. 3 at 83.
“He really felt that that established his civil liberties [credentials] in a way that nothing else did,” said Colleen K. Connell, ACLU director. “It was absolutely a badge of honor for him.”
Among Miller’s early efforts in the 1960s were campaigns for a nuclear test ban treaty and a rally for Martin Luther King Jr. In later years, Miller and the ACLU took on public school desegregation and racial segregation in public housing.
“It was woven into Jay’s DNA that no individual was less deserving of precious constitutional protections than any other person,” Connell said.
Miller was born in Cleveland and grew up in Chicago. He served in the Army and received a degree in social science from the University of Illinois. He worked as a reporter for the Cleveland Press and then worked for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and American Friends Service Committee before joining the ACLU.
The Chicago Sun-Times said Miller landed on the enemies list for opening ACLU offices to some of the defendants in the Chicago Seven trial after the 1968 Democratic National Convention. — jta