Experts in the News | Miller Center

In Memoriam: Remembering former Gov. Gerald Baliles

“To have an endowed chair is the highest honor a professor can have,” said Miller Center Director of Presidential Studies Barbara Perry when she became the first to hold the title. “I have had two chairs previously, but this is the first I’ve had that is named for someone who not only hired me at the Miller Center, but whom I considered to be a mentor and friend.”

Barbara Perry

In Memoriam: Remembering former Gov. Gerald Baliles

“Jerry brought wisdom and integrity to everything he did,” current Miller Center Director Bill Antholis said. “His record of service to the commonwealth and the nation is extraordinary. His commitment to the University and the Miller Center set the standard that we all strive to maintain. The governor’s wife and family are in our thoughts and prayers.”

William Antholis

Want to talk about impeachment? President Trump sure does.

Trump’s repeated references to his impeachment even as he carries out the duties of his office highlight how the president is seeking to turn his greatest political threat into a reelection rallying cry, said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs. “If he had his choice, he probably wouldn’t want to be impeached,” she said. “But now that it’s happening and it’s moving toward his probable impeachment, he’s thinking, ‘Why not make lemons out of lemonade?’ ”

Barbara Perry

Former Governor, UVA Miller Center Director Baliles passes away

William Antholis, the current director of the Miller Center, said Baliles made a big impact at UVA. "One of his great accomplishments is his bipartisan commission co-chaired by James Baker and Warren Christopher, two former Secretaries of State, one Republican, one Democrat, that relooked at the War Powers Act, which was passed during the Vietnam War and shortly after," he said.

William Antholis

Trump and allies try to undermine impeachment witness Vindman's credibility

Chris Lu, the White House Cabinet Secretary for President Barack Obama, noted that Vindman was wounded in Iraq. "When the facts are on your side, argue the facts," Lu tweeted. "When the facts aren’t on your side, argue about process. When a decorated Iraq War vet wounded in an IED attack delivers devastating testimony, question his loyalty to the country. This is what the GOP has been reduced to."

Chris Lu

‘Travel On, Pilgrim’ to Bruce Springsteen’s vision of the new American dream

William Antholis, the Miller Center’s director and CEO, who sponsored the screening, prefaced the film with an explanation of his interest in Springsteen, and gave a brief summary of what the film meant to him personally. Antholis talked about how the film investigates what truly motivates Americans, searches for the new American Dream and displays the dark underside of freedom.

William Antholis