Lucille S. Miller
Lucille S. Miller (June 13, 1910 - February 1977) of Bethel, Vermont was the publisher of The Green Mountain Rifleman. Mrs. Miller became a staunch anti-communist after falling into a group of leftist radicals who were trying to recruit her into their cause during the 1930s.[1]
She was arrested for interfering with the Selective Service Act (military draft) believing it violated the Thirteenth Amendment against involuntary servitude and was sent to St. Elizibeth Hospital in Washington DC on May 5, 1955 for a mental health evaluation. A few days prior to her arrest Mrs. Miller's husband, Manuel S. Miller, resisted the authorities who were attempting to arrest his wife. Mr. Miller was later charged with assaulting a Federal officer.[2]
Lucille Miller was found to be sufficiently sane on June 27, and was sent to trial on July 11, 1955. She was convicted on 18 counts of helping 9 persons in violating the Selective Service Act. She was sentenced to a year and a day on all counts. However, her sentence was suspended and she was given five years probation. Manuel Miller was given a year in prison and fined $1000 for his conviction.[3]
Columnist Westbrook Pegler and Senator Joseph McCarthy began to champion their cause implying they were being persecuted because they were anti-communists.[4] The patriotic press picked up on the plight of the couple and made them into national heroes.[5] Robert Welch founder of the John Birch Society had high praise for Lucille Miller in his 1963 book The Politician. Welch pointed out that Lucille Miller identified the local fellow travelers of Vermont were very supportive of General Dwight Eisenhower's run for the presidency.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Appeal letter from her husband Manuel S. Miller
- ↑ FBI report
- ↑ "Millers Keep On Fighting", FBI file
- ↑ The Register Santa Ana, California, May 4-5. 1955
- ↑ "Now It Has Happened in Vermont", By Richard Lloyd Jones, The Tulsa Tribune, April 23, 1955
- ↑ The Politician, by Robert Welch, pages 80,81 (1963)
