Webb Miller (journalist)
Encyclopedia
Webb Miller was an American
journalist and war correspondent. He covered the Pancho Villa Expedition
, World War I
, the Spanish Civil War
, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
, the Phoney War, and the Russo-Finnish War of 1939
. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
for his coverage of the execution of the French
serial killer
Henri Désiré Landru
("Bluebeard") in 1922. His reporting of the Salt Satyagraha
raid on the Dharasana Salt Works
was credited for helping turn world opinion against British colonial rule
of India
.
in 1891. His father, Jacob Miller, was a tenant farmer. He attended elementary school in Pokagon and other regional schools. He attended high school in Dowagiac
, where he was a track and field
runner and football
player as well as a reporter for the school paper. Early in life, he became a lifelong vegetarian.
While growing up, Miller was a friend of Ring Lardner
, who also became a prominent writer. He also began reading the book Walden
by Henry David Thoreau
, and carried a copy of the work with him for the rest of his life.
After graduation from high school, he attempted to find work as a reporter at the South Bend Tribune
in South Bend, Indiana
, but the paper would not hire him. He worked as a captain on a passenger steamboat (he was fired after wrecking the ship) and as a schoolteacher in Walnut Grove, Minnesota
. He visited a brothel, and wrote extensively about his experience there. In 1912, he went to Chicago, Illinois, and began work as a "legman"—reporting on the scene by telephone to journalists in the office who would rewrite his work and get the byline. He primarily covered murders, executions and court cases. During this time, he shortened his name to "Webb Miller" because it made for a better byline.
Miller was kidnapped in 1914. Helen Morton, daughter of Morton Salt
co-founder Mark Morton
, had eloped and married against her father's wishes. Morton tracked his daughter down and challenged the marriage on the grounds that Helen Morton was mentally deranged. A court ruled in his favor, and Helen was committed to an asylum. Miller attempted to interview Helen Morton, but Mark Morton had his employees beat Miller unconscious. Morton then kidnapped Miller and drove off—with the 23-year-old journalist tied up in the trunk of his car. Morton crashed the automobile, and police discovered the bound Miller in the vehicle. Miller sued Morton for $50,000, but won only a minimal payment of $500 six years later.
into Mexico
as part of the Punitive Expedition pursuing Pancho Villa
. Having spent most of his life walking (not driving) from town to town in Michigan, Miller was one of the few journalists able to keep up with Pershing's expedition as it marched through the Mexican desert. Miller's reporting led to a job with the United Press
later that year.
to cover World War I. He observed the war-time air raids against the city, and his reports of the terrifying bombardments brought him worldwide notice. UP named him London Bureau Chief as a reward for his success. Covering both the British and American fronts in Europe, Miller was present at and reported on the Battle of Château-Thierry
, the Second Battle of the Aisne
, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
.
Miller was the first American journalist to report that an armistice
had been reached with Germany. After the armistice, Miller covered the Paris Peace Conference
and interviewed Raymond Poincaré
, Georges Clemenceau
, David Lloyd George
and Woodrow Wilson
as well as covering the peace talks. While reporting from Versailles
, Miller met and became acquainted with an Italian
journalist, Benito Mussolini
. He later parlayed this relationship into an interview in 1932.
in Ireland
. He interviewed Sinn Féin
founder Arthur Griffith
and political activist Michael Fitzgerald, both then in hiding.
In 1920, he covered the Rif War
in Morocco. During this time, he met and became friends with the former Spanish dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera
.
In 1921, Miller was named Paris Bureau Chief for UP, and was promoted in 1925 to European Bureau Chief.
In 1922, while traveling in France, Miller saw Henri Désiré Landru (known as "Bluebeard") guillotined in a Versailles street for murdering 10 women and a boy. Miller began timing the execution. The executioners threw Landru onto the upper platform of the guillotine which such force that the deck partially collapsed. The executioners clamped him to the deck, and executed him. Miller's report, which won worldwide acclaim for on-the-spot reporting, noted that the entire botched execution took only 26 seconds. His report, with its graphic description of Landru's death, led to a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1930, Miller took a 12,000-mile airplane trip across the Middle East
and India. While in India, he met and became friends with Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was launching the Salt Satyagraha
, and Miller stayed to cover the event. Miller witnessed the raid on the Dharasana Salt Works on May 12, 1930, in which more than 1,300 unarmed Indians were severely beaten and several deaths occurred. Miller's report helped turn world opinion against the British occupation of India
. Gandhi himself later said that Miller "helped make" Indian independence through his eyewitness report.
His Middle East experiences later landed Miller a job reporting on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Once more, he walked alongside an army traveling in the desert, telling his audience how his shoes and socks turned to bloody rags as he marched through the sand and rocks. Miller reported on the "surprising efficiency" in which the Italians—armed with bombers, tanks, field artillery, gasoline and napalm—massacred thousands of natives armed only with spears, slings and the occasional handgun. His reports, conveyed by courier across the desert to the nearest telegraph and then to the world, often reached Rome
before the official Italian military reports did. Miller's articles were the only news reports to come from the front line during the opening of the war. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize a second time, in this instance for a 44-minute report delivered by telephone at the start of the war.
Exhausted from his constant travels and depressed after seeing so much bloodshed, Miller flew to the United States on the inaugural trans-Atlantic flight of the Hindenburg
. From May to September, he worked on his memoirs. His book, I Found No Peace, was published by Simon & Schuster in November 1936.
Miller immediately went back out into the field. His success in Ethiopia led UP to assign him to cover the initial stages of the Spanish Civil War in late 1936. In 1937 and 1938, he traveled to the Soviet Union
, where he covered the Stalinist purges
and smuggled his reports out of the country.
, and interviewed Adolf Hitler
, Neville Chamberlain
and Mussolini. He traveled to Czechoslovakia
immediately afterward, and reported from the scheduled advance of German troops into the Sudetenland
. He remained in the country for the next six months, and again reported from the front lines on March 12, 1939, when German troops occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
As tensions rose between Germany and France, Miller returned to Paris. During the Phoney War, Miller rushed to the Low Countries
and filed numerous reports. Miller immediately went to Finland
after the Soviet Union invaded on November 30, 1939. He spent Christmas Eve in four inches of newly-fallen snow with Finnish soldiers on the front lines of the "Winter War
."
. There were no eyewitnesses to his death. However, British investigators later concluded that the train had come to a stop in the tunnel rather than at a platform. Miller, they said, stepped out of the train and fell on the tracks. He hit his head against the tunnel wall and died. While the press proclaimed his death "mysterious" and friends said the experienced traveler would never have made such an error, the case was closed and his death ruled accidental.
Webb Miller was survived by his wife, Marie, and a son, Kenneth. He was buried in Dewey Cemetery in Dowagiac.
s would begin to be named after distinguished journalists who had died in action. The first Liberty ship to be named for a war correspondent was the SS Webb Miller. The ship carried American soldiers onto the beaches at Normandy
.
Scholars now consider Miller's account of Bluebeard's death a classic of spot journalism. The report is often required reading for aspiring journalists.
Webb Miller was also the inspiration for the character of Vince Walker in the movie, Gandhi
.
, David Lloyd George, Adolf Hitler
, and author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
.
The cigarette case was stolen after his death, and never reappeared. Most of his journals, papers, and personal effects now reside at the Museum of Southwestern Michigan College
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist and war correspondent. He covered the Pancho Villa Expedition
Pancho Villa Expedition
The Pancho Villa Expedition—officially known in the United States as the Mexican Expedition and sometimes colloquially referred to as the Punitive Expedition—was a military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican insurgent Francisco "Pancho" Villa...
, World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, the Phoney War, and the Russo-Finnish War of 1939
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
. He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for his coverage of the execution of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Henri Désiré Landru
Henri Désiré Landru
Henri Désiré Landru was a French serial killer and real-life "Bluebeard".-Early life:Landru was born in Paris. After leaving school, he spent four years in the French Army from 1887 – 1891. After he was discharged from service, he proceeded to have a sexual relationship with his cousin...
("Bluebeard") in 1922. His reporting of the Salt Satyagraha
Salt Satyagraha
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagrahah began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider...
raid on the Dharasana Salt Works
Dharasana Satyagraha
Dharasana Satyagraha was a protest against the British salt tax in colonial India in May, 1930. Following the conclusion of the Salt March to Dandi, Mahatma Gandhi chose a non-violent raid of the Dharasana Salt Works in Gujarat as the next protest against British rule. Hundreds of satyagrahis were...
was credited for helping turn world opinion against British colonial rule
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
Early life
Webb Miller was born Cub Webster Miller in Pokagon, MichiganPokagon Township, Michigan
Pokagon Township is a civil township of Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,199 at the 2000 census. The township includes the unincorporated communities of Pokagon and Sumnerville, adjacent to each other on M-51....
in 1891. His father, Jacob Miller, was a tenant farmer. He attended elementary school in Pokagon and other regional schools. He attended high school in Dowagiac
Dowagiac, Michigan
Dowagiac is a city in Cass County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,147 at the 2000 census. It is part of the South Bend–Mishawaka, IN-MI, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, where he was a track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
runner and football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player as well as a reporter for the school paper. Early in life, he became a lifelong vegetarian.
While growing up, Miller was a friend of Ring Lardner
Ring Lardner
Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
, who also became a prominent writer. He also began reading the book Walden
Walden
Walden is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau...
by Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
, and carried a copy of the work with him for the rest of his life.
After graduation from high school, he attempted to find work as a reporter at the South Bend Tribune
South Bend Tribune
The South Bend Tribune is a newspaper distributed in the Michiana region. There are five editions for distribution in southwestern lower Michigan, Mishawaka , Marshall County, and the South Bend Metro area. The South Bend Tribune has a daily circulation of 70,703 and Sunday circulation of...
in South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
, but the paper would not hire him. He worked as a captain on a passenger steamboat (he was fired after wrecking the ship) and as a schoolteacher in Walnut Grove, Minnesota
Walnut Grove, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 599 people, 291 households, and 178 families residing in the city. The population density was 577.7 people per square mile . There were 341 housing units at an average density of 328.9 per square mile...
. He visited a brothel, and wrote extensively about his experience there. In 1912, he went to Chicago, Illinois, and began work as a "legman"—reporting on the scene by telephone to journalists in the office who would rewrite his work and get the byline. He primarily covered murders, executions and court cases. During this time, he shortened his name to "Webb Miller" because it made for a better byline.
Miller was kidnapped in 1914. Helen Morton, daughter of Morton Salt
Morton Salt
Morton Salt is a United States company producing salt for food, water conditioning, industrial, agricultural, and road/highway use. Based in Chicago, the business is North America's leading producer and marketer of salt. It is a subsidiary of the German company K+S.-History:The company began in...
co-founder Mark Morton
Mark Morton (businessman)
Mark Morton was an American businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded the Morton Salt Company.-Early life:...
, had eloped and married against her father's wishes. Morton tracked his daughter down and challenged the marriage on the grounds that Helen Morton was mentally deranged. A court ruled in his favor, and Helen was committed to an asylum. Miller attempted to interview Helen Morton, but Mark Morton had his employees beat Miller unconscious. Morton then kidnapped Miller and drove off—with the 23-year-old journalist tied up in the trunk of his car. Morton crashed the automobile, and police discovered the bound Miller in the vehicle. Miller sued Morton for $50,000, but won only a minimal payment of $500 six years later.
Journalism career
In 1916, Miller went to work as a freelance journalist. He followed Gen. John J. PershingJohn J. Pershing
John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
into Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
as part of the Punitive Expedition pursuing Pancho Villa
Pancho Villa
José Doroteo Arango Arámbula – better known by his pseudonym Francisco Villa or its hypocorism Pancho Villa – was one of the most prominent Mexican Revolutionary generals....
. Having spent most of his life walking (not driving) from town to town in Michigan, Miller was one of the few journalists able to keep up with Pershing's expedition as it marched through the Mexican desert. Miller's reporting led to a job with the United Press
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
later that year.
World War I
In 1917, UP sent Miller to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to cover World War I. He observed the war-time air raids against the city, and his reports of the terrifying bombardments brought him worldwide notice. UP named him London Bureau Chief as a reward for his success. Covering both the British and American fronts in Europe, Miller was present at and reported on the Battle of Château-Thierry
Battle of Château-Thierry (1918)
The Battle of Château-Thierry was fought on 18 July 1918 and was one of the first actions of the American Expeditionary Force under General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing...
, the Second Battle of the Aisne
Second Battle of the Aisne
The Second Battle of the Aisne , was the massive main assault of the French military's Nivelle Offensive or Chemin des Dames Offensive in 1917 during World War I....
, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, or Maas-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front.-Overview:...
.
Miller was the first American journalist to report that an armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
had been reached with Germany. After the armistice, Miller covered the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
and interviewed Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability...
, Georges Clemenceau
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau was a French statesman, physician and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909, and again from 1917 to 1920. For nearly the final year of World War I he led France, and was one of the major voices behind the Treaty of Versailles at the...
, David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
and Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
as well as covering the peace talks. While reporting from Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
, Miller met and became acquainted with an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
journalist, Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
. He later parlayed this relationship into an interview in 1932.
Inter-war period
In late 1918, Miller was assigned to cover the aftermath of the Easter RisingEaster Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He interviewed Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
founder Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith
Arthur Griffith was the founder and third leader of Sinn Féin. He served as President of Dáil Éireann from January to August 1922, and was head of the Irish delegation at the negotiations in London that produced the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.-Early life:...
and political activist Michael Fitzgerald, both then in hiding.
In 1920, he covered the Rif War
Rif War (1920)
The Rif War, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.-Rifian forces:...
in Morocco. During this time, he met and became friends with the former Spanish dictator, Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera
Miguel Primo de Rivera y Orbaneja, 2nd Marquis of Estella, 22nd Count of Sobremonte, Knight of Calatrava was a Spanish dictator, aristocrat, and a military official who was appointed Prime Minister by the King and who for seven years was a dictator, ending the turno system of alternating...
.
In 1921, Miller was named Paris Bureau Chief for UP, and was promoted in 1925 to European Bureau Chief.
In 1922, while traveling in France, Miller saw Henri Désiré Landru (known as "Bluebeard") guillotined in a Versailles street for murdering 10 women and a boy. Miller began timing the execution. The executioners threw Landru onto the upper platform of the guillotine which such force that the deck partially collapsed. The executioners clamped him to the deck, and executed him. Miller's report, which won worldwide acclaim for on-the-spot reporting, noted that the entire botched execution took only 26 seconds. His report, with its graphic description of Landru's death, led to a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize.
In 1930, Miller took a 12,000-mile airplane trip across the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and India. While in India, he met and became friends with Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was launching the Salt Satyagraha
Salt Satyagraha
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagrahah began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider...
, and Miller stayed to cover the event. Miller witnessed the raid on the Dharasana Salt Works on May 12, 1930, in which more than 1,300 unarmed Indians were severely beaten and several deaths occurred. Miller's report helped turn world opinion against the British occupation of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Gandhi himself later said that Miller "helped make" Indian independence through his eyewitness report.
His Middle East experiences later landed Miller a job reporting on the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Once more, he walked alongside an army traveling in the desert, telling his audience how his shoes and socks turned to bloody rags as he marched through the sand and rocks. Miller reported on the "surprising efficiency" in which the Italians—armed with bombers, tanks, field artillery, gasoline and napalm—massacred thousands of natives armed only with spears, slings and the occasional handgun. His reports, conveyed by courier across the desert to the nearest telegraph and then to the world, often reached Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
before the official Italian military reports did. Miller's articles were the only news reports to come from the front line during the opening of the war. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize a second time, in this instance for a 44-minute report delivered by telephone at the start of the war.
Exhausted from his constant travels and depressed after seeing so much bloodshed, Miller flew to the United States on the inaugural trans-Atlantic flight of the Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg
LZ 129 Hindenburg was a large German commercial passenger-carrying rigid airship, the lead ship of the Hindenburg class, the longest class of flying machine and the largest airship by envelope volume...
. From May to September, he worked on his memoirs. His book, I Found No Peace, was published by Simon & Schuster in November 1936.
Miller immediately went back out into the field. His success in Ethiopia led UP to assign him to cover the initial stages of the Spanish Civil War in late 1936. In 1937 and 1938, he traveled to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, where he covered the Stalinist purges
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
and smuggled his reports out of the country.
World War II
Miller reported widely on many of the key early events leading up to World War II. He attended the Munich ConferenceMunich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
, and interviewed Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
and Mussolini. He traveled to Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
immediately afterward, and reported from the scheduled advance of German troops into the Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
. He remained in the country for the next six months, and again reported from the front lines on March 12, 1939, when German troops occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
As tensions rose between Germany and France, Miller returned to Paris. During the Phoney War, Miller rushed to the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
and filed numerous reports. Miller immediately went to Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
after the Soviet Union invaded on November 30, 1939. He spent Christmas Eve in four inches of newly-fallen snow with Finnish soldiers on the front lines of the "Winter War
Winter War
The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland – and ended on 13 March 1940 with the Moscow Peace Treaty...
."
Death in the subway tunnel
Miller died on the evening of May 7, 1940, in London, while traveling on the London UndergroundLondon Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
. There were no eyewitnesses to his death. However, British investigators later concluded that the train had come to a stop in the tunnel rather than at a platform. Miller, they said, stepped out of the train and fell on the tracks. He hit his head against the tunnel wall and died. While the press proclaimed his death "mysterious" and friends said the experienced traveler would never have made such an error, the case was closed and his death ruled accidental.
Webb Miller was survived by his wife, Marie, and a son, Kenneth. He was buried in Dewey Cemetery in Dowagiac.
Cultural influences
In 1943, the U.S. government announced that Liberty shipLiberty ship
Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. Though British in conception, they were adapted by the U.S. as they were cheap and quick to build, and came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by...
s would begin to be named after distinguished journalists who had died in action. The first Liberty ship to be named for a war correspondent was the SS Webb Miller. The ship carried American soldiers onto the beaches at Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
.
Scholars now consider Miller's account of Bluebeard's death a classic of spot journalism. The report is often required reading for aspiring journalists.
Webb Miller was also the inspiration for the character of Vince Walker in the movie, Gandhi
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
.
Cigarette case
When he met Mohandas Gandhi in 1930, Miller was carrying a cigarette case. Gandhi agreed to inscribe his name on the case on the condition that it never be used again to carry cigarettes. Miller agreed. Miller carried the cigarette case with him for the rest of his life. Most of the dignitaries and world leaders he met over the next 10 years inscribed their names on the case, including Benito Mussolini, Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, David Lloyd George, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, and author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez was a Spanish realist novelist writing in Spanish, a screenwriter and occasional film director....
.
The cigarette case was stolen after his death, and never reappeared. Most of his journals, papers, and personal effects now reside at the Museum of Southwestern Michigan College
Southwestern Michigan College
Southwestern Michigan College is a public community college. The Main campus is near Dowagiac, Michigan and The Niles Area Campus is located outside the city limits of Niles, Michigan-Academics:...
.
External links
- Museum at Southwestern Michigan University
- The 1930 Salt March. Contains verbatim transcript of Miller's report from the 1930 Satyagraha Salt March at Dharasana (used in the film GandhiGandhi (film)Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
). - Webb Miller at "UPI: 100 Years of Journalistic Excellence." United Press International.