1 The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign ...

Q: Could you tell me when and where you were born and something about your family
background?
MILLER: Yes, I was born in New York City.
Q: What year was that?
MILLER: 1931, August 15 th , and I was brought up in New York. I’m a native New
Yorker. I went to public schools until the 7 th grade when I went to Trinity School.
Q: I want to take you back a bit. First, about your father, could you tell me about his
background and sort of the Miller family on his side?
MILLER: Yes. He was a commercial artist. His family came from St. Petersburg around
1890 and they settled in New York. His father’s work was as a contractor, renovation of
apartments, things of that sort, although his background was as a soldier, as far as I
understand the family history.
Q: Did he get any higher education?
MILLER: My grandfather? No. My father, didn’t get any higher education beyond high
school, because he was born deaf, and went to primary and secondary schools in New
York for the deaf.
Q: This is your father?
MILLER: My father. My mother, who was also deaf, was born in New York. She was of
Irish ancestry. Her father was a Protestant from Dublin, and her mother was a Catholic
from Dublin. Her mother was disowned for marrying a Protestant.
Q: Oh yes, this is an era of – I mean, this is very important.
MILLER: Still is. She grew up in New York. They met in the circles of deaf people in
their schools, and married in 1930 and I was born in 1931.
Q: Your father, you say he was an illustrator, do you recall any of the sort of things he
was doing as an illustrator?
MILLER: Yes, the company he worked for, which I remember, did various things, maps,
advertising, lay-outs, that sort of thing, and he worked on things that go into lithographs
particularly. He was very good at drawings that would transfer to the lithographic
technique.
Q: How was it growing up with your parents both being deaf? I always think of the Lon
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