This is the dustcover of the soon-to-be released book about Lockport native and vice presidential candidate Bill Miller. Miller’s daughter, Libby Miller Fitzgerald, a journalist who now lives in Virginia, wrote the memoir/b Click on photo for larger image

Daughter chronicles life of famous Lockportian
By Anne Calos
Thursday, October 07, 2026





One of Lockport’s most famous citizens is the subject a of new book.

The late William E. Miller’s life, both public and private, is the focus of a book written by his daughter, Libby Miller Fitzgerald.

“Bill Miller: Do You Know Me? A Daughter Remembers” chronicles the highs and lows of Miller’s prominent political career and its impact on his party, the Congress and his own family.

Of course everyone in Lockport knows Miller — the local boy who came from humble beginnings to make a run for the vice presidency of the United States in 1964. But the rest of the country may not recall the man who led the Republican Party as its national chairman for three years, was an influential member of Congress for 14 years and was an assistant prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials in 1945.

But for a man with such an impressive resume, Fitzgerald says her father joked that his 1974 American Express commercial asking the question, “Do You Know Me?” made him more famous than his vice presidential run ever had.

Anyone could write a book about the political Bill Miller, but only a daughter could write a book about the private man, and how the ever-present political arena affected the entire Miller family.

Fitzgerald said it took her 10 years to write the book, and she interviewed dozens of people, both Democrat and Republican, personal friends and political allies, journalists who covered politics at the time Miller was a leader and others who were active during Miller’s career.

Fitzgerald says the book isn’t a biography, but instead a “memoir/biography.”

“I call it that because it is a blending of my memories and those of his friends and associates, as well as a researched, historical account of his considerable service to party and country. It is this blending, this piecing together of disparate memories and facts that, I believe, gives the story its truth, for none of them knew dad in his entirety,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald spoke to many well-known political figures, including the late Barry Goldwater, who wrote the forward for the book. Others she spoke to included Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, Sen. Robert Dole, Congressmen Jack Kemp, Defense Secretary Melvin Laird and Attorney General Richard Kleindienst.

But perhaps even more interesting to Lockport readers are the local people Fitzgerald spoke to about her father, including Anna Mary Archie, Jack and Bill Hinch, Dick Shults, Mary Ruth Ricketts, the Garlocks, Joe Pusateri, Sally Glover, Bill Earl, Hank DeLange, Sam Ward, Russell Rourke, Pete Corson, Jerald Wolfgang, Ben Hewitt, the late Clip Smith, Don Conlin, Don Charles, Norm Joslin, Neil Farmelo, Jack Gellman, Bob Barton, Bob Cleary, Fred Smith and Dutch Ulrich.

Fitzgerald also takes time to mention all her family members who helped with the book, who will also be familiar to local readers, her mom, sisters Mary and Stephanie, and brother Bill, who graduated in my class at DeSales.

I’m sure Lockportians will find the book interesting reading, both from a personal and political standpoint.

It will be available after Nov. 5 at www.abebooks.com or by calling (434) 384-7342.



This is the dustcover of the soon-to-be released book about Lockport native and vice presidential candidate Bill Miller. Miller’s daughter, Libby Miller Fitzgerald, a journalist who now lives in Virginia, wrote the memoir/biography, which will be available next month.
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