Neville Miller

Who was Neville Miller?

Neville Miller was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1933 to 1937. His father, Shackelford Miller, was Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He was valedictorian of his 1912 class at Louisville Male High School, and earned a bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1916 and a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1920.

Miller practiced law in Louisville with his father and brother, Shackelford Miller, Jr., in the firm Miller and Miller, and was elected president of the Kentucky Bar Association in 1924. However, he primarily taught law during this time, and became the first dean of the University of Louisville School of Law in 1930. After being active in the party for years, he was narrowly elected mayor as a Democrat in 1933, ending 15 years of Republican dominance of the office.

He led the city during the worst years of the Great Depression and helped reorganize city finances for the changing times. Miller is best known as the "flood mayor" for his leadership during the Ohio River flood of 1937, the worst in the city's history. He directed evacuations and relief efforts and made nationwide appeals for donations and volunteers over the radio.