The United States lost one of its brightest souls on November 8 when Manuel “Manny” Miranda died at age sixty-six. For decades, Manny was a seminal figure at the intersection of politics, diplomacy, and Catholicism in Washington, D.C. Admired and respected throughout the city, Manny was as at home in college debating societies, which he attended into his sixties, as he was in the halls of Congress.
Like many great Americans, Manny’s story began outside the country. Born in Havana, he immigrated first to Spain with his family and then to the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1976.
Educated in New York City’s famous Catholic schools, he would go on to attend Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he distinguished himself as the student representative on the school’s executive committee and as a Circumnavigators Foundation Scholar. Manny had an abiding love for his alma mater, becoming one of the most ardent defenders of its Catholic character and a mentor to hundreds of Georgetown’s sons. As an alumnus, he was an active participant in Georgetown’s debating groups, having frequently attended the Philodemic Society and assisted in reviving the Philonomosian Society.
After his alma mater decided it would officially recognize and fund a pro-abortion student organization called GU Choice on campus, he became counsel for the Georgetown Ignatian Society in its canon law effort to stop Georgetown’s funding of the group. After months of negotiation with church authorities and a final appeal to the Vatican, the university ultimately defunded GU Choice. The legacy of Manny’s advocacy continues to this day: Georgetown still does not permit abortions in its hospitals or tuition-funded abortion-lobbying groups on its campus.
Decades later, Manny would be a primary advocate for keeping Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service named after its Jesuit founder, Fr. Edmund A. Walsh, when administrators sought to rename it to honor former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. There are countless more charitable efforts at Georgetown that Manny supported anonymously.
When I met him four years ago, I was charmed like so many by his love of life and ability to connect with so many different kinds of people. His commitment to Catholicism enhanced his appreciation for other faiths, and he was well-known for his friendships across denominational and religious lines. Manny was at heart a cheerful and courageous warrior who was never afraid to speak up when he felt the mission of his alma mater or country was being betrayed or underserved.
He was also able to seamlessly incorporate his many talents into a robust career in both the private and public sectors. After graduating law school at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, he worked for the high-powered New York law firm Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts and then for the Washington legal group Russin & Vecchi, where he advised the Russian Orthodox Church in America. In the public sector, he held distinguished positions in Congress, working as a senior counsel at the Senate Judiciary Committee and as a policy advisor to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
After leaving the Hill, Manny became chairman of the Third Branch Conference where he helped mobilize support for traditional Catholic Samuel Alito’s Supreme Court nomination. When Alito was confirmed, Manny was thrilled. He was honored by the American Conservative Union with its prestigious Ronald Reagan Award for his efforts in 2006, but his real reward came when Justice Alito authored the Dobbs decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion in 2022.
Manny also had a significant career in foreign policy, having served as the director of the Office of Legislative Statecraft at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in 2007 and 2008. In that capacity, he sought to increase the Iraqi government’s ability to legislate and to harmonize the Iraqi and Kurdistan bars. He famously brought legal leaders of the country to Washington to meet with Chief Justice John Roberts in a bid to update the country’s legal system under American auspices.
Throughout his time in Washington, Manny was affiliated with many of the power players in the conservative movement. He was a visiting legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a policy fellow and senior counsel at the Family Research Council, and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Manny also served as the president of the Cardinal Newman Society, an organization that advocates for a common theme of his life: the preservation of Catholic faithfulness in the educational institutions of the Church.
The conservative movement has lost an irreplaceable giant, one who was unafraid to challenge the popular opinion of the day in favor of the timeless truths of the Catholic Church and the American tradition. Now it is up to his many friends and mentees to keep his legacy alive for future generations.
