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Graduation Speakers in Milton's Past
 In
2003, director of college counseling Rod Skinner ’72
P’03 wrote in Milton Magazine that Hemingway would have
called Milton's graduation “a beauty day”: a magical
moment when a rainy New England spring finally retreated to
reveal a cloudless, clear backdrop for the congratulations
and good-byes about to be said.
Graduations, of course, share with literature that inability
to stand in isolation: Each milestone allows the graduate
and the audience to remember those that came before—whether
it rained or didn’t, whether the speakers stumbled or
shone, whether a favorite relative traveled 2,000 miles to
witness the day—and to consider the graduations, at
the Academy and in one’s family, that might lie ahead.
At Milton, graduating seniors are confronted with something
new to most of them: a dress code. Girls wear white, and boys
wear a jacket and tie. (For those who lament current fashion
trends, here is a moment of calm.) Milton begins the annual
graduation festivities with an informal procession in which
the seniors, starting at Hallowell House, walk by all the
houses, cheer—loudly, you’re likely to notice—and
say goodbye to underclassmen.
The formal graduation procession begins at Straus, where
each student receives a flower. A bagpiper then leads the
entire faculty, underclass students and seniors in a march
to their seats.
Tradition also dictates that Milton seniors vote for one
boy and one girl to speak on behalf of the class at graduation.
Diplomas at Milton are given in random order, and the last
student to graduate is given a sock of quarters—one
from each classmate.
After the ceremony, students say farewell to faculty, who
have formed a receiving line.
Milton also enjoys a tradition of fine and inspirational speakers.
(Note that boys and girls had different speakers until 1985.)
Following is a sampling:
A selection of Milton Academy Graduation Speakers
1900
Dr. Felix Adler
1926
Hon. Joseph Clark Grew, Under Secretary
of State
1927
Dr. Arthur Ernest Morgan, President
of Antioch College
1928
Professor Hans Zinsser, of Harvard University
(authority on warfare)
1932
Hon. Arthur Atwood Ballantine, LL.D.,
Under Secretary of the Treasury of the US
1934 Boys
Rev. Joel Babcock Hayden D.D.,
Headmaster of Western Reserve Academy
1939 Boys
Hon. Charles Francis Adams, great-great-grandson
of President John Adams
1939 Girls
Dr. Erdman Harris
1942
Hon. Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovakian Minister
of Foreign Affairs
1943 Girls
Rev. John Crocker, Headmaster
Groton School
1943 Boys
Mr. B. Edwin Hutchinson, Vice President of the Chrysler
Corporation of Detroit
1945
Midyear graduation in January due to
war
1947 Girls
Rev. A. Graham Baldwin, Phillips
Academy, Andover
1949 Girls
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt
1950 Girls
Rev. William Edgar Park, President
of the Northfield School
1952 Boys
John White Hallowell, Headmaster
Western Reserve Academy
1958 Boys
Hon. Charles E. Wyzanski, Jr.
1959 Girls
Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge
1959 Boys
Mr. Robert Francis Kennedy, class of 1944
1960 Boys
Congressman Frances P. Bolton
1961 Boys
Hon. Paul C. Reardon
1962 Boys
Henri Peyre
1962 Girls
Headmaster
1964 Boys
Howard K. Smith, American Broadcasting
Company
1965 Boys
Hon. Elliot Lee Richardson, Lieutenant
Governor, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, grad of Milton
1965 Girls
Mr. David Rockefeller
1966 Boys
David T.W. McCord, retired executive
Director of the Harvard Fund, Harvard University, poet and
essayist
1966 Boys
Daniel S. Cheever, Professor of International Affairs
and Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, a member
of the Board of Trustees, and alumnus, parent.
1974 Girls
Art Buchwald
1974 Boys
Donald B. Straus class of 1934, American Arbitration
Association
1975 Girls
Marian Wright Edelman, Director,
Children's Defense Fund of the Washington Research Project
1975 Boys
Sanford Cardin was valedictorian
Clifton Daniel, The New York Times
1976 Girls
Mr. George A. Plimpton
1976 Boys
George H.W. Bush, 40th President of the United States and
a former Director of Central Intelligence
1977 Boys
F. Lee Bailey
1979 Girls
Le Anne Schreiber, Sports Editor,
New York Times
1979 Boys
Vice-Admiral James B. Stockdale
1980 Girls
Brendan Gill, Theatre Critic
of the New Yorker
1980 Boys
Hon. Elliot L. Richardson
1982 Girls
Nannerl O. Keohane, President
of Wellesley College
1982 Boys
Christopher Lydon, News Anchorman, WGBH-TV, PBS
1984 Girls
Theodore L. Elliot, Jr. Dean
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
1986
Edward B. Fiske, Education Editor, The
New York Times
1987
Norman Dorsen, President, American Civil
Liberties Union, Stokes Professor of Law, New York University
1988
Liz Walker, Anchor, WBZ - TV
1989
Nannerl Keohane - President, Wellesley
College
1990
Sister Jon Julie Sullivan, Child Care
Advocate, Project Hope Shelter
1991
Harold Raynolds, Jr., Mass. Commissioner
of Education
1992
Anthony Lewis, Columnist, The New York
Times
1993
Deval Patrick, ‘74, Attorney,
Hill and Barlow (and Massachusetts gubernatorial hopeful)
1994
Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and Director
of Children's Defense Foundation
1995
Honorable Brereton Jones, Governor of
the Commonwealth of Kentucky
1997
Samina Shaepard Quraeshi, Director of
Design, National Endowment for the Arts
1998
Tom Cleveland, Former Milton Academy
Chaplain
1999
Rick Pitino, Celtics Coach
2000
David Lindsay-Abaire ‘88, Playwright
2001
Dr. Paul Farmer, Partners in Health
2002
Senator Edward Kennedy ‘50
2003
Bill Clinton, 41st President of the United States
2004
Austan Goolsbee ’87, economist
and Professor of Economics at U Chicago
2005
Bertha Coombs ’80, CNBC financial
and business reporter
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