List of Hamilton College people
Hamilton College is a private, independent liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York. It has been coeducational since 1978, when it merged with Kirkland College.
Below is a non-comprehensive list of Hamiltonians who have made notable achievements or contributions in their chosen fields.
Notable alumni
Law, government, and public affairs
Legislative branch
- David Jewett Baker, class of 1816 - U.S. Senator from Illinois
- Matt Cartwright, class of 1983 - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
- Michael Castle, class of 1961 - 69th Governor of Delaware, U.S. Representative from Delaware, 2010 Senate candidate
- Thomas Treadwell Davis, class of 1831 - U.S. Representative from New York
- Victoria Doudera, class of 1983 - State Representative in Maine
- Joseph Irwin France, class of 1895 - U.S. Senator from Maryland
- Abijah Gilbert, class of 1822 - U.S. Senator from Florida
- Joseph Roswell Hawley, class of 1847 - served two terms in the United States House of Representatives; four-term U.S. Senator from Connecticut; 42nd Governor of Connecticut
- John N. Hungerford, class of 1846 - U.S. Representative from New York
- Irving Ives, class of 1919 - U.S. Senator from New York
- Oliver A. Morse, class of 1833 - U.S. Representative from New York, and co-founder of the Alpha Delta Phi literary society.
- Henry B. Payne, class of 1832 - U.S. Senator from Ohio
- Theodore M. Pomeroy, class of 1842 - U.S. Representative from New York
- Glenni William Scofield, class of 1840 - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
- Charles B. Sedgwick, United States Congressman from New York
- Gerrit Smith, who previously studied in the Hamilton–Oneida Academy, was Hamilton's first valedictorian ; he married the daughter of Dr. Backus, the college president. He served on the Hamilton Board of Trustees from 1825 to 1837, resigning the position over what he viewed as insufficient college support for abolitionism. He represented Oneida and Madison, NY, Counties in U.S. House of Representatives, 1853–54. One of the founders of the Republican Party. Three times candidate for President of the United States. Leading abolitionist, philanthropist, public intellectual, and temperance and Black and women's suffrage activist. Member of the so-called Secret Six group of abolitionists who financed John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. He donated $10,000 to Hamilton just before his death.
Executive branch
- Drew S. Days, III, class of 1963 - United States Solicitor General, 1993–1996; later Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School
- Michael Dubke, class of 1992 - former White House Communications Director and former Executive Director of the Ripon Society
- William Henry Harrison Miller, class of 1861 - United States Attorney General, 1889–1893
- Victor H. Metcalf, Law School class of 1868 - US Secretary of the Navy
- Ralph Oman, class of 1962 - United States copyright law luminary
- Elihu Root, class of 1864 - United States Secretary of State and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912.
- James S. Sherman, class of 1878 - Vice President of the United States
- Tom Vilsack, class of 1972 - United States Secretary of Agriculture; 40th Governor of Iowa
- Jim Walden, class of 1988 - lawyer, former federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York
Judicial branch
- Charles F. Amidon, class of 1882 - Judge for the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota
- Charles Holland Duell, class of 1871 - Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Randolph Moss, class of 1983 - Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
- David Aldrich Nelson, class of 1954 - Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- Alfred W. Newman, class of 1857 - Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice
- Charles Prentiss Orr, class of 1879 - Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
- Glenni William Scofield, class of 1840 - Judge of the United States Court of Claims
- Augustus Sherrill Seymour, class of 1857 - Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
- Roger Gordon Strand, class of 1955 - Judge for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
- Amos Madden Thayer, class of 1862 - Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- John Curtiss Underwood, class of 1832 - lawyer, abolitionist politician, judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- William James Wallace, class of 1857 - Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- Hiram Wilson, class of 1832 - Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
Diplomats
- John B. Emerson, class of 1975 - United States Ambassador to Germany
- Philip Jessup, class of 1917 - diplomat, international law scholar, ambassador
- Sol Linowitz, class of 1935 - attorney, diplomat; negotiated return of the Panama Canal
- William H. Luers, class of 1951 - U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia ; U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela
- Arnold Raphel, class of 1964 - U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan
- Edward S. Walker, Jr., class of 1962 - former Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates, Middle East Institute president, Hamilton professor
- Frederick Hampden Winston, attorney, minister to Persia
State and city politicians, attorneys, activists, and other
- Dean Alfange, class of 1922 - politician; founding member of the Liberal Party of New York; Greek-American; Zionist activist
- Ashton Applewhite, Kirkland class of 1974 - writer and anti-ageism activist
- Mary Bonauto, class of 1983 - gay rights activist and attorney; successfully argued the Obergefell v. Hodges case that overturned state bans on same-sex marriage in 2015.
- Archibald W. Campbell, class of 1855 - lawyer, journalist, and abolitionist
- George W. Clinton, class of 1825 - Mayor of Buffalo, District Attorney of Ontario County, United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, Judge of the Buffalo Superior Court
- Steve Culbertson, class of 1979 - President & Chief Executive Officer at Youth Service America
- Bruce Cutler, class of 1970 - criminal defense lawyer; attorney for John Gotti and Louis Eppolito
- Angela Davis, Hamilton College Junior Year in France Program - Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, and author
- George T. Downing, attended
- Marc Elias, class of 1990 - voting rights attorney, founder of Democracy Docket
- Clarence L. Fisher, class of 1900 – businessman, real estate and timber, member New York State Assembly
- Bela Hubbard, class of 1834 - Michigan pioneer, writer, geologist, lawyer, lumberman
- William A. Jacobson, class of 1981, conservative commentator and clinical professor at Cornell Law School
- Ron Kim, class of 2001, member of New York State Assembly and first Korean-American ever elected in New York State.
- Bob Moses, class of 1956 - civil rights activist
- James Noxon, studied 1834-36, then transferred to Union College, New York State Senator, member New York State Supreme Court
- Bill Purcell, class of 1976 - mayor of Nashville
- Dan Siegel, class of 1967- Labor attorney and civil rights activist
- Lloyd Paul Stryker, class of 1906, noted American criminal defense lawyer
- Theodore Dwight Weld - abolitionist. Weld was never enrolled as a student, but about 1825 he stayed at the College in the suite of tutor William Kirkland, attended classes, and was "something of a leader among the students". According to Rev. Charles Grandison Finney, Weld "held a yery prominent place among the students of Hamilton College, and had a very great influence." He described himself as "educated at Hamilton College." "Years after he attended Hamilton College,...Weld was still remembered as one of the school's most able students."
- Christie Vilsack, Kirkland class of 1972 - literacy advocate and politician; former First Lady of Iowa
- Hiram Wilson, class of 1832 - abolitionist, educator, worked with Josiah Henson to establish the British-American Institute, delegate to the 1843 World Anti-Slavery Convention
Literature and journalism
- Samuel Hopkins Adams, class of 1891 - author and investigative journalist
- Henry Allen, class of 1963 - critic who won Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
- Albert Barnes, class of 1820 - theologian
- Josh Billings, class of 1840 - pen name of Henry Wheeler Shaw
- Terry Brooks, class of 1966 - fantasy author
- Peter Cameron, class of 1982 - novelist and short-story writer
- Benjamin Woodbridge Dwight, class of 1835 - educator and author
- Alf Evers, class of 1928 - historian
- Amanda Filipacchi, class of 1988 - author of Nude Men, Vapor, and Love Creeps
- Michael Greenspan, class of 1969—CNN correspondent and documentary filmmaker
- James Grinwis - poet
- Michael Patrick Hearn, class of 1972 - literary critic and man of letters
- Bill Henderson, class of 1967 - author and publisher; founder of Pushcart Press
- George Wheeler Hinman, class of 1884 - newspaper publisher and writer, President of Marietta College
- Harry Kondoleon, class of 1977 - author and playwright, Obie Award winner
- Chester Sanders Lord, managing editor, New York Sun; Regent of the University of the State of New York
- Sarah J. Maas, class of 2008 - author of best-selling fantasy series
- Thomas Meehan, class of 1951 - wrote the books for the musicals Annie and The Producers
- Peter Meinke, class of 1955 - poet and author
- John Nichols, class of 1962 - author of The Milagro Beanfield War and The Sterile Cuckoo
- Steve Orlando, class of 2008 - comic book writer
- Ezra Pound, class of 1905 - poet, modernist polemicist, critic
- Preeta Samarasan, class of 1998 - Malaysian author writing in English
- Kamila Shamsie, class of 1995 - novelist
- Clinton Scollard, class of 1881 - poet
- Evan Smith, class of 1987 - Texas Tribune CEO and editor-in-chief
- Mark T. Sullivan, class of 1980 - author of mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels; in addition to fourteen published works that are authored solely by him, he has written five novels with James Patterson.
- Charles Dudley Warner, class of 1851 - an attorney who became an essayist and editor; collaborated with Mark Twain on The Gilded Age. His essays have been collected. Hamilton awarded him the honorary degree Doctor of Letters.
- Alexander Woollcott, class of 1909 - critic and commentator; early contributor to The New Yorker; member of the Algonquin Round Table
- Steve Wulf, class of 1972 - American magazine journalist, editor, and book writer; former executive editor at ESPN The Magazine; worked for numerous publications including Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, The Economist, and Time.