Index
Scholarships
The Edith Hale Harkness Scholarship
The Edith Hale Harkness Scholarship, established in memory of Edith Hale Harkness by Milton P. Kayle, Class of 1943 and a former trustee of the College, is awarded with ¬preference given to students in the performing arts.
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, Milton Kayle graduated from Hamilton in January of 1943 and was appointed to the National Institute of Public Affairs by its founder Frederick M. Davenport H1933, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1925-33) and the Hamilton faculty (1904-29). Mr. Kayle passed up cryptography in the Signal Corps and the U.S. Navy Japanese course to represent New York State as one of 50 students in the program. The six month military deferment resulted in his assignment to the U.S. Army’s infantry on the European front. Following his honorable discharge, he earned a J.D. at Harvard Law School.
Encouraged by his public affairs experience, Mr. Kayle settled in Washington, D.C. where he subsequently held a number of government positions. In 1951, he was selected as a Special Assistant to, and the youngest member of, President Harry S. Truman’s staff. Following his service to President Truman, he moved to New York and embarked on a corporate legal career where he represented television and sports personalities including Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin, Jackie Robinson and the ballet doyenne, Rebecca Harkness. Additionally, he negotiated television production and syndication contracts and became a pioneer in merchandise licensing. He represented the New York World’s Fair, Expo ’67 and HemisFair ’68, as well as the Major League Players Association and the American Football League Players Association. Invited to join the Judson Welliver Society, an organization of former presidential speechwriters, he remained a member for the remainder of his life.
He became a director of the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in 1993, serving as treasurer (1996-98) and secretary (1999-2008). Upon his retirement from the governing board, he was named a trustee, a position he held until his passing in 2012.
Milton Kayle was a loyal and active alumnus who served as a College Trustee, the first chair of planned giving and the half-century annalist for the Class of 1943. He received the 2006 Bell Ringer Award in recognition of his service to the College. He established this scholarship in 1997 to honor his friend and former client, Edith Hale Harkness.
February 2016
Please note: The named scholarships profiled on these pages are awarded as part of the College’s need-based financial aid packages. These funds help ensure the Hamilton Promise of keeping education affordable through meeting a student’s full demonstrated financial need.
Materials published here were diligently researched and written by students who strived for historical accuracy.
