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Gerrit Smith, Class of 1812, was valedictorian of Hamilton鈥檚 fifth graduating class. Born on March 6, 1797, he was one of the nation鈥檚 richest men 鈥� and one of the most radical, uncompromising, unforgiving, and hard-nosed leaders of American鈥檚 movement to abolish slavery. Here are a dozen facts about one of Hamilton鈥檚 most inspiring and influential alumni.

Long before Ezra Pound made a name for himself through his poetry or political viewpoints, he strolled the paths of College Hill. His association with his alma mater, like his life in general, was riddled with controversy. Pound, Class of 1905, may rank just behind statesman Elihu Root, Class of 1864, on the list of Hamilton鈥檚 most prominent alumni. Still, after his graduation Pound returned only twice to campus, and on one of those visits he got into a shouting match.

Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States. That was unique, as was his marriage in the White House at age 49 to his ward, Frances Folsom, a recent Wells College graduate. But why is any of this of interest to readers of the Alumni Review? The relevance is that young Grover planned to enroll at the college on the hill in Clinton, N.Y., where his family had lived. His older brother and mentor, William, graduated from Hamilton in 1851. But family finances and the death of his father precluded the president-to-be from enrolling.

This may be as much a lesson about reach and curiosity as it is about history.

Alonzo Jay Whiteman, Class of 1881, will not be remembered as one of Hamilton鈥檚 most distinguished graduates. Nevertheless, published reports of his illustrious career as a con man who may have swindled as much as $5 million throughout his lifetime consistently mention his four academic years in Clinton, New York.

Frederic Hastings Smyth, Class of 1909, may seem an unlikely revolutionary. Born in Clinton in 1888, the scion of a wealthy family of local industrialists and Hamiltonians, he dabbled in a dizzying range of personal and professional interests, from the military to mysticism. He explored Europe and embraced science only to return to the Hill as an eccentric cleric, winning adherents but making important enemies. Departing for more hospitable territory, he ultimately forged a religious order that married Catholicism and Marxism 鈥� one whose delicate balance of radical politics and theology earned the FBI鈥檚 attention but ultimately died with Smyth himself.

His likeness portrayed in life size in the foyer of Buttrick Hall, Elihu Root, Class of 1864, stands contemplative. A deep crease sits between two brown eyebrows, and his lips arc almost downward in a frown. One might wonder what he was thinking as the French artist Th茅obald Chartran rendered his portrait in 1903. Root had yet to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, but was already building the extensive portfolio in international relations that would lead to the prize a few years later. As secretary of war under presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, he had created a plan to return Cuba to the Cubans, he had written a democratic charter for the governance of the Philippines, and he had directed far-reaching internal changes to the War Department and military education in the U.S.

To help attract the Kirkland College charter class, the College鈥檚 new Admission Office, directed by Carole Walker, took the unusual step of taking out a full-page advertisement in the Dec. 29, 1967, issue of Time magazine. 鈥淲hen you send your daughter to college,鈥� the advertisement asked provocatively, 鈥渨ill she get an education?鈥� At Kirkland, it promised, in language designed to resonate with its target audience in that year of Sgt. Pepper, education would be 鈥渁 mind-expanding experience.鈥�

During the 1920s, the Hamilton humor magazine the Royal Gaboon found a frequent target in Prohibition, which inspired student liquor runs across the Canadian border. No political issue in the 1920s served to define the decade so memorably, nor divided Americans so bitterly, as that of Prohibition.

As a program officer at Carnegie Corporation as well as a Hamilton alumnus, I have a special bond with our founder, Andrew Carnegie. And as both the corporation and the College approach landmarks in their history, I celebrate these extraordinary institutions with gratitude, appreciation and 鈥� most recently 鈥� a bit of research.