Hugh M. Milton II
Hugh M. Milton II (March 23, 1897 – January 27, 1987) was a U.S. Army major general and a government official. He was born in El Paso, Texas, and is descended from the British poet John Milton. He studied at the University of Kentucky, earning a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering.
Milton joined the Army around the time the United States entered World War I. In 1924 he joined New Mexico State University as a professor of mechanical engineering, and two years later he became the dean of engineering. He was named president of New Mexico State University in 1938.
With the start of U.S. involvement in World War II in 1941, Milton was recalled to the Army as a colonel. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1945 and left the Army in 1947 as a major general.
Returning to academia, he again served as president of New Mexico State University starting in 1947. In 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated him as Assistant Secretary of the Army, a post he held until 1958. He then became the United States Under Secretary of the Army, serving from August 1958 to January 1961. Milton retired from government service in 1961.
He died on January 27, 1987, at the age of 89 in El Paso, Texas, at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:50 (CET).