Background
He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1913 and attended Harvard University.
He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1913 and attended Harvard University.
Green was considered sure to make the team in 1936, but chose not to participate.
He first equaled the world mark of 5.8 seconds in 45-yard high hurdles in 1935 at a track meet with Yale University and Princeton University. He tied the world record for 60-Meter high hurdles of 7.5 seconds at an Olympic trial heat at Madison Square Garden in early 1936. He protested the event being held in Berlin, center of Nazi Germany.
Although Green remained a world class hurdler for many years, he was convinced by his Rabbi to Boycott the Olympic Games based on what was happening in Nazi Germany.
The boycott by Milton Green and Harvard teammate Norman Cahners was not publicized at the time. Green had this to say on an interview transcribed by the United States Holocaust Museum.
"Both Cahners and I decided that we would boycott the Olympics. We just felt it was the right thing to do.
I spoke to the track coach at Harvard.
We told him about our intention. He tried to persuade us not to do lieutenant He said he didn"t think it would do much good, and we should try to go to the final tryouts and try to make the team
But we didn"t want to do that.
After we boycotted the Olympics, no one came to speak to us or ask us if we"d make any statements about lieutenant And I don"t think anyone knew particularly that we did boycott lieutenant
After service in the United States Army in World World War II, Milton became a shopping center developer until he retired in 1971. He was inducted into The Harvard Athletic Hall of Fame in 1961.
He was elected into The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.