| 1950 |
Ceremony cancelled by President Pomfret |
| 1951 |
John A. Krout — Dean of Graduate Studies, Columbia University |
| 1952 |
Raymond B. Pinchbeck — Professor of Applied Economics and Dean of Richmond College, The University of Richmond |
| 1953 |
Douglas S. Freeman — Journalist and Historian |
| 1954 |
John A. Krout — Vice-President and Provost, Columbia University |
| 1955 |
Bolitha J. Laws — Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia |
| 1956 |
Lewis A. McMurran — Member of the House of Delegates, The General Assembly of Virginia |
| 1957 |
Julian Parks Boyd — Princeton University, Editor, “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson” |
| 1958 |
Harold Lees Fowler — Professor of History, William & Mary |
| 1959 |
Graves Glenwood Clark — Chancellor Professor of English, William & Mary |
| 1960 |
Walter Spencer Robertson — Former Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs |
| 1961 |
Carlisle H. Humelsine — President, Colonial Williamsburg |
| 1962 |
Harold Lees Fowler — Chair, Department of History, William & Mary |
| 1963 |
Julian Parks Boyd — Princeton University, Editor, “The Papers of Thomas Jefferson” |
| 1964 |
Julius Adams Stratton — President, M.I.T. |
| 1965 |
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. — President, American Bar Association |
| 1966 |
Marjorie Hope Nicolson — Professor of English, Emeritus, Columbia University, and Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton |
| 1967 |
John Walker — Director, National Gallery of Art |
| 1968 |
Sir Patrick Henry Dean — British Ambassador to the U.S. |
| 1968 |
Bishop Robert Wright Stopford — Bishop of London |
| 1969 |
Robert Quarles Marston — Director, National Institutes of Health |
| 1970 |
Arthur Lehman Goodhart — University College, Oxford |
| 1971 |
Davis Y. Paschall — President of William & Mary |
| 1972 |
Thomas Ashley Graves, Jr. — President of William & Mary |
| 1973 |
Colgate W. Darden, Jr. — Former Congressman, Former Governor of Virginia, Former Chancellor of William & Mary |
| 1974 |
Edgar F. Shannon, Jr. — President of the University of Virginia |
| 1975 |
Virginius Dabney — historian, author, journalist and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing |
| 1976 |
Sir Peter Ramsbotham — British Ambassador to the U.S. |
| 1977 |
Carter O. Lowance — Special Assistant to Virginia Governor |
| 1977 |
Mills E. Godwin, Jr. — Former Virginia Commissioner of Administration |
| 1978 |
Ernest L. Boyer — U.S. Commissioner of Education |
| 1979 |
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court |
| 1980 |
Reverend Theodore M. Hesburg — President of the University of Notre Dame |
| 1981 |
John W. Warner — U.S. Senator (Virginia) |
| 1982 |
Hays T. Watkins — President, CSX Corporation |
| 1983 |
Charles S. Robb — Governor of Virginia |
| 1984 |
J. Carter Brown — Director, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
| 1985 |
Donald W. Pritchard — Professor, Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York, Stony Brook |
| 1986 |
Clark Kerr — President Emeritus, The University of California |
| 1987 |
Warren E. Burger — Chancellor of William & Mary, former Chief Justice of the United States |
| 1987 |
Gerald L. Baliles — Governor of Virginia |
| 1988 |
Robert Wedgeworth — Dean of the School of Library Service, Columbia University |
| 1989 |
James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern — Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain |
| 1990 |
Eric Sevareid — CBS News Consultant |
| 1991 |
Fang Lizhi — Professor of Astrophysics and Former Vice Chancellor of China Science and Technology University |
| 1992 |
D. Allan Bromley — Assistant to the President of the U.S. for Science and Technology |
| 1993 |
His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales |
| 1994 |
Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher — Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Chancellor of William & Mary |
| 1995 |
David S. Broder — National political correspondent and columnist for The Washington Post |
| 1996 |
Pamela Churchill Harriman — U.S. Ambassador to France |
| 1997 |
David McCullough — Pulitzer Prize winning author |
| 1998 |
Robert M. Gates ’65 — Director of the Central Intelligence Agency |
| 1999 |
Richard G. Lugar — U.S. Senator (Indiana) |
