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William & Mary History

This guide provides an overview of sources, both primary & secondary, for conducting research related to William & Mary.

Charter Day Speakers

1800s

1859 John Tyler – former U.S. President, Rector of the Board of Visitors
1893 J. Allen Watts
1893 Robert M. Hughes

1900s

 

1900 – 1949

1923 Albert Bushnell Hart — former President of American Historical Association and former President of the American Political Science Association
1937 Wesley Frank Craven — visiting professor of history from New York University
1939 George Arents — former chairman of the Syracuse University Board of Trustees
1940 Charles Warren — Former Assistant Attorney General of the United States, and Pulitzer Prize winning author
1941 Max Lerner — Author and syndicated columnist
1942 James T. Shotwell — Bryce Professor of the History of International Relations at Columbia University
1943 Oliver C. Carmichael — Chancellor of Vanderbilt University
1944 Lindsay Rogers — Burgess Professor of Public Law, Columbia University
1945 Kenneth Chorley — President of Williamsburg Restoration and Colonial Williamsburg
1946 James William Fulbright — U.S. Senator (Arkansas)
1947 The Right Honorable the Lord Inverchapel — British Ambassador to the U.S.
1948 Paul Eliot Green — Playwright
1949 Frederick D.G. Ribble — Dean, Department of Law, The University of Virginia

 

1950 – 1999

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)

 

2000s

 

2000 – present

2000 Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher — Former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Chancellor of William & Mary
2001 Henry A. Kissinger — Former Secretary of State, Chancellor of William & Mary
2002 Michael K. Powell ’85 — Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
2003 Kofi A. Annan — Secretary-General of the United Nations
2004 David D. McKiernan — Lieutenant General, Commanding General, Third U.S. Army Commander, Coalition Land Forces – Second Gulf War
2005 James H. Billington — Librarian of Congress
2006 Timothy M. Kaine — Governor of Virginia
2007 Chuck Hagel — U.S. Senator (Nebraska)
2008 James B. Comey '82 — former Deputy Attorney General of the U.S., General Counsel and Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin
2009 Jim Webb — U.S. Senator (Virginia)
2010 Robert F. McDonnell — Governor of Virginia
2011 Eric Cantor, J.D.'88 — U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader
2012 Robert M. Gates '65 L.H.D. '98 — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, former Director of the CIA, and Chancellor of William & Mary
2013 Robert M. Gates '65 L.H.D. '98 — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, former Director of the CIA, and Chancellor of William & Mary
2014 Terry McAuliffe — Governor of Virginia
2015 James B. Murray, Jr., J.D. ’74, LL.D. ’00 — Former Rector of the Board of Visitors and Venture Capitalist.
2016 Ellen Stofan '83 — NASA Chief Scientist
2017 Michael “Pinball” Clemons ’89 — American-Canadian sports executive and former Canadian Football League player
2018 Ralph Northam — Governor of Virginia
2019 Katherine A. Rowe — President of William & Mary
2020 Katherine A. Rowe — President of William & Mary
2020 Robert M. Gates '65 L.H.D. '98 — Former U.S. Secretary of Defense, former Director of the CIA, and Chancellor of William & Mary