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