The University of Notre Dame's annual commencement exercises are held each May, currently in the Notre Dame Stadium . The exercises award undergraduate and graduate degrees.
During commencement, the Laetare Medal is awarded.[ 1] [ 2]
Notre Dame is known for inviting US presidents to deliver the commencement address, especially in the year of their inauguration.[ 3] [ 4] [ 5] Seven U.S. presidents have delivered the address, including John F. Kennedy , Dwight D. Eisenhower , Jimmy Carter , Ronald Reagan , George H. W. Bush , George W. Bush , and Barack Obama .[ 6] Most recently, Vice President Mike Pence spoke instead of President Donald Trump , as the president was visiting Saudi Arabia .[ 7] [ 8] Notre Dame leads the non-military university by most presidents delivering the address at commencement.[ 9] Joe Biden (who had previously spoken at commencement in 2016 as the awardee of the Laetare Medal) was invited in 2021, but could not attend due to scheduling issues.[ 10]
List of Commencement speakers [ edit ]
1861: John McMullen , priest and teacher from Chicago
1865: William Tecumseh Sherman , Union General during the Civil War
1867: T.E. Corcoran, editor of The Catholic Telegraph
1870: Paul Broder, professor from Beloit College , Wisconsin
1871: Augustus C. Dodge , U.S. Senator from Iowa
1872: Joseph Dwenger , Bishop of Fort Wayne, Indiana
1873: John J. Fitzgibbon, editor of The Western Catholic
1874: S. S. Hayes, Comptroller from City of Chicago
1875: J. S. Morris, from Vicksburg, Mississippi
1876: William J. Onahan, Chicago Catholic activist and businessman
1877: Frank H. Hurd , U.S. Congressman from Ohio
1878: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria, Illinois
1879: No commencement exercises due to the great fire
1880: Edmund Francis Dunne , Chief Justice of Arizona
1881: W. W. Cleary, from Covington, Kentucky
1882: Silas Chatard , Bishop of Vincennes , Indiana
1883: John Ambrose Watterson , Bishop of Columbus, Ohio
1884: Ignacio Montes de Oca y Obregón , Bishop of Linares, Mexico
1885: The scheduled speaker Major General William S. Rosecrans canceled his commitment due to duties in Washington, D.C.
1886: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria , [Illinois
1887: Richard Gilmour , Bishop of Cleveland
1888: P. F. Carr, from Denver, Colorado
1889: William P. Breen, Alumnus from Fort Wayne, Indiana
1890: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria , Illinois
1891: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria , Illinois
1892: John Samuel Foley , Bishop of Detroit, Michigan
1893: Robert Seton , priest from the Diocese of Newark, N.J.
1894: John Ambrose Watterson , Bishop of Columbus, Ohio
1895: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria , Illinois
1896: Thomas A. Moran, judge from Chicago
1897: Joseph F. Mooney, priest from the Archdiocese of New York
1898: Maurice Francis Burke , Bishop of St. Joseph, Missouri
1899: John Lancaster Spalding , Bishop of Peoria , Illinois
1900: John J. Glennon , Bishop of Kansas City, Missouri
1901: John Shanley , Bishop of Fargo, North Dakota
1902: William P. Breen A.B. ’77, A.M. ’80 from Fort Wayne, Indiana
1903: John M. Gearin , attorney from Portland, Oregon
1904: Charles Joseph Bonaparte , attorney, progressive reformer, member of the Board of Indian Commissioners
1905: Marcus A. Kavanagh, judge from Chicago
1906: D. J. Stafford, priest and lecturer from Washington, D.C.
1907: John Talbot Smith, priest, author, lecturer from New York City
1908: Charles P. Neill , U.S. Commissioner of Labor
1909: Hannis Taylor , United States Ambassador to Spain , authority on international law
1910: Thomas R. Marshall , Governor of Indiana
1911: Charles Fitzpatrick , Chief Justice of Canada
1912: Thomas Francis Hickey , Bishop of Rochester, New York
1913: James M. Cox , Governor of Ohio
1914: Joseph E. Ransdell , U.S. Senator from Louisiana
1915: John F. Fitzgerald , Mayor of Boston and U.S. Representative
1916: Martin J. Wade , Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa and Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
1917: Joseph Chartrand , Coadjutor, Bishop of Indianapolis
1918: Edward N. Hurley , Chairman of the United States Shipping Board
1919: Francis Bickerstaffe-Drew , English war chaplain and novelist
1920: Morgan J. O'Brien , Judge of the New York Supreme Court
1921: David I. Walsh , U.S. Senator from Massachusetts
1922: Kickham Scanlan, Chief Justice of the Criminal Court, Chicago
1923: Thomas Lindsey Blayney, diplomat, veteran of the world war, educator from Rice University , Huston
1924: Woodbridge N. Ferris , U.S. Senator from Michigan
1925: Edmond H. Moore, Democratic National Committee member and attorney from Youngstown, Ohio
1926: Dudley G. Wooten , former U.S. Representative from Texas and Professor of Law at the Notre Dame Law School
1927: Alfred J. Talley, judge on the circuit court of appeals of New York City
1928: Francis O'Shaughnessy, attorney, Chicago
1929: Colonel William J. Donovan , former United States Assistant Attorney General and war hero from Buffalo, New York
1930: Claude G. Bowers , author, editor, orator
1931: Angus Daniel McDonald , Treasurer of the United States Railroad Commission
1932: Owen D. Young , New York City financier
1933: Paul V. McNutt , Governor of Indiana
1934: Frank C. Walker , Chairman of the National Emergency Council
1935: Shane Leslie , essayist, dramatist, lecturer
1936: William James Mayo , cofounder of Mayo Clinic
1937: Dennis F. Kelly, president of The Fair Store , a Chicago department store
1938: Terence Byrne Cosgrove, attorney from San Francisco
1939: William Henry Harrison , Vice-President and Chief Engineer of AT&T
1940: D. Worth Clark , U.S. Senator from Idaho
1941: Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. , United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
1942: J. Edgar Hoover , Director of the FBI
1942-Winter: William F. Jeffers
1943: Arthur J. Hope, author and editor
1943-Winter: Harry Kelly , former Governor of Michigan
1944: Thomas J. Brennan, Notre Dame professor of philosophy
1945: Phillip S. Moore, dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School
1946: George Sokolsky , columnist
1947: General George Kenney , Chief of the Strategic Air Command
1948: Paul G. Hoffman , Director of Economic Cooperation Administration , Washington, D.C.
1949: John Stephen Burke, President of B. Altman and Company , New York City
1950-Winter: John F. Kennedy , U.S. Congressman (and later President of the United States of America )
1950: John Hearne , ambassador of Ireland to the U.S.
1951: Francis P. Matthews , Secretary of the Navy
1952: Charles Malik , Minister of Lebanon to the U.S.
1953: Detlev Bronk , president of the Johns Hopkins University
1954: James Rhyne Killian , president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1955: Herbert Brownell Jr. , Attorney General of the United States
1956: Admiral Arleigh Burke , Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy
1957: Earl Warren , Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
1958: James P. Mitchell , Secretary of Labor
1959: John A. McCone , Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission
1960: Dwight D. Eisenhower , 34th President of the United States [ 11]
1961: Sargent Shriver , Director of the Peace Corps
1962: Henry Cabot Lodge , US Ambassador to the United Nations
1963: Lester B. Pearson , Prime Minister of Canada
1964: Thomas C. Mann , Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
1965: McGeorge Bundy , Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
1966: Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth , economist, London, England
1967: Eugene McCarthy , U.S. Senator from Minnesota
1968: James Alfred Perkins , president of Cornell University
1969: Daniel Patrick Moynihan , Assistant to the President for Urban Affairs
1970: James E. Allen Jr. , U.S. Commissioner of Education
1971: Kenneth Keniston, Yale Medical School
1972: Kingman Brewster Jr. , president of Yale University
1973: Malcolm Moos , president of the University of Minnesota
1974: Rosemary Park , professor of education, UCLA
1975: Alan J. Pifer, president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
1976: Vernon Jordan , Executive Director of the National Urban League
1977: Jimmy Carter , 39th President of the United States
1978: William F. Buckley Jr. , editor of The National Review
1979: Joseph A. Califano Jr. , Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
1980: Benjamin Civiletti , Attorney General of the United States
1981: Ronald Reagan , 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan , then the President of the United States , addressed the graduating class of 1981
1982: Pierre Trudeau , Prime Minister of Canada
1983: Cardinal Joseph Bernardin , Archbishop of Chicago
1984: Loret Miller Ruppe , Director of the Peace Corps
1985: José Napoleón Duarte , President of El Salvador
1986: Bishop James William Malone , Bishop of Youngstown and president of the United States Catholic Conference
1987: Derek Bok , president of Harvard University
1988: Andrew Young , Mayor of Atlanta , Georgia
1989: Peter Ueberroth , Commissioner of Major League Baseball
1990: Bill Cosby , actor and producer
1991: Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, editor of Commonweal
1992: George H. W. Bush , 41st President of the United States
1993: Tom Brokaw , NBC news anchor
1994: Albert Reynolds , Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland
1995: Condoleezza Rice , Provost of Stanford University (later U.S. Secretary of State )
1996: Mary Ann Glendon , Learned Hand professor of law , Harvard University
1997: Mark Shields , political Commentator and columnist
1998: Joe Kernan , Indiana Lieutenant Governor
1999: Elizabeth Dole , president of the American Red Cross
2000: Kofi Annan , Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997–2006)
2001: George W. Bush , 43rd President of the United States (2001–2009)
2002: Tim Russert , host of NBC's Meet the Press
2003: Richard Lugar , U.S. Senator from Indiana (1977–2013)
2004: Alan Page , Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and former Notre Dame and National Football League football player
2005: Vartan Gregorian , President of the Carnegie Corporation of New York
2006: Mary McAleese , President of Ireland (1997–2011)
2007: Jeff Immelt , CEO of General Electric
2008: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick , Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C.
2009: Barack Obama , 44th President of the United States (2009–2017) Barack Obama at the commencement ceremony on May 17, 2009.
2010: Brian Williams , anchor of NBC Nightly News
2011: Robert Gates , United States Secretary of Defense (2006–2011)
2012: Haley Scott DeMaria, alumna and motivational speaker injured in a tragic 1992 bus accident involving the Notre Dame swimming team
2013: Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan , Archbishop of New York and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
2014: Ray Hammond II, Founder of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
2015: Lord Chris Patten (Lord Patten of Barnes), Chancellor of the University of Oxford (2003–present)[ 12]
2016: General Martin Dempsey , former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2011–2015)[ 13]
2017: Mike Pence , 48th Vice President of the United States (2017–2021) and former Governor of Indiana (2013–2017)[ 14]
2018: Sergio Moro , Brazilian judge, a leader in his country's anti-corruption movement
2019: Peggy Noonan , Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Wall Street Journal , speechwrite for President Ronald Reagan
2020: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople , Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The 2020 Commencement Celebration was held in 2022 and the speaker was John Crowley , CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization ).
2021: Jimmy Dunne, Vice Chairman and Senior Managing Principal of Piper Sandler Companies .
2022: Borys Gudziak , Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and President of Ukrainian Catholic University [ 15]
2023: Juan Manuel Santos , former President of Colombia (2010–2018) and recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize [ 16] [ 17]
2024: John I. Jenkins , 17th President of the University of Notre Dame (2005–2024)
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