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Commencement at the University of Notre Dame
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.
Traditions
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] Six recent presidents have delivered the address, including
Dwight D. Eisenhower ,
Jimmy Carter ,
Ronald Reagan ,
George 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]
Joseph 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
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 Riley Marshall ,
Governor of Indiana
1911:
Charles Fitzpatrick ,
Chief Justice of Canada
1912:
Thomas F. 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 Joseph 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 J. 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:
David Worth Clark ,
U.S. Senator from
Idaho
1941:
Joseph P. Kennedy ,
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 F. 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 C. 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 J. Hearne , ambassador of Ireland to the U.S.
1951:
Francis Patrick Matthews ,
Secretary of the Navy
1952:
Charles Malik , Minister of
Lebanon to the U.S.
1953:
Detlev W. Bronk , president of the
Johns Hopkins University
1954:
James R. Killian , president of
M.I.T.
1955:
Herbert Brownell ,
Attorney General of the United States
1956:
Admiral
Arleigh A. 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 McCone , Chairman of the
Atomic Energy Commission
1960:
Dwight D. Eisenhower , 34th
President of the United States
[11]
1961:
Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. , 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 , economist, London, England
1967:
Eugene J. McCarthy , U.S. Senator from
Minnesota
1968:
James A. Perkins , president of
Cornell University
1969:
Daniel P. 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 E. Jordan Jr. , 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 Bernadin ,
Archbishop of Chicago
1984:
Loret Miller Ruppe , Director of the
Peace Corps
1985:
Jose Napoleon Duarte Fuentes ,
President of El Salvador
1986:
Bishop
James W. Malone ,
Bishop of Youngstown and president of the
United States Catholic Conference
1987:
Derek Bok , president of
Harvard University
1988:
Andrew Jackson 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 E. Kernan ,
Indiana Lieutenant Governor
1999:
Elizabeth Dole , president of the
American Red Cross
2000:
Kofi Annan ,
Secretary-General of the United Nations
2001:
George W. Bush , 43rd
President of the United States
2002:
Tim Russert , host of NBC's
Meet the Press
2003:
Richard Lugar ,
U.S. Senator from
Indiana
2004:
Alan Page , Associate Justice of the
Minnesota Supreme Court
2005:
Vartan Gregorian , president of the
Carnegie Corporation
2006:
Mary McAleese ,
President of Ireland
2007:
Jeffrey Immelt , CEO of
General Electric
2008:
Cardinal
Theodore E. McCarrick , Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C.
2009:
Barack Obama , 44th
President of the United States
Barack Obama at the commencement ceremony on May 17, 2009.
2010:
Brian Williams , anchor of
NBC Nightly News
2011:
Robert Gates ,
Secretary of Defense
2012: Haley Scott DeMaria, alumna and motivational speaker
2013:
Cardinal Timothy Dolan ,
Archbishop of New York
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
[12]
2016:
General
Martin E. Dempsey ,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
[13]
2017:
Mike Pence , 48th
Vice President of the United States
[14]
2018:
Sérgio Moro
2019:
Peggy Noonan
2020:
Bartholomew I of Constantinople (cancelled due to the COVID19 pandemic. The 2020 Commencement Celebration was held in 2022 and the speaker was
John Crowley ).
2021: Jimmy Dunne, Financier and Notre Dame Trustee
2022:
Borys Gudziak , Archeparch of the
Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
[15]
2023:
Juan Manuel Santos , former
President of Colombia and recipient of the
2016 Nobel Peace Prize
[16]
[17]
See also
References
External links
Official website
Topics Schools and colleges Academics Campus buildings Residence halls
Athletics Culture and the arts Campus art Key people