Hailing to the Chiefs
Seven Presidents (John Adams, James Monroe, Franklin Pierce, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, and Dwight Eisenhower) have received honorary degrees from Dartmouth. Bill Clinton, however, will be only the third seated President honored. In addition, the College missed two opportunities to give degrees to Presidents.
John Adams
Minister Plenipotentiary to the United Netherlands when Dartmouth gave him his degree—in absentia in 1782.
James Monroe
The first seated President to visit Hanover and the only one to leave with two degrees. Dartmouth College and Dartmouth University both honored Monroe in 1817. Ayear and half later the Supreme Court voided the University degree in its decision on The Trustees of Dartmouth College vs. William H. Woodward.
Franklin Pierce
Brother Benjamin Pierce, class of 1812, left under a cloud after shooting a cannon inside Dartmouth Hall. The College bestowed a degree on ex-President Franklin in 1860.
Abraham Lincoln
The Trustees voted to award Lincoln the only honorary degree at the 1863 Commencement. President Nathan Lord, a vocal believer in the divine ordination of slavery, told the Board he would resign if the College conferred a degree on Lincoln. The Board caved.
Woodrow Wilson
President of Princeton in 1909 when he visited Dartmouth at the inauguration of Ernest Fox Nichols. The College gave Wilson an LL.D.
William Howard Taft
Visited the College in 1912 but didn't get a degree. The Yale graduate told undergrads that "Dartmouth is more like Yale than any other American College." He appeared to mean it as a compliment.
Herbert Hoover
In 1920 Ernest Martin Hopkins '01 cited Hoover, then a world hero for his humanitarian work, as an "eloquent spokeman of a great nation's better self."
Franklin Roosevelt
In 1929, the New York governor took time out from his 25th reunion at Harvard to receive a Dartmouth degree.
Dwight Eisenhower
Ike's "book-burning speech" at Dartmouth's 1953 Commencement was one of the most important of his Presidency.
FDR left Harvard tocome to Dartmouth.
Taftstopped forlunch.
Franklin'sbrothertook a powder.
Herb showed us his better self.
A pro-slaveryprexy refusedto put up withAbe's honor.
Wilsonwas thePrincetonprez whenbe snaggeda Greendegree.
