Below is a chronological list of previous Commencement speakers.
Year Name Details
1888 Daniel Coit Gilman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1889 Albion Woodbury Small Professor of History & Political Economy, Colby University
1890 Ira Remsen Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University
1891 Bishop Randolph of Philadelphia
1893 Daniel Coit Gilman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1894 Walter H. Page Editor, “The Forum”
1896 C. Morton Stewart President of the Johns Hopkins Board of Trustees
1897 Ira Remsen Professor of Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University
1898 Daniel Coit Gilman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1899 Herbert Putnam Librarian of Congress
1900 William Osler Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
1901 Henry M. Hurd Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University
1902 E.R.L Gould City Chamberlain of New York
1903 Abram Winegardner Harris Director, Jacob Tome Institute
1905 Talcott Williams
1906 Bliss Perry Editor, “The Atlantic Monthly”
1908 Professor Henry T. Bovey Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
1910 Johann Heinrich von Rernstorff German Ambassador to the United States
1911 Eugene A. Noble President, Goucher College
1912 William C. Gorgas Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Army
1913 Albert Shaw Editor, “Review of Reviews”
1914 Robert Latham Owen Senator from Oklahoma
1917 Newton Baker Secretary of War
1918 Edward K. Graham President, University of North Carolina
1920 Albert C. Richie Governor, Maryland
1927 Joseph Sweetman Ames Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University
1928 Joseph Sweetman Ames Acting President, The Johns Hopkins University
1929 Frederick George Donnan Professor of General Chemistry, University College, London
1930 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1931 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1932 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1933 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1934 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1935 Joseph Sweetman Ames President, The Johns Hopkins University
1936 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1937 Harry Emerson Fosdick
1938 Lord Stamp Former Director of the Bank of London
1939 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1940 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1941 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1943 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1944 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1946 Isaiah Bowman President, The Johns Hopkins University
1947 Owen Latimore Director, Walter Hines Page School of International Relations
1948 Lindsay Rogers Professor of Public Law & Government, Georgetown University
1949 Vannevar Bush Head of U.S. Office of Scientific Development & Research
1950 James Hamilton Owens
1951 Detlev Bronk President, The Johns Hopkins University
1952 John Foster Dulles Secretary of State
1953 Walter Sherman Gifford U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom
1954 Joseph Henry Willits Dean, University of Pennsylvania Law School
1955 Dag Hammarskjold Secretary General of the United Nations
1956 Devereux Colt Josephs
1957 Nathan M. Pusey President, Harvard University
1958 Harold Macmillan Prime Minister, United Kingdom
1959 John Rhyne Killian, Jr. President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1960 John William Nason President, Foreign Policy Association
1961 Edward K. Murrow Director, United States Information Agency
1962 Julius Adams Stratton President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1963 Otto F. Kraushaar President, Goucher College
1964 Lester Bowles Pearson Prime Minister, Canada
1965 George Boas Professor Emeritus, History of Philosophy
1966 Thurgood Marshall Solicitor General of the United States
1967 Milton Stover Eisenhower President, The Johns Hopkins University
1968 Pendleton Herring President, American Political Science Association
1969 Kingman Brewster, Jr. President, Yale University
1970 Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. President, Michigan State University
1971 Alexander Heard Chancellor, Vanderbilt University
1972 Steven Muller President, The Johns Hopkins University
1973 Earl Warren Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
1974 Rafael Hernandez Colon Governor, Puerto Rico
1975 William Scranton Former Governor, Pennsylvania
1976 Tom Wicker

Lewis Thomas

New York Times Columnist

President, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute

1977 Isaac Asimov

William D. McElroy

Author

Chancellor, University of California, San Diego

1978 Hyman Rickover

John R. Evans

Retired U.S. Navy Admiral

President, University of Toronto

1979 Dick Cavett

Rosalyn S. Yalow

Talk Show Host

Nobel Prize Winner, Biomedical Researcher, VA Hospital, The Bronx, New York

1980 Roger Stevens

Leonard Bernstein

Chairman of the Board, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Composer & Conductor

1981 Franklin D. Murphy Chairman, Times-Mirror Co.
1982 William Donald Schaefer

Ralf G. Dahrendorf

Mayor, Baltimore

Director, London School of Economics

1983 Bill Bradley

Harry Woolf

U.S. Senator, D-NJ

Director, Institute for Advanced Study

1984 William F. Buckley, Jr.

Paul Volcker

Journalist & Author

Chairman, Federal Reserve Board

1985 John Houseman

James W. Rouse

Actor

Developer

1986 Roger Revelle

Eric R. Kandel

Professor, University of California, San Diego

Professor, Columbia University

1987 Howard Cosell

M. Vartan Gregorian

Sportscaster

President, New York Public Library

1988 Mario Cuomo

J. William Fulbright

Governor, New York

Former Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, U.S. Senate

1989 Kenneth M. Duberstein

Javier Perez de Cuellar

Former White House Chief of Staff, Reagan administration

Secretary General of the United Nations

1990 Garry Trudeau

Sol Linowitz

Cartoonist

U.S. Diplomat

1991 Tom Clancy

Thomas R. Odhiambo

Novelist

Founder & Director, Center for Insect Physiology & Ecology

1992 Lee Iaccocca

Brian Mulroney

Chairman, Chrysler Corp.

Prime Minister, Canada

1993 Barry Levinson

Richard von Weizscker

Filmmaker

President, Federal Republic of Germany

1994 Benjamin Carson

Madeleine K. Albright

Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hopsital

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

1995 Ted Koppel

Barbara A. Mikulski

ABC News Nightline Anchor

U.S. Senator, D-MD

1996 George H.W. Bush

Sadako Ogata

Former U.S. President

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

1997 Timothy Johnson

William R. Brody

Medical Editor, ABC News

President, The Johns Hopkins University

1998 Elizabeth Dole

William R. Brody

President, American Red Cross

President, The Johns Hopkins University

1999 John McCain

William R. Brody

U.S. Senator, R-Ariz.

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2000 George Tenet

William R. Brody

CIA Director

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2001 Al Hunt

William R. Brody

Wall Street Journal Executive Washington Editor

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2002 Tom Brokaw

William R. Brody

NBC Nightly News Anchor

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2003 Michael Bloomberg

William R. Brody

Mayor, New York

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2004 Bill Cosby

William R. Brody

Actor & Comedian

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2005 Al Gore

William R. Brody

Former U.S. Vice President

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2006 Elias Zerhouni

William R. Brody

Director, National Institutes of Health

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2007 Brian Billick

William R. Brody

Baltimore Ravens Head Coach

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2008 Bill Nye

William R. Brody

The Science Guy

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2009 Nancy Pelosi

Ronald Daniels

Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives

President, The Johns Hopkins University

2010 Michael Bloomberg Mayor, New York and Johns Hopkins alum
2011 Fareed Zakaria Host, CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS”and Editor-at-Large, Time magazine
2012 Samuel J. Palmisano Chairman of the board, IBM, Chair of IBM’s Executive Committee, and Johns Hopkins alum
2013 Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa Johns Hopkins Neuroscientist & Neurosurgeon
2014 Susan Wojcicki CEO of YouTube
2015 Edwin E. Catmull President of Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios
2016 Shelton Jackson “Spike” Lee Film Director, Producer, Writer, and Actor
2017 Frank A. Bruni Jr. New York Times Columnist
2018 Bryan A. Stevenson Public interest lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative
2019 Jeffrey Goldberg Editor-in-chief of The Atlantic
2020 Alexis Ohanian Co-founder & Managing Partner, Initialized Capital
2021 Michael R. Bloomberg
108th New York City Mayor and Founder, Bloomberg LP & Bloomberg Philanthropies
2022 Samantha Power
Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author
2023 Volodymyr Zelenskyy President of Ukraine
2024 Mitt Romney U.S. Senator, R-Utah

Last updated March 27, 2024