Yalies are persons affiliated with Yale University, commonly including alumni, current and former faculty members, students, and others. Here follows a list of notable Yalies.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Sourced additions are welcome and you can help by expanding it.

Notes:

• LL.B. (Legum Baccalaureum) is a graduate degree conferred by the Yale Law School

Contents 1 Alumni 1.1 Nobel laureates 1.2 Pulitzer Prize winners 1.3 Technology and innovation 1.4 Business 1.5 Academics 1.5.1 College founders and presidents 1.5.2 Professors and scholars 1.6 Law and politics 1.6.1 Presidents and vice presidents, other heads of state, prime ministers and ministers 1.6.2 Supreme Court justices 1.6.3 U.S. senators 1.6.4 Governors 1.6.5 Executive council members 1.6.6 Diplomats 1.6.7 Justices and attorneys 1.6.8 Activists 1.6.9 Public intellectuals 1.6.10 Frontiersmen 1.6.11 Military 1.6.12 Other legislators 1.6.13 Other 1.7 Religion 1.8 History, literature, art, and music 1.9 Athletics 1.10 Film 1.11 Television 1.12 Fictional 2 Faculty 2.1 Nobel laureates 2.2 Others 3 Heads of Collegiate School, Yale College, and Yale University 3.1 References

Alumni

Nobel laureates

• George Akerlof (B.A. 1962). Economics, 2001.¹
• Raymond Davis Jr. (Ph.D. 1942).² Physics, 2002.
• John F. Enders (B.A. 1920).³ Physiology or Medicine, 1954.
• John Fenn (Ph.D. 1940).⁴⁵ Chemistry, 2002.
• Murray Gell-Mann (B.S. 1948).⁶ Physics, 1969.
• Alfred G. Gilman (B.S. 1962).⁷ Physiology or Medicine, 1994.
• Paul Krugman (B.A. Economics, 1974). Economics, 2008. Architect of "New Trade Theory", winner of the John Bates Clark Medal, Princeton University economics professor, New York Times columnist.
• Ernest Lawrence (Ph.D. 1925).⁸ Physics, 1939. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory & Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are named for him.⁹
• Joshua Lederberg (Ph.D. 1948).¹⁰ Physiology or Medicine, 1958.
• David Lee (Ph.D. 1959).¹¹ Physics, 1996.
• Sinclair Lewis (B.A. 1908).¹² Literature, 1930.
• Lars Onsager (Ph.D. 1935).¹³ Chemistry, 1968.
• Edmund Phelps (Ph.D. 1959). Economics, 2006.
• Dickinson W. Richards (B.A. 1917).¹⁴ Physiology or Medicine, 1956.
• William Vickrey (B.S. 1935).¹⁵ Economics, 1996.
• George Whipple (A.B. 1900).¹⁶ Physiology or Medicine, 1934.
• Eric Wieschaus (Ph.D. 1974).¹⁷ Physiology or Medicine, 1995.

Pulitzer Prize winners

• Anne Applebaum (B.A. 1986), won 2004 Pulitzer for non-fiction.¹⁸
• Charles Bartlett (B.A. 1943), 1956 Pulitzer for National Reporting
• Stephen Vincent Benét (B.A. 1919, M.A. 1920), two-time Pulitzer-winning author.
• Charles Forelle (B.A. 2002), Co-winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2007 for articles in the Wall Street Journal¹⁹
• Paul Goldberger (B.A. 1972), 1984 Pulitzer for Distinguished Criticism
• Linda Greenhouse (M.A. 1978),²⁰ U.S. Supreme Court correspondent for the New York Times, received the Pulitzer in 1998.²¹
• John Hersey (B.A. 1936),²² Pulitzer-winning author in 1945 for the novel A Bell for Adano, namesake of the annual John Hersey Lecture at Yale.
• Charles Ives (B.A. 1898), 1947 Pulitzer for Music
• David M. Kennedy (M.A. 1964, Ph.D. 1968), Stanford University professor, won the 2000 Pulitzer in History²³ for "Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-45".
• David McCullough (B.A. 1955),²⁴ famous historian, winner of two Pulitzers, best known for his books on American Presidents Harry S. Truman and John Adams.²⁵
• J.R. Moehringer (B.A. 1986),²⁶ Los Angeles Times reporter, won the 2000 Pulitzer for Feature Writing.²⁷
• Mel Powell (B.A. 1952 ),²⁸, won the 1990 Pulitzer for Music for Duplicates: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra; founding dean and professor of music of the California Institute of the Arts
• Samantha Power (B.A. 1992),²⁹ winner of the Pulitzer for the book A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.³⁰
• Mark Schoofs (B.A. 1985),³¹ reporter, won the 2000 Pulitzer for international reporting.³²
• Lewis Spratlan (B.A. 1962, M.M. 1965),³³ composer, won the 2000 Pulitzer in Music for "Life is a Dream, Opera in Three Acts: Act II, Concert Version".³⁴
• Garry Trudeau (B.A. 1970, M.F.A. 1973), won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975 for his comic strip Doonesbury
• Wendy Wasserstein, (M.F.A. 1976),³⁵ playwright and Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist of The Heidi Chronicles.
• Thornton Wilder (B.A. 1920),³⁶ playwright, winner of two Pulitzers, the first in 1928 for The Bridge of San Luis Rey, and the second in 1938 for the play Our Town; recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963.
• Bob Woodward (B.A. 1965), journalist, co-author of the Pulitzer-winning book All the President's Men, won a second Pulitzer in 2002 for National Reporting.
• Doug Wright (B.A. 1985),³⁷ screenwriter, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer for drama, winner of a Tony Award.³⁸
• Yehudi Wyner (B.A. 1950, B. Mus. 1951, M. Mus. 1953),³⁹ composer, recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2006⁴⁰ for his piano concerto 'Chiavi in Mano'; professor emeritus of musical composition at Brandeis University.
• Daniel Yergin (B.A. 1968),⁴¹ wrote Pulitzer-winning "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power"; founded Cambridge Energy Research Associates.

Technology and innovation

• David Bushnell (ca. 1776), inventor of the screw propeller, submarine, naval mine, and time bomb.
• Francis S. Collins (Ph.D.), director, Human Genome Project.
• Harry B. Combs (B.S. 1935, Sheffield Scientific School), aviation pioneer.
• Harvey Williams Cushing (B.A.), pioneer of modern brain surgery and considered by many the greatest neurosurgeon of the 20th century.
• Arthur M. Chickering noted arachnologist of Virginia.
• Lee De Forest (B.S. 1896, Ph.D. 1899), inventor of the triode.
• Eric Fossum (Ph.D. 1984), inventor of CMOS image sensor.
• W. Edwards Deming (Ph.D. 1928), "total quality management" (TQM) guru.
• Helen Flanders Dunbar (M.D. 1930), important early figure in U.S. psychosomatic medicine.
• Irving Fisher (B.A. 1888, Ph.D. 1891), economist, "father of monetarism".
• J. Willard Gibbs (1858, Ph.D. 1863), mathematician, physical chemist, thermodynamicist, known for Gibbs' Phenomenon.
• Grace Hopper (M.A. 1930, Ph.D. 1934), inventor of COBOL programming language.
• David Lempert, B.A. 1980, social entrepreneur democratic education, social theorist
• Paul B. MacCready (1947), "Engineer of the Century", won the Kremer prize for first human-powered flying machine (the Gossamer Condor); pioneer in solar powered flight; founder of AeroVironment.
• Saunders MacLane (B.A. 1930), mathematician, one of the founders of "category theory".
• Jordan Mechner (B.A. 1985), videogame developer, created Prince of Persia.
• Samuel F. B. Morse (1810), telegraph pioneer, inventor of Morse code.
• Harry Nyquist (Ph.D. 1917), engineer known for the Nyquist theorem.
• John Ousterhout, creator of the Tcl programming language.
• Ronald Rivest (B.S. 1969), computer scientist, the "R" in the RSA cryptography, 2002 Turing Award recipient.
• George B. Selden, Awarded the first United States patent for an automobile in 1895.
• Benjamin Spock (B.A. 1925), child psychology guru.
• Eli Whitney (1792), inventor of the cotton gin.

Business

• Hugh D. Auchincloss (1879), Standard Oil
• Robert M. Bass (B.A. 1971), president, Keystone, Inc., member and former chair of the Stanford University Board of Trustees
• Henry Becton, namesake of Henry P. Becton Regional High School, son of Becton Dickinson co-founder Maxwell Becton, retired Vice Chairman of the Board, Yale Benefactor (Becton Hall, et al)
• Roland W. Betts, investor, film producer (Gandhi), owner of Chelsea Piers, lead owner in George W. Bush's Texas Rangers partnership
• Noborne Berkeley, (1945), President and Director, Chemical Bank, Freeport-McMoRan.
• Jeffrey Bewkes (B.A. 1974), Time Warner President and COO⁴²⁴³
• James Cox Brady, (1904), corporate director Chrysler and 21 other companies
• James Cox Brady Jr. (1929), Brady Security & Realty Corp.
• Benjamin Brewster, (1929), Shareholder and Director of Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey (later Exxon).
• George Stephenson Brewster, (1891)- Financier, Standard Oil.
• Robert Stanton Brewster, (1897), Major Shareholder of Standard Oil, President of Metropolitan Opera and Real Esate Co., New York Security and Trust.
• Gilbert Colgate, (1883), President and Chairman of Colgate & Co.
• Sidney Morse Colgate, (1885), Chairman of Colgate-Palmolive Co., President of Corporation of Colgate University.
• Tim Collins (M.B.A.), founder and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings LLC
• Granger Kent Costikyan, (1929), a banker, partner of Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
• Samuel Sloan Colt, (1914), President, Bankers Trust
• Donna Dubinsky (B.A. 1977), former CEO of PDA company Palm Inc., co-founder of PDA company Handspring⁴⁴
• Charles B. Finch, (B.A. 1941, LLB 1944), CEO and Chairman of the Board, Allegheny Power Systems, and political activist
• Ted Forstmann, (B.A. 1961 (TC))co-founder & senior partner of Forstmann Little & Company, member of the Forbes 400
• Rob Glaser (B.A., M.A.), founder & CEO, RealNetworks⁴⁵
• Bing Gordon, co-founder, executive vice-president, and chief creative officer of Electronic Arts⁴⁶
• Roberto Goizueta (B.E. 1953), former CEO, Coca-Cola (namesake of Emory University's business school)⁴⁷
• Robert Greenhill (B.A. 1958), founder of M&A department at and former president of Morgan Stanley, forme chairman of Smith Barney, CEO of investment banking firm Greenhill & Co.
• Briton Hadden (B.A. 1920), co-founder of Time magazine⁴⁸
• Henry Holt (B.A. 1862), founder of publishing firm Henry Holt & Company, which would later merge with other companies to become Holt, Rinehart & Winston
• Robert S. Ingersoll (Class of 1937), former CEO and Chairman, BorgWarner
• Brewster Jennings, (1920) Founder and President of the Socony Mobil Oil Company (Standard Oil of New York, now Exxon Mobil, President of Memorial Center for Cancer and Allied Diseases and Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research.
• Curtis Jensen (M.B.A. 1995), co-chief investment officer, Third Avenue Funds
• Charles B. Johnson, chairman, Franklin Templeton Investments
• Ellis Jones (M.B.A.), CEO, Wasserstein Perella & Co.
• Henry Bourne Joy, president of Packard
• Mitch Kapor, founder, Open Source Applications Foundation, investor (Kapor Enterprises), founder & former CEO, Lotus Software⁴⁹
• John C. Kebabian, Yale student, who in 1882 began America's first Oriental rug import company to pay his tuition.
• Herbert Kohler, (B.S. 1965 (TD))chairman & president, Kohler Company
• Clarence King, founder of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
• Loring Knoblauch (B.A. 1964), ninth president and CEO of Underwriters Laboratories, former leader of nine different companies in high technology and manufacturing
• Edward Lampert, founder & chairman, ESL Investments (hedge fund), Chairman of Sears Holding Company⁵⁰
• Colonel William K. Lanman, aviator, benefactor
• Henry Luce (B.A. 1920), co-founder of Time magazine.⁵¹
• John Franklyn Mars, CEO, Mars, Incorporated (as in Mars & M&M candy)⁵²
• Robert McCormick (1903) - Chicago Newspaper Baron, Owner, President, Editor and Publisher of the Chicago Tribune; co-founder of Kirkland & Ellis
• W. James McNerney (B.A. 1971), CEO of The Boeing Company⁵³
• Robert Moses, mid-20th-century New York City construction czar
• Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (M.P.P.M. Yale School of Management 1980), CEO and President, Pepsi⁵⁴
• Eric Ober (B.A.), president, CBS News, Food Network
• Joseph M. Patterson (1901), American media mogul, Manager of the Chicago Tribune, Founder and President, New York Daily News.
• John Pepper (B.A. 1960), former chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble
• George Sturgis Pillsbury (1943), Pillsbury Company, Sargent Management Co.
• Norman R. Prouty (B.A. 1961), investor and founder of the India Capital Fund--first American venture capitalist (VC) in India
• James Stillman Rockefeller, President and Chairman, The First National City Bank of New York; Olympic gold medal for crew, 1924.
• Wilbur Ross, (B.A. 1959 (JE)) investor, steel magnate, member of the Forbes 400
• Stephen A. Schwarzman, co-founder & CEO of the Blackstone Group, member of the Forbes 400
• Robert Sargent Shriver III (Law), part-owner of the Baltimore Orioles
• Timothy Perry Shriver, (B.A. 1981 (MC)) CEO of the Special Olympics
• David Singer (B.A. 1984), founder, former CEO, chairman of the board of Genesoft Pharmaceuticals (now Oscient Pharmaceuticals); founding president of Affymetrix and Corcept Therapeutics; principal of Maverick Capital Ltd.
• Frederick W. Smith, (B.A. 1966), founder & CEO, FedEx
• Harold Stanley, founder, Morgan Stanley
• Richard Thalheimer (B.A. 1970), founder & CEO of The Sharper Image
• John L. Thornton (M.P.p.m. Yale School of Management 1980), former president and co-COO, Goldman Sachs
• Juan Trippe (B.A. 1921), founder & CEO, Pan Am⁵⁵
• Frederick William Vanderbilt (Sheffield School 1893), philanthropist, Director New York Central Railroad
• Friedrich Weyerhäuser, founder, Weyerhaeuser
• John (Jock) Hay Whitney (B.A. 1926), philanthropist and founder of J.H. Whitney & Co., first venture capital firm in U.S.
• Sterling Brinkley (B.A 1974) Chairman of EZCORP, former managing director at Lehman Brothers
• Payne Whitney (B.A. 1898)
• Frederick Iseman (B.A. 1975), philanthropist and founder of private equity firm Caxton-Iseman Capital, LLC.
• Anne Wojcicki co-founder and CEO of 23andMe

Academics

College founders and presidents

• Frederick Barnard (B.A. 1828),⁵⁶⁵⁷⁵⁸ mathematician, educator, president (1856-1858) and chancellor (1858-1861) of the University of Mississippi, president (1864-1889) of Columbia University, posthumous namesake of Barnard College, active in the founding of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences
• Richard H. Brodhead (B.A. 1968),⁵⁹ president of Duke University
• Aaron Burr, Sr. (B.A. 1735),⁶⁰ second president of Princeton University, father of the third Vice-President of the United States, Aaron Burr.
• Gerhard Casper (LL.B. 1962; Honorary doctorate, 2000), ninth president of Stanford University, former provost at the University of Chicago, member of the Yale Corporation⁶¹
• Henry Roe Cloud, first full-blooded Native American to attend Yale, reformer, educator, President of Haskell Indian Nations University. First Native American member of a Yale secret society (Elihu).
• Jonathan Dickinson, (B.A. 1706, when Yale was still named the Collegiate School of Connecticut), founder of the College of New Jersey, which was later named Princeton University⁶²⁶³
• Henry Durant, (B.A. 1827), first president of the University of California (Berkeley)
• Thomas H. Gallaudet (B.A. 1805, M.A. 1810), educator for the deaf, co-founder and principal (1817-1830) of the American School for the Deaf, namesake of Gallaudet University⁶⁴
• James Duderstadt ( B.E. 1964), President of the University of Michigan⁶⁵
• Peter Tyrrell Flawn (Ph.D 1951), geologist and former president of the University of Texas at Austin
• Edward "Tad" Foote (B.A.), former president of the University of Miami
• Daniel Coit Gilman (B.A. 1852), second president of the University of California (Berkeley); first president of Johns Hopkins University (1876-1901); first president of the Carnegie Institution⁶⁶
• William Rainey Harper, (Ph.D. 1874), first president of the University of Chicago⁶⁷
• Catharine Bond Hill, (Ph.D. 1974), tenth president of Vassar College
• Joseph Gibson Hoyt, (B.A. 1840), first Chancellor of Washington University⁶⁸
• Robert M. Hutchins (B.A. 1921, LL.B 1925), President (1929-1945) and Chancellor (1945-1951) of the University of Chicago⁶⁹⁷⁰
• Samuel Johnson (B.A. 1714), first president of Columbia University (known at the time as King's College); father of U.S. Senator William Samuel Johnson⁷¹
• William Samuel Johnson (B.A. 1744, M.A. 1747), son of Samuel Johnson, president (1787-1800) of Columbia University (he was its first president under its new name of Columbia College; his father was the first president of the institution when it was known as King's College), U.S. senator (Connecticut, 1789-1791) (See also: Senators for the many other roles he served)⁷²
• Martin Kellogg, (B.A. 1850), seventh president of the University of California (Berkeley)
• Yamakawa Kenjiro (ca. 1876), founder of Kyushu Institute of Technology⁷³
• Aptullah Kuran (B.A.1952, M.A.1954) founder and first president(1971-1979) of Bogazici University, Istanbul. ⁷⁴
• Anthony W. Marx (B.A. 1981 magna cum laude),⁷⁵ president (2003-present) of Amherst College
• Helen Parkhurst (M.A. 1943), progressive educator, created the Dalton Plan, founder of The Dalton School⁷⁶
• Charles Summerlin (M.Phil 1971, Ph.D. 1973), president of Schreiner University
• Andrew Dickson White (B.A. 1853), co-founder and first president of Cornell University⁷⁷⁷⁸
• Eleazar Wheelock (B.A. 1733), founder of Dartmouth College⁷⁹

Professors and scholars

• Diogenes Allen (B.D., Ph.D. 1964), philosopher, theologian, Stuart Professor of Philosophy at Princeton Theological Seminary (1981-2002)
• Richard Lee Armstrong (BSc 1959, Ph.D. Geology 1964), American/Canadian geochemist
• Walter A. Bell (MSc 1911, Ph.D. Geology 1920), Canadian geologist and paleontologist
• David Boren (B.A. 1963), governor of Oklahoma (1975-79), U.S. senator (D-Oklahoma, 1979-94), president of University of Oklahoma
• Edward Bouchet (B.A. 1874, Ph.D. Physics 1876), first African-American to graduate from Yale and the first to receive a Ph.D. at an American university
• Eugene Bouton (B.A. 1875), first Principal of the New York State Teachers College
• Michael Burns, actor and professor of history
• Judith Butler (Ph.D. 1984), author of Gender Trouble, philosopher, queer theorist, and feminist scholar
• Steve Charnovitz (B.A. 1975, J.D. 1998), law professor at George Washington University
• Janet Coleman (B.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.), professor of Ancient & Medieval Political Thought, London School of Economics
• Cedric de Leon (B.A., M. Phil., Ph.D.), sociology professor at Providence College
• Alan Dershowitz (LL.B. 1962), law professor at Harvard University
• Henry Louis Gates Jr. (B.A., M.A. 1973), professor, chair of Harvard's African and African American Studies department
• Austan Goolsbee (B.A.), professor of economics, University of Chicago
• Barbara Hicks (B.A.), comparative politics scholar specializing in Central and Eastern Europe
• Eric Carl Hicks (Ph. D.Doctoral Thesis Université de la Sorbonne 1975), professor at the university of Lausanne (Switzerland) in Medieval French litterature and langage, specialist of Christine de Pizan and Abelard.
• Douglas Hodgkin (B.A.), political scientist at Bates College, author
• David Kolb (M.Phil. 1970, Ph.D. 1972), philosopher at Bates College.
• Howard Koh (B.A. 1973, M.D. 1977), professor, Harvard School of Public Health
• MacGregor Knox (M.A. Ph.D 1977), historian, Stevenson Professor of International History, The London School of Economics
• Arthur Lander, B.A., Developmental biologist at University of California, Irvine
• Robert Langlands (Ph.D. 1960), mathematician, author of the Langlands Program
• Aldo Leopold (Master's degree in Forestry, 1909), pioneer in the field of wildlife management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of A Sand County Almanac
• Lawrence Lessig (J.D. 1989), copyright activist, law professor at Stanford University
• George Marcus (B.A. 1968), anthropologist, professor at University of California, Irvine
• Scotty McLennan (B.A. 1970), Dean for Religious Life at Stanford University
• Thomas V. Morris (Ph.D.), former University of Notre Dame philosophy professor, currently founding chairman of the Morris Institute of Human Values⁸⁰
• E.R. Ward Neale (M.S. 1951; Ph.D. 1952), geologist, professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland
• Reinhold Niebuhr (B.D. 1914), author, theologian
• H.T. Odum (Ph.D. 1950), ecologist, professor at the University of Florida
• Camille Paglia (Ph.D. 1972), author of Sexual Personae, cultural critic and feminist scholar
• Thomas Pfeiffer (Visiting Scholar 1989/90), Vice-President of Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg and professor of law
• Alvin Plantinga (Ph.D. 1958), Christian philosopher, professor at University of Notre Dame
• J. Roger Porter (Ph.D 1938), microbiology professor at University of Iowa, 1938-1979
• Richard Rorty (Ph.D 1956), philosopher and professor of Humanities at University of Virginia, 1982-1998 and Stanford University, 1998-2007.
• Kenneth Rogoff, economist, professor at Harvard University, former Director, Research at the IMF
• James Rothman (B.A. 1971), biologist, winner of 2002 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research (sometimes called "America's Nobel Prize")
• Robert B. Stepto, Professor of English, pioneering African-American studies scholar
• Matthias Storme, professor of law at the Catholic University of Louvain and the Antwerp University
• Benjamin Silliman (B.A. 1796), "father of American scientific education"
• Amy Solomon, the first woman to register as an undergraduate at Yale, in 1971.⁸¹
• David Swensen (Ph.D.), Yale Endowment Manager and professor at the Yale School of Management
• Karl Taube (M.A. 1983, Ph.D. 1988 Anthropology), pre-Columbian Mesoamerica researcher and Mayanist, Professor of Anthropology at UC Riverside⁸²
• John Griggs Thompson (B.A. 1955), mathematician, winner of the Fields Medal in 1970
• Daniel S. Weld (B.A., B.S. 1982), Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at University of Washington⁸³
• Josiah Whitney (B.A. 1839), geologist, chief of California Geological Survey, and geology professor at Harvard University
• Yung Wing (B.A. 1854), first Chinese person to receive an American college degree

Law and politics

Presidents and vice presidents, other heads of state, prime ministers and ministers

• George H. W. Bush (B.A. 1948), President of the United States (1989-1993), Vice President of the United States (1981-1989), member of Congress (R-Texas) (1967-1971)⁸⁴
• George W. Bush (B.A. 1968), President of the United States (2001-Present), Governor of Texas (1995-2000)⁸⁵
• John C. Calhoun (B.A. 1804), Seventh Vice President of the United States, for two different presidents, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson; Senator; Member of the House of Representatives; Secretary of State in the Tyler presidential administration⁸⁶
• Karl Carstens (L.L.M. 1949), Fifth President of Germany (1979-1984)⁸⁷
• Dick Cheney (Class of 1963*), Vice President of the United States (2001-present)⁸⁸
• Tansu Çiller (Postdoctoral Fellow), Prime Minister of Turkey (1993-1996)⁸⁹
• Jose P. Laurel, President of the Philippines in World War II
• Bill Clinton (J.D. 1973), President of the United States (1993-2001), Governor of Arkansas (1979-1981,1983-1992)⁹⁰
• Gerald Ford (LL.B. 1941), President of the United States (1974-1977), Vice President of the United States (1973-1974), member of the House of Representatives⁹¹
• William Howard Taft (B.A. 1878, honorary LL.D. 1893), 27th President of the United States (1909-1913), 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930)⁹²
• Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden of the House of Bernadotte (Class of 2000*, attended for two years)⁹³
• Ernesto Zedillo (Ph.D. 1981), President of Mexico (1994-2000)⁹⁴
• Martin Santiago P. Creel (Class of 1979), Senator of Mexico City, PAN
• Wendell Mottley (B.A. 1964), Olympic medalist and subsequently a Government of Trinidad and Tobago Minister

Supreme Court justices

Information can be verified through the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges.⁹⁵

• Samuel Alito (J.D. 1975), Supreme Court justice (2006-present)
• Henry Baldwin (1797), Supreme Court justice (1830-1844)
• David J. Brewer (1856), Supreme Court justice (1889-1910)
• Henry B. Brown (1856), Supreme Court justice (1891-1906)
• David Davis (Law 1835), Supreme Court justice (1862-1877)
• Oliver Ellsworth (Class of 1766*),⁹⁶ Supreme Court justice (1796-1800)
• Abe Fortas (Law 1933), Supreme Court justice (1965-1969)
• Sherman Minton (YLS one-year degree, 1917), Supreme Court justice (1949-1956)
• George Shiras, Jr. (1853), Supreme Court justice (1892-1903)
• Potter Stewart, Supreme Court justice (1958-1981)
• William Strong (1828, GRD 1831, briefly attended YLS), Supreme Court justice (1870-1880)
• William Howard Taft (B.A. 1878, LL.D. 1893), 27th President of the United States (1909-1913), 10th Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930)
• Clarence Thomas (J.D. 1974), Supreme Court Justice (1991-present)
• Morrison R. Waite (1837), Chief Justice of the United States (1874-1888)
• William B. Woods (1845), Supreme Court justice (1881-1887)
• Byron White (Law 1946), Supreme Court Justice (1962-1993)

U.S. senators

Information can be verified at the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress.⁹⁷

• Alva B. Adams (1896), U.S. senator (D-Colorado, 1923-24, 1932-1941)
• John Ashcroft (B.A. 1964 cum laude) U.S. attorney general (2001-2005), U.S. senator (R-Missouri, 1993-2001), governor of Missouri (1985-1993)
• Abraham Baldwin (B.A. 1772), U.S. representative (1789-1799), U.S. senator (1799-1807); author of the charter for, and president of, the University of Georgia (1786-1801)
• Roger Sherman Baldwin (B.A. 1811), governor of Connecticut (1844-46), U.S. senator (Whig-Connecticut, 1847-51)
• John Beall (B.A. 1950), U.S. senator (R-Maryland, 1971-1976)
• Hiram Bingham III (1898), governor of Connecticut (1925), U.S. senator (R-Connecticut, 1924-1933); explorer who rediscovered the lost city of Machu Picchu, Peru; said to be the inspiration behind the fictional Indiana Jones character
• David Boren (B.A. 1963), governor of Oklahoma (1975-79), U.S. senator (D-Oklahoma, 1979-94), president of University of Oklahoma
• Nicholas F. Brady (B.A. 1952), U.S. senator (R-New Jersey, 1982)
• Sherrod Brown (B.A. 1974), U.S. Representative (1993-2007), U.S. senator (D-Ohio, 2007-present)
• Prescott Bush (B.A. 1917), U.S. senator (R-Connecticut, 1953-1963)
• James L. Buckley (B.A. 1943, Law 1949), U.S. senator (C-New York, 1971-1977); president of Radio Free Europe, 1982-1985; federal judge for the United States Court of Appeals (District of Columbia Circuit) (1985-1996)
• John Chafee (B.A. 1947), governor of Rhode Island (1962-69), Secretary of the Navy (1969-72), U.S. senator (R-Rhode Island, 1976-99)
• John M. Clayton (1815), Secretary of State in the Taylor administration, U.S. senator (AJ-Delaware, 1829-1836; W-Delaware, 1845-1849; O-Delaware 1853-1856)
• Hillary Rodham Clinton (J.D. 1973), U.S. senator (D-New York, 2001-present)
• LeBaron Colt (B.A. 1868), U.S. senator (R-Rhode Island, 1913-1924)
• David Daggett (1783), U.S. senator (F-Connecticut, 1813-19)
• David Davis (Law 1835), appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by Lincoln (1862-1877); U.S. senator (I-Illinois, 1877-1883)
• John Davis (1787-1854), U.S. senator (W/NR-Massachusetts, 1835-1841&1845-1853)
• Henry L. Dawes (1839), U.S. senator (R-Connecticut, 1875-93)
• John Danforth (J.D, DIV 1963), U.S senator (R-Missouri, 1976-95)
• Mark Dayton (B.A. 1969), U.S. senator (D-Minnesota, 2001 – 2007)
• Fred Dubois (B.A. 1872), U.S. senator (R-Idaho,1891-1897; D-Idaho, 1901-1907)
• William M. Evarts (1837), Secretary of State under Hayes, U.S. senator (R-New York, 1885-91)
• Gary Hart (DIV 1961, LLB 1964), U.S. senator (D-Colorado, 1975-1987)
• John Heinz(B.A. 1960), U.S. senator (R-Pennsylvania)
• James Hillhouse (B.A. 1773), U.S. senator (F-Connecticut, 1796-1810 )
• James Jeffords (B.A. 1956), U.S. senator (I-Vermont, 1989-present)
• William Samuel Johnson (B.A. 1744, M.A. 1747), United States Founding Father, member of the Continental Congress (1785-1787), delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, president (1787-1800) of Columbia University (he was its first president under its new name of Columbia College; his father was the first president of the institution when it was known as King's College), U.S. senator (Connecticut, 1789-1791)
• John Kean, (1852-1914), U.S. senator (D-New Jersey)
• John Kerry (B.A. 1966), U.S. senator (D-Massachusetts, 1985-present)
• Amy Klobuchar (B.A. 1982), U.S. senator (D-Minnesota, 2007-present)
• James Lanman (1788), U.S. senator
• Joseph Lieberman (B.A. 1964, J.D. 1967), U.S. senator (D-Connecticut, 1989-present)
• Joseph Medill McCormick (1900) - U.S. Senate '19-'24, Publisher, Chicago Tribune.
• Return J. Meigs, Jr. (B.A. 1785), U.S. Senator (DR-Ohio, 1808-181), 4th Governor of Ohio (1810-1814), 8th U.S. Postmaster General (1814-1823). Meigs County, Ohio is named in his honor.
• Henry Mitchell (1804), U.S. representative (Jacksonian-New York, 1833-35)
• Bill Nelson (B.A. 1965), U.S. representative (D-Florida, 1979-91), astronaut (STS-61-C, 1986), U.S. senator (D-Florida, 2001-present)
• Truman Newberry Republican United States Senator from Michigan 1919-1922, Secretary of the Navy 1908-1909
• Francis Newlands (ca. 1859), U.S. senator (D-Nevada, 1903-17)
• William Proxmire (B.A. 1948), U.S. senator (D-Wisconsin, 1957-89)
• Arlen Specter (LL.B. 1956), U.S. senator (R-Pennsylvania, 1981-present)
• Robert Taft (B.A. 1910), U.S. senator (R-Ohio, 1939-1953)
• Robert Taft, Jr. (B.A. 1939), U.S. representative (R-Ohio, 1963-64, 1967-70), U.S. senator (R-Ohio, 1971-76),
• John V. Tunney (B.A. 1956), U.S. representative (D-California, 1965-1970), U.S. senator (D-California, 1971-1977)
• Frederic Walcott (1891), U.S. senator (R-Connecticut, 1929-35)
• John Wales (B.A. 1801), U.S. senator (W-Delaware, 1849-1851); co-founder of Delaware College
• Malcolm Wallop (B.A. 1954), U.S. senator (R-Wyoming, 1977-95)
• Lowell Weicker (B.A. 1953), U.S. representative (R-Connecticut, 1968-1971), U.S. senator (R-Connecticut, 1971-1989), Governor of Connecticut (1990-1994).⁹⁸
• Sheldon Whitehouse (B.A. 1978), U.S. Senator (D-Rhode Island, 2006-present)
• Pete Wilson (B.A. 1956), U.S. senator (R-California, 1983-1991), Governor of California 1991-1999

Governors

Alumni who have served as Governors may also have served in other government capacities, such as President or Senator. In such cases, the names are left un-linked, but are annotated with a "See also:" which links to the section on this page where a more detailed entry can be found.

• John Ashcroft (B.A. 1964 ) Governor of Missouri (1985-1993).⁹⁹(See also: Senators)
• Roger Sherman Baldwin (B.A. 1811), Governor of Connecticut (1844-46).¹⁰⁰(See also: Senators)
• Hiram Bingham III (1898), Governor of Connecticut (1925).¹⁰¹(See also: Senators)
• David Boren (B.A. 1963), Governor of Oklahoma (1975-79).¹⁰² (See also: Senators)
• Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. (J.D. 1964), Governor of California (1975-1983)
• George W. Bush (B.A. 1968), Governor of Texas (1995-2000). (See also: Presidents & Vice Presidents)
• John Chafee (B.A. 1947), Governor of Rhode Island (1962-69).¹⁰³(See also: Senators)
• William Jefferson Clinton (J.D.), Governor of Arkansas (1983-1992). (See also: Presidents & Vice Presidents)
• Wilbur Cross (B.A.1885, Ph.D. 1889), Governor of Connecticut (1931-1939), Yale professor of English¹⁰⁴
• John Davis (1787-1854), Governor of Massachusetts (1834-1835 & 1841-1843)
• Howard Dean (B.A. 1971), Governor of Vermont (1991-2003)¹⁰⁵
• Henry Huntly Haight (B.A. 1844), Governor of California (1867-1871)
• W. Averell Harriman (B.A. 1913), Governor of New York (1955-1958), United States ambassador to Russia (1943-1946), ambassador to Britain (1946), Secretary of Commerce (1946-1948)¹⁰⁶
• Tony Knowles (B.A. 1968), Governor of Alaska (1994-2002), mayor of Anchorage, Alaska (1981-1987)
• William Livingston (B.A. 1741), First Governor of New Jersey (1776-1790) after the signing of the Declaration of Independence¹⁰⁷
• Gary Locke (B.A. 1972), Governor of Washington (1997-2005) (thereby the first Chinese American governor in the United States)¹⁰⁸
• Return Jonathan Meigs (B.A. 1785), 4th Governor of Ohio (1810-1814).¹⁰⁹(See also: Senators)
• Robert D. Orr (1940) - Governor of Indiana
• George Pataki (B.A. 1967), Governor of New York (1995-2007)¹¹⁰
• Gifford Pinchot (Yale College graduate, 1889), Governor of Pennsylvania (1923–1927, 1931–1935), first Chief of the United States Forest Service (1905–1910), and founder of and professor in Yale School of Forestry
• Winthrop Rockefeller (Class of 1935*), attended Yale from 1931 to 1934; Governor of Arkansas (1967-1971)
• William Scranton (B.A. 1939, J.D. 1946), Governor of Pennsylvania (1963-1967), United States Ambassador to the United Nations (1976-1977), member of the United States House of Representatives¹¹¹ Undergraduate picture at: [1]
• Robert Taft (B.A. 1953), Governor of Ohio (1999-2007)
• Lowell Weicker (B.A. 1953), Governor of Connecticut (1990-1994).¹¹²(See also: Senators)
• Pete Wilson (B.A. 1956), Governor of California (1991-1999).¹¹³(See also: Senators)

Executive council members

The following have worked within the cabinet for their respective governments.

• Dean Acheson (B.A, 1915), United States Secretary of State in the Truman presidential administration
• James Jesus Angleton, (B.A. 1941), chief of CIA Counterintelligence Staff (1954-1974)
• Les Aspin (B.A. 1960), Secretary of Defense, U.S. Congressman (D-Wisconsin (1971-1993)
• McGeorge Bundy (B.A. 1940), former Cabinet official
• John Chafee (B.A. 1947), governor of Rhode Island (1962-69), Secretary of the Navy (1969-72), U.S. senator (R-Rhode Island, 1976-99) (also listed under Senators and Governors)
• John Clayton (1815), Secretary of State in the Zachary Taylor administration, U.S. senator (AJ-Delaware, 1829-1836; W-Delaware, 1845-1849; O-Delaware 1853-1856) (also listed under Senators)
• William H. Donaldson (B.A. 1954), chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2003-2005), co-founder of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, founder and former dean of the Yale School of Management, president of the New York Stock Exchange
• William M. Evarts (1837), Secretary of State in the Rutherford B. Hayes administration, U.S. senator (R-New York, 1885-91) (also listed under Senators
• Olu Falae, Finance Minister of Nigeria (1989-1991), Presidential Candidate (1999)
• Porter Goss (B.A. 1960), CIA director (2004-2006), Florida congressman
• Stephen Hadley, (J.D. 1972), National Security Advisor
• Robert S. Ingersoll (1937), United States Deputy Secretary of State and Ambassador to Japan under Presidents Nixon and Ford
• William McChesney Martin, Jr. (B.A. ca. 1926), the ninth and longest-serving chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve
• John Negroponte (B.A. 1960), first U.S. Director of National Intelligence (2005-present), first ambassador to post-Saddam Iraq (2004-2005)
• Robert Rubin (LL.B. 1964), United States Secretary of the Treasury (1995-1999) in the Clinton presidential administration
• Henry L. Stimson, (B.A. 1888), United States Secretary of State in the Hoover presidential administration
• Alphonso Taft (B.A. 1833, Law), Attorney General and Secretary of War in the Ulysses S. Grant presidential administration.
• Strobe Talbott (B.A. 1968), Deputy Secretary of State (1994-2001) in the Clinton presidential administration, President of the Brookings Institution
• Cyrus Vance, (B.A. 1939, Law 1942) United States Secretary of State in the Carter presidential administration

Diplomats

• Hiram Bingham IV, U.S. vice consul in Marseilles, France, 1940-1941
• L. Paul Bremer (B.A. 1963), ambassador
• Clark T. Randt, Jr., U.S. ambassador to China (2001-present)
• Linda Jewell (B.A. 1975), U.S. Ambassador to Ecuador
• Robert P. De Vecchi (B.A. 1952, L.H.D.H honorary 2005), President Emeritus of the International Rescue Committee

Justices and attorneys

See also: Supreme Court Justices

• Cecilia Altonaga (J.D. 1986), federal judge, first Cuban American woman to be appointed as a federal judge in the United States
• Richard S. Arnold (B.A., 1957), late judge of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, federal courthouse in Little Rock named in his honor
• Richard Blumenthal (J.D.), Connecticut Attorney General
• David Sherman Boardman (B.A. 1793), Connecticut judge and congressman
• David Boies (LL.B.. 1966), famous lawyer (Microsoft antitrust, Bush v. Gore, Napster v. RIAA)
• Geraldo Brindeiro (L.L.M, J.S.D.), Attorney General of Brazil (1995-2003)
• José A. Cabranes (J.D. 1965), judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
• Benjamin Darrow (J.D., ca. 1890) New York District Attorney
• Sir Daryl Dawson (L.L.M.), justice of the High Court of Australia
• William Kunstler (B.A. 1941), Civil liberties lawyer
• Burke Marshall (B.A. 1943, LL.B. 1951), U.S. Assistant Attorney General
• Edwin Meese (B.A. 1953), former United States Attorney General
• Robert W. Sweet (LL.B. 1948), judge of New York Southern District.

Activists

• Leonard Bacon (B.A. 1820), abolitionist
• Cassius Marcellus Clay (B.A. 1832), abolitionist. (Also the namesake of Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., whose son, boxer Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., took the name Muhammad Ali.)¹¹⁴¹¹⁵
• Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (B.D. 1956), chaplain of Yale (1958-1975), senior minister of Riverside Church in New York, political and civil rights activist, author
• Severn Cullis-Suzuki (B.S. 2002), environmental activist, speaker, television host, and author; member of Kofi Annan's Special Advisory Council (United Nations)
• David Dellinger (B.A. 1936), activist, member of the Chicago Seven
• Jeremiah Evarts (B.A. 1802), author, editor, activist, opponent of the Indian Removal Act of 1830
• Barry Scheck (B.S., 1971) Co-founded the Innocence Project
• Sargent Shriver (B.A. 1938, LL.B. 1941), main organizer and first director of the Peace Corps. Husband of Eunice Kennedy, and father of Maria Shriver (news journalist and wife of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger).
• Ron Sider (B.D., 1967, Ph.D. 1969) Theologian and activist; President of Evagelicals For Social Action and Professor at Eastern University.
• Doreen N Stoller (B.A., 1983) Activist, Executive Director of the Hermann Park Conservancy, Houston, TX
• John Wilhelm (B.A., 1967) Labor leader; President, Hospitality Division, UNITE HERE.

Public intellectuals

• William F. Buckley (B.A. 1950), political pundit, founder of the National Review', host of public affairs television show Firing Line
• David Gergen (B.A. 1963), political pundit, worked as an advisor for the Republican and Democratic Presidential administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton
• Andrés Martinez (B.A.), editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times
• Marvin Olasky (B.A. 1971), conservative pundit
• Fareed Zakaria (B.A. 1986), political pundit, author, host of public affairs show, Foreign Exchange

Frontiersmen

• Moses Cleaveland (B.A. 1777), founder of Cleveland, Ohio
• Manasseh Cutler (B.A. 1765), co-author of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, member of the Ohio Company of Associates (the first non-Native American settlement in Ohio), U.S. Congressman (F-Massachusetts (1801-1805)
• James Gadsden (B.A. 1806), namesake of the Gadsden Purchase, in which the United States purchased from Mexico the land that became Arizona and part of New Mexico.

Military

• Henry B. Carrington (1845), Union army general in the American Civil War
• A. Peter Dewey, the first American to be killed in the Vietnam War, in 1945.
• John Brown of Pittsfield (B.A. 1771), Accuser of Benedict Arnold.
• Nathan Hale (B.A. 1773), America's first spy, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
• David Humphreys (B.A. 1771), aide-de-camp to George Washington.
• Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army officer featured in Band of Brothers
• Jarvis Offutt (1917), World War I aviator, namesake of Offutt Air Force Base.
• John Paterson (B.A. 1762), Maj. General in the American Revolution and US Congressman from New York.
• John Francisco Richards II (B.A. 1917), World War I aviator, namesake of Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base
• Richard K. Sutherland, (B.A. 1916) U. S. Army general during World War II
• Nathan Whiting, (B.A. 1743), Colonel of Connecticut troops during the French and Indian War also the nephew of univ. president Thomas Clap.
• David Wooster (B.A. 1738), brigadier general in the American Revolutionary War; namesake of Wooster, Ohio, The College of Wooster, and the Wooster School

Other legislators

• Lawrence Coughlin Republican Representative from Pennsylvania 1969-1991
• Charles Schuveldt Dewey [2] Republican Representative from Illinois 1941-1942, as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the 1920s, he was responsible for the redesign and downsizing of U.S. paper currency.[3] Father of A. Peter Dewey, the first American to be killed in the Vietnam War, in 1945.
• Jerome F. Donovan (Law 1894), U.S. representative, D-New York (1918-1921)
• Porter J. Goss (U.S. Representative, R-FL, 1989-2004, and Director of CIA)
• Sheila Jackson Lee (B.A. 1972), U.S. representative, D-Texas.
• Dwight Loomis (1847), U.S. Representative from Connecticut (1859-1863)
• Samuel Augustus Maverick (B.A. 1828), Member of the Texas State Senate, namesake for eponym maverick.
• Warren A. Morton (1924-2002) (B.S. 1945), Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives (1979-1980)
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (M.A. 1963, LL.B. 1964), non-voting congressional delegate for District of Columbia (1991-present)
• William S. Reyburn Republican Representative from Pennsylvania 1911-1913
• Gerry Studds (B.A. 1959, M.A. 1961), U.S. Representative, D-MA, 1973-1997
• John Tunney Democratic Representative from California 1965-1970. United States Senator 1970-1976. He was the inspiration for Robert Redford's character in the film The Candidate.

Other

• Jabez Bowen, (B.A. 1757), Federalist supporter, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island
• Albert Bel Fay, (B.S. 1936), Houston, Texas, shipbuilder, oilman, and Republican Party official
• Gifford Pinchot, founder of the United States Forest Service
• Clarence King (Ph.D. 1862), founder of the U.S. Geological Survey
• John Lindsay (B.A. 1944, LL.B. 1948), mayor of New York
• Cory Booker (J.D. 1997), mayor of Newark, New Jersey
• Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, Taliban spokesman
• Robert Marjolin (Economics, 1934), French Marshall Plan implementor and European Commissioner
• Bradford