A tradition at colleges has been the awarding of honorary degrees to distinguish visitors. Colonel Hyatt launched an ambitious program of using this academic tradition to make PMC known nationally.
Honorary degrees were awarded to many well-known individuals, including Warren G. Harding (1920), John Philip Sousa (1920), General John J. Pershing (1921), General Douglas MacArthur (1928), Richard E. Byrd (1928), Cecil B. DeMille ’98 (1931), J. Edgar Hoover (1936), David Sarnoff (1952), Walter H. Annenberg (1954) and many others. During the Commencement of 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt was awarded Doctor of Laws. In accepting the degree he said in part:
“This.is a historic moment for me – the getting of this degree in an institution so essential1y American. The great need of our country today is broad Americanism and a leadership of vision. This institution stands for that sort of thing, and this is why its graduates have made enviable records in all lands.”
For many, receiving an honorary degree from PMC was a tribute. In 1933, Colonel Hyatt was invited to visit President Roosevelt in the White House. The President told Hyatt that:
Since I received my degree (1920), I have taken as much interest in PMC as if I were in reality a graduate. I have faithfully followed PMC sports in the newspapers and have been particularly fascinated by your fine polo teams. PMC is truly expressive of the American spirit, and lays the foundation for the sort of Americanism needed to perpetuate the worthwhile institutions of our country.
In 1924, PMC conferred the degree of Bachelor of Military Science upon 64 alumni. Judge George T. Cann, ’85 explained that the degree was designed to honor graduates of the College who had served in any branch of the military in time of actual warfare. For the several more years, this degree was awarded to 202 more alumni.
| Year |
Name
Position/Title
|
| 1874 |
Leonard H. Boole
Superintendent, John Roach & Co.
|
| 1875 |
George Patten
Professor of Engineering, P.M.C.
|
| 1877 |
Edward Brooks
Principal, Pennsylvania State Normal School
Rev. James E. McDougall
President, York Collegiate Institute
|
| 1878 |
Rev. John Wilson
Wesleyan Female College
|
| 1882 |
Henry D. Sellers
Pennsylvania National Guard
|
| 1883 |
John R. Sweeney
Music Director, P.M.C.
|
| 1889 |
Benjamin F. Morley ’78
Professor of Chemistry, P.M.C.
|
| 1892 |
Edwin A. McHenry
Northern Pacific Railroad
|
| 1896 |
James F. Powers
|
| 1897 |
David McMurtrie Gregg
Union General and Auditor General of Pennsylvania
|
| 1901 |
Captain Beverly W. Dunn
Ordnance Department
Frank S. Krug, ’84
|
| 1911 |
Henry Denny Thomason, ’79
John W. Loveland, ’87
William Wood Russell, ’87
Edwin Alberti Howell, ’90
Chester attorney
|
| 1912 |
Major General Leonard Wood
Chief of Staff, U.S.A.
William G. Randle
Superintendent, N.Y. Shipbuilding Co.
Rukard Hurd, ’78
Secretary, Minnesota Tax Commission
Frank Sutton, ’79
Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey
Joseph W. Shirley, ’91
Chief Engineer, Topographical Survey Commission
Albert F. Huntt, ’91
Architect
|
| 1913 |
Charles E. Hyatt
President, P.M.C.
James D. Hurd
Mining Engineer
|
| 1914 |
Major Evan M. Johnson, Jr.
United States Army
George Whitelock, ’72
Baltimore Attorney
Brigadier General Carroll A. Devol, ’78
Quartermaster Corps
Merritt H. Smith, ’80
Engineer, N.Y.C. Board of Water Supply
Geroge H. Webb, ’80
Engineer, Michigan Central Railroad
|
| 1916 |
General Hugh Scott
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
James Campbell
Engineer, El Paso and South Western Railway
Thomas C. Hatton
Engineer, Sewerage Commission Wisconsin
Guion Moore Gest
Engineer, Expert in Distribution of Electrical Energy
|
| 1919 |
William C. Sproul
Governor of Pennsylvania
Josephus Daniels
Secretary of the Navy
Brigadier General William Rose (ret)
Corps of Engineers, U.S.A.
Samuel M. Felton
President, Chicago and Great Western Railway
|
| 1920 |
Warren G. Harding
Senator from Ohio
John Philip Sousa
Composer
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Lt. General William G. Price, Jr.
National Guard
William Backes
New Haven & Hartford Railway
Lewis T. Byrant, ’81
N.J. Commission of Labor
William I. Schaffer
Attorney General, Pennsylvania
|
| 1921 |
General John J. Pershing
U.S. Army
Honorable Robert von Moschzisker
Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Honorable Alexander Simpson, Jr.
Justice, Supremem Court of Pennsylvania
William Burk
Washington Memorial, Valley Forge PA
Sylvanus Griswold Morley, ’04
Associate, Carnegie Institution
|
| 1922 |
John Weeks
Secretary of War
George Wharton Pepper
Senator Pennsylvania
Emiliano Chamorro
Minister from Nicaragua
|
| 1923 |
Andrew W. Mellon
Secretary of the Treasury
Gifford Pincot
Governor of Pennsylvania
General Robert S. Bullard
Commander Second Corps
|
| 1924 |
Charles B. McMichael
President Judge, Philalplhia Common Pleas
William G. Clyde
V.P. Carnegie Steel Company
Smedley D. Butler
Brigadier General USMC
|
| 1925 |
General Tasker H. Bliss
in absentia
James J. Davis
Secretary of Labor
|
| 1926 |
Morris L. Clothier
Merchant
William C. L. Eglin
President, Franklin Institute
Harry Taylor
General, Chief of Engineers
|
| 1927 |
Curtis D. Wilbur
Secretary of Navy
Ralph Modjeski
Chief Engineer, Delaware River Bridge
Charles P. Summerall
Major General, Chief of Staff
|
| 1928 |
Major General Douglas MacArthur
U.S. Army
Richard E. Byrd
Commander, U.S. Navy
William L. Mellon
Financier
Daniel Willard
President, B&O Railroad
Charles Evans Hughes
Former Secretary of State
|
| 1929 |
John Stuchell Fisher
Governor of Pennsylvania
James E. Fechet
Major General, U.S. Army Air Corps
James Meschter Anders
Philadelphia Physician
|
| 1930 |
Nicholas Longworth
Speaker of the House
Patrick J. Hurley
Secretary of War
|
| 1931 |
Cecil B. DeMille
Playwright and Motion Picture Producer
Hanson E. Ely
Major General, Commander Second Corps Area
Honorable Owen J. Roberts
Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
|
| 1932 |
Charles F. Adams
Secretary of Navy
William W. Atterbury
President, Pennsylvania Railroad
|
| 1933 |
George H. Dern
Secretary of War
David A. Reed
Senator from Pennsylvania
Leon Levy
President, WCAU
|
| 1934 |
Harold L. Ickes
Secretary of the Interior
General Peyton C. March
Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
John G. Pew
President, Sun Shipbuilding
|
| 1935 |
Cordell Hull
Secretary of State
George T. Cann
Attorney
Davel L. Powers
U.S. Congressman NJ
|
| 1936 |
J. Edgar Hoover
Attorney, Justice Department
Norman E. McClure
President, Ursinus College
Major General Leon B. Kromer
Chief of Cavalry, U.S. Army
|
| 1937 |
Dr. Chevalier Jackson
Physician and Surgeon
Major John W. Loveland, 1887
Attorney
Louis Allis
President, Allis Motors Company
|
| 1938 |
Homer Cummings
Attorney General of U.S.
Chester H. Rhodes
Judge, Superior Court PA
Edward V. Rickenbacker
President, Eastern Airlines
|
| 1939 |
Arthur H. James
Governor of Pennsylvania
Dr. James R. Angell
President Emeritus Yale University
Major General James G. Harboard
Chairman of the Board, RCA
Dr. Herbert J. Tily
President, Strawbridge & Clothier
|
| 1940 |
General George C. Marshall
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
William L. Phelps
Professor Emeritus, Yale University
Edwin A. Howell
Attorney
|
| 1943 |
Robert P. Patterson
Under Secretary of War
Major General Harold George
Commander, AAF Air Transport
Major General Wilhelm Delp Styer
Chief of Staff, Army Service Forces
Major General Lorenzo D. Gasser
President, War Department Manpower
Colonel William M. Connor
Professor of Law, USMA
|
| 1945 |
Lt. General Barney M. Giles
Commander, Army Air Force Pacific
Vice Admiral Ben Moreell
Commander, Seabees
Charles Edson Adams
Chief Engineer, PA Railroad
|
| 1946 |
General Carl Spaatz
Commander, Strategic Air Forces
|
| 1947 |
James Henderson Duff
Governor of Pennsylvania
Joseph William Martin, Jr.
Speaker of the House
Vice Admiral Jeames L. Kauffman
Commander Fourth Naval Districk
|
| 1948 |
Kenneth Royall
Secretary of the Army
General Hoyt S. Vandenberg
Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
Dr. Luther H. Evans
Library of Congress
|
| 1949 |
Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith
Commander U.S. First Army
Lt. General Leonard T. Gerow
Commander U.S. Second Army
|
| 1950 |
Alfred E. Driscoll
Governor of New Jersey
Louis A. Johnson
Secretary of Defense
William Stern
Sportscaster, NBC
Dr. Edward L. Bortz
former president AMA
|
| 1951 |
General Mark Clark
Chief of the Army Field Forces
Senator Robert A. Taft
Ohio Senator
Leslie R. Groves
V-P, Remington Rand
|
| 1952 |
Lt. General Edward H. Brooks
Commander, Second Army
Major General Elbert L. Ford
Chief of Ordnance, U.S. Army
David Sarnoff
Chairman, RCA
|
| 1953 |
General John Hull
Vice Chief of Staff
Howard J. Pew
Sun Oil Company
Honorable Horace Stern
Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
|
| 1954 |
Hugh M. Milton, II
Assistant Secretary of the Army
Walter H. Annenberg
Publisher, Philadelphia Inquirer
|
| 1955 |
Lt. General Hubert R. Harmon
Superintendent, U.S. Air Force Acdemy
Thomas S Gates, Jr.
investment banker
|
| 1956 |
Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower
President, Penn State
General Maxwell Taylor
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
|
| 1957 |
Dr. Hollington K. Tong
Chinese Ambassador to U.S.
Admiral Louis E. Denfeld
Chief of Naval Operations
Dr. James Creese
President of Drexel
John J. McClure
former State Senator
|
| 1958 |
Robert W. Sarnoff
President NBC
Richard L. Burke
Sun Ship President
Wilfred D. Gillen
President of Bell Telephone
General John B. Medaris
Commander U.S. Army Ordnanc Missile Command
|
| 1959 |
Dr. Wernher von Braun
Space scientist
Lt. General Edwin A. Pollock
Commander, Fleet Marine Force (Atlantic)
Robert G. Dunlop
President, Sun Oil Company
Major General Edward MacMorland
President, P.M.C.
Francis S. Friel
President, American Society of Civil Engineers
|
| 1960 |
Vice Admiral Robert B. Pirie
Deputy Chief Naval Operations
W. Beverley Murphy
President, Campbell Soup
|
| 1961 |
General George H. Decker
Army Chief of Staff
J. Newton Pew
President, Delaware County National Bank
|
| 1962 |
Leonard P. Pool
Founder, Air Products and Chemicals
Lt. General Arthur G. Trudeau
Director of Army Research and Development
Frank Wolfgram
Dr. Lee A. DuBridge
President, California Institute of Technology
|
| 1963 |
Dr. Harian H. Hatcher
President, University of Michigan
Lt. General Albert Watson, II
commander Third U.S. Army
Virgil Kaufman
Aero Service Corp
5/31/1963 General Dwight D. Eisenmhower reviews the Corps
|
| 1964 |
Lt. General James H. Doolittle
aviation pioneer
|
| 1965 |
Bob Hope
Comedian
Dr. Detley Bronk
President, Rockefeller Insitute
|
| 1966 |
General Bernard A. Schriever
Commander, U.S. Air Force Systems Command
|
| 1967 |
Raymond P. Shafer
Governor of Pennsylvania
William K. Whiteford
Gulf Oil Corporation
|
| 1968 |
Lt. General Milton Baker
Superintendent, Valley Forge Military Academy
Jacob Blaustein
Co-founder American Oil Company
General Harold Johnson
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
|
| 1969 |
Zenon C.R. Hansen
President, Mnack Trucks
Dr. Franklin H. Littell
President, Iowa Wesleyan College
|
| 1970 |
Ronald Wells
President, Crozer Theological Seminary
James Quinn
Headmasater, Episcopal Academy
James Cass
Editor, Saturday Review
Rev. Fred C. Reinert, S.J.
President, St. Louis University
|
| 1971 |
John H. Ware, 3rd
Trustee
Virginia Knauer
Presidential Assistant, Consumer Affairs
Archbishop Iakovos
Greek Orthodox Church
|
