List of George Washington University alumni
Appearance
The list of George Washington University alumni includes numerous prominent politicians, including the current U.S. Attorney General, four current heads of state or government, CEOs of major corporations, scientists, Nobel laureates, MacArthur fellows, Olympic athletes, Academy Award and Golden Globe winners, royalty, and Time 100 notables.
Academia
- Derek Curtis Bok, President of Harvard University
- John T. Wilson, President of the University of Chicago
- William Lyne Wilson, President of Washington and Lee University
- William Greenleaf Eliot, Founder of Washington University in St. Louis
- Michael K. Young, President of Texas A&M University, the University of Washington, and the University of Utah
- Ernest L. Wilkinson, President of Brigham Young University
- Thomas B. Symons, President of University of Maryland, College Park
- Curley Byrd, President of University of Maryland, College Park
- Scott Cowen, President of Tulane University
- William Carey Crane, President of Baylor University
- Arthur Cutts Willard, President of the University of Illinois system
- Hank Brown, President of the University of Colorado, University of Denver, and University of Northern Colorado
- Walter M. Bortz III, President of Hampden–Sydney College
- Gregory H. Williams, President of the University of Cincinnati and the City College of New York
- John R. Ryan, Chancellor of the State University of New York and Superintendent of United States Naval Academy
- George F. Baughman, President of the New College of Florida
- Henry Holcombe Tucker, President of the University of Georgia
- Todd B. Hawley, founder of the International Space University
- Lotus Coffman, President of the University of Minnesota
- John T. Fey, President of the University of Vermont and the University of Wyoming
- Robert Ryland, President of the University of Richmond
- H. Edward Flentje, President of Emporia State University
- Mark Kennedy, President of University of North Dakota
- Glenda Glover, President of Tennessee State University
- Martha Lucas Pate, President of Sweet Briar College
- Myron Augsburger, President of Eastern Mennonite University
- Clinton E. Adams, President of Rocky Vista University
- Ricardo Jaar, President of the University of San Pedro Sula
- Gail Mellow, President of LaGuardia Community College
- Morris G. Steen Jr., President of North Florida Community College
- Michael Kammen, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian at Cornell University
- Alexander Wetmore, 6th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution
- Irvin D. Yalom, existential psychiatrist and emeritus professor of psychiatry at Stanford University
- Sissela Bok, former Professor of Philosophy at Brandeis University, currently a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard School of Public Health
- Gustavo A. Mellander, President, Passaic College, Mission College, Chancellor, Inter American University, Chancellor West Valley and Mission College District. Graduate Dean Emeritus, George Mason University.
- Preston Cloud, eminent earth scientist, biogeologist, cosmologist, and paleontologist whose work led to the development of the concept "Cambrian explosion," for which he coined the phrase "eruptive evolution"
- Bettye Collier-Thomas, founder Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial Museum and National Archives for Black Women's History, award-winning Professor of History at Temple University
- Jack Edmonds, computer scientist, recipient of the John von Neumann Theory Prize, best known for being one of the most important contributors to the field of combinatorial optimization
- Mildred Harnack, literary historian, translator, and resistance fighter in Nazi Germany who was beheaded by the Gestapo
- Roger Pilon, Vice President of the Cato Institute
- Peter Schweizer, President of Government Accountability Institute
- Brooks Hays, Professor at Rutgers University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and institute director at Wake Forest University
- Ellyn Kaschak, 1968, emeritus professor of psychology, Ohio State University
- Joseph E. B. Lumbard, Islamic scholar and professor at The American University of Sharjah; author and general editor of The Study Quran
- Cynthia H. Milligan, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln; director of Wells Fargo & Company, Gallup Organization, Calvert investment funds, and W. K. Kellogg Foundation; daughter of United States Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin
- Maurice F. Neufeld, professor emeritus, Cornell University
- Charles P. Roland, historian of the American Civil War and the American South, studied at George Washington in 1947 before transferring to Louisiana State University to obtain his PhD[1]
- Bill Baroni, Republican State Senator of New Jersey, former Assemblyman, Adjunct Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law
- Gary Sick, Middle East analyst and academic at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
- Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, African American historian[2]
- Raul Yzaguirre, activist, lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, former president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza, Professor at Arizona State University, one of the first Hispanic fellows of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
- Meyrav Wurmser, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute
Business
- Lee Kun-Hee, Chairman of Samsung Group
- Kathy J. Warden, President & CEO of Northrop Grumman
- Neil Portnow, President of The Recording Academy
- Donna Hrinak, President of Boeing Latin America
- Kenneth Lay, CEO and Chairman of Enron
- Elaine Wynn, co-founder of Mirage Resorts and Wynn Resorts
- Ellen Malcolm, founder and President of EMILY's List and IBM heiress
- Van Toffler, President of Viacom Media Networks
- Mindy Grossman, CEO of Weight Watchers Intl.
- Ed Liddy, Chairman of Allstate and AIG
- Henry Cisneros, President of Univision
- Gerardo I. Lopez, CEO of Extended Stay America and AMC Theatres
- Nate Morris, co-founder and CEO of Rubicon Global
- Michael Beckerman, CEO of the Internet Association
- Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics
- Amina Al Rustamani, CEO of the TECOM Group
- William Owens, CEO of Nortel
- Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Holdings, S.A.
- Clayton M. Jones, Chairman of Rockwell Collins
- Anousheh Ansari, CEO of the X Prize Foundation
- Dennis R. Wraase, CEO of Pepco Holdings
- Lawrence R. Goldfarb, CEO of LRG Capital Group
- Christopher J. Wiernicki, CEO of the American Bureau of Shipping
- Joe Rospars, CEO of Blue State Digital
- Douglas Steenland, President & CEO of Northwest Airlines
- Donald Nyrop, President & CEO of Northwest Airlines
- J. R. Claeys, CEO of the National Association of Government Contractors
- Mugo Kibati, CEO of Telkom Kenya
- Sim Shagaya, CEO of Konga.com
- Abby Joseph Cohen, managing director of Goldman Sachs
- Michael Punke, Vice President of Amazon Web Services
- Yasseen Mansour, Egyptian billionaire
- Ron Baron, billionaire founder of Baron Capital; paid a record $103 million for an East Hampton, New York property
- Bill Studeman, former vice president and Deputy general manager of Mission Systems at Northrop Grumman
- James C. Boland, former vice chairman of Ernst & Young; board member of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Sherwin-Williams, Invacare and DDR Corp.
- Jacob Burns (1924), corporate attorney, educator and philanthropist, former board member at Revlon
- General John T. Chain, Jr., director at R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and ConAgra Foods, Inc.
- L. Stanley Crane,[3] Member of National Academy of Engineering; railroad executive; CEO of Southern Railway and Consolidated Rail Corporation
- Linda Fisher, former Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; former Vice President of Monsanto Company; Vice President of DuPont
- Guilford Glazer, real estate developer
- Alvan Macauley, President of Packard
- Afnan Al-Shuaiby, Secretary General of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce
- Stephen G. Haines, organizational theorist and management consultant
- Patricia Roberts Harris, former director at IBM
- David Kellermann, acting CFO of Freddie Mac in early 2009
- Gwendolyn King, former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration; board member at Lockheed-Martin, Countrywide Financial, Pharmacia, and Monsanto Company
- Lester del Rey, founder of Del Rey Books
- Mustafa Koç, President of Koç Holding
- General Charles C. Krulak, former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps; board member at ConocoPhillips, Phelps Dodge, Union Pacific; former executive at MBNA
- Theodore Lerner, billionaire real estate developer
- J. Phillip ("Jack") London, author, executive chairman and chairman of the board of CACI International Inc.
- Cynthia H. Milligan, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, director of Wells Fargo & Company, Gallup Organization, Calvert investment funds, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, daughter of United States Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin
- Darla Moore (MBA), partner of the private investment firm, Rainwater, Inc.; founder of Palmetto Institute; married to the self-made Texan billionaire Richard Rainwater
- Robert Nichols, President and COO of the Financial Services Forum, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs
- Roy Nouhra, founder and CEO of ASIS boats
- Admiral Joseph Prueher (1973), former Ambassador to China, former Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command, former Vice Chief of Naval Operations; a director of Merrill Lynch & Company, Inc., the New York Life Insurance Company, Dyncorp International, Inc. and Fluor Corporation
- John F. W. Rogers, Chief of Staff and partner at Goldman Sachs
- Sim Shagaya, founder and CEO of Konga.com
- George Uribe, founder and CEO of Guestbooker.com
Economics
- Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist of the World Bank
- Lin Jianhai, Secretary General of the International Monetary Fund
- David Klein (PhD '71), Governor of the Bank of Israel
- José Julián Sidaoui, Deputy-Governor of the Bank of Mexico
- Rafael Corpus, Chairman of the Philippine National Bank
- Sandra Pianalto, 10th President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
- Julia Montgomery Walsh, Director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, first woman to be registered with the American Stock Exchange
- Dan Berger, President and CEO of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions
- James A. Runde, Vice-Chairman of Morgan Stanley
- Rob Nichols, President & CEO of the American Bankers Association and the Financial Services Forum
- Marc Tucker, founder and President of the National Center on Education and the Economy
Politics
United States
U.S. Cabinet
- William Barr (JD '77), current U.S. Attorney General (1991–1993; 2019–present)
- Mark Esper (PhD '08), former U.S. Secretary of Defense (2019–2020)
- David Bernhardt (JD '94), current U.S. Secretary of the Interior (2019–present)
- Colin Powell (MBA '71), 65th U.S. Secretary of State
- John Foster Dulles (JD 1911), 52nd U.S. Secretary of State
- A. Mitchell Palmer, 50th U.S. Attorney General
- John W. Snow (JD '67), 73rd US Secretary of the Treasury
- David M. Kennedy (MA '35, JD '37), 60th United States Secretary of the Treasury
- George B. Cortelyou (LLM 1896), 44th United States Secretary of the Treasury, 1st United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor
- Henry Cisneros (DPA '76), 10th U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
- Patricia Roberts Harris (JD '60), 6th U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, 1st U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services
- George W. Romney, 3rd U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
- Mike Young (MBA '91), acting U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
- Dan Glickman (JD '69), 26th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
- Patrick J. Hurley (JD 1908, LLM 1913), 51st U.S. Secretary of War
- William Lyne Wilson (BA 1860), 37th U.S. Postmaster General
- Stephen L. Johnson (MS '76), 11th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
- John Michael McConnell (MPA '86), 2nd Director of National Intelligence
- Susan Schwab (PhD '93), 15th United States Trade Representative
U.S. Governors
- Mark Warner, 69th Governor of Virginia
- John Garland Pollard, 51st Governor of Virginia
- Harry Hughes, 57th Governor of Maryland
- Thomas Swann, 33rd Governor of Maryland
- Blair Lee, III, interim Governor of Maryland
- Ernest W. Gibson, Jr., 67th Governor of Vermont
- Lee E. Emerson, 69th Governor of Vermont
- Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California
- Robert P. Casey, 42nd Governor of Pennsylvania
- George W. Romney, 43rd Governor of Michigan
- Frederic Hale Parkhurst, 52nd Governor of Maine
- Fenimore Chatterton, 6th Governor of Wyoming[4]
- James P. Coleman, 52nd Governor of Mississippi
- Mel Carnahan, 51st Governor of Missouri[5]
- Jim Folsom, 42nd Governor of Alabama
- Ruby Laffoon, 43rd Governor of Kentucky
- Frank L. Hagaman, 31st Governor of Kansas
- Adam McMullen, 21st Governor of Nebraska[6]
- Cal Rampton, 11th Governor of Utah
- Grant Sawyer, 21st Governor of Nevada
- Robert E. Smylie, 24th Governor of Idaho
- Wilford Bacon Hoggatt, 6th Governor of the District of Alaska
- Frederick Perry Stanton, interim Governor of the Kansas Territory
- William Edwin Safford, 2nd Military Governor of Guam
- Frank Freyer, 14th Military Governor of Guam
- Walter Philip Leber, 15th Governor of the Panama Canal Zone
- Vincent C. Gray, 7th Mayor of the District of Columbia
U.S. Senators
- Elizabeth Warren, current U.S. Senator from Massachusetts (2013–present)
- Mark Warner, current U.S. Senator from Virginia (2009–present)
- Tammy Duckworth, current U.S. Senator from Illinois (2017–present)
- Mike Enzi, current U.S. Senator from Wyoming (1997–present)
- Daniel Inouye, former U.S. Senator from Hawaii, President pro tempore of the United States Senate
- Robert Byrd, former U.S. Senator from West Virginia, President pro tempore of the United States Senate
- Howard Sutherland, former U.S. Senator from West Virginia
- Harry Reid, former U.S. Senator from Nevada, Senate Majority Leader
- Francis G. Newlands, former U.S. Senator from Nevada (1903–1917)
- J. William Fulbright , U.S. Senator from Arkansas, founder of the Fulbright Program (1945–1974)
- Blair Lee I, former U.S. Senator from Maryland (1914–1917)
- John Warner, former U.S. Senator from Virginia (1979–2009)
- William L. Scott, former U.S. Senator from Virginia
- John Foster Dulles, former U.S. Senator from New York
- Gordon J. Humphrey, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1979–1990)
- Norris Cotton, former U.S. Senator from New Hampshire (1954–1974)
- Hank Brown, former U.S. Senator from Colorado
- William E. Jenner, former U.S. Senator from Indiana
- Daniel O. Hastings, former U.S. Senator from Delaware
- Frank Moss, former U.S. Senator from Utah (1959–1977)
- Ernest W. Gibson, Jr., former U.S. Senator from Vermont (1940–1941)
- Jean Carnahan, former U.S. Senator from Missouri (2001–2002)
- Bennett Champ Clark, former U.S. Senator from Missouri (1933–1945)
- Larry Craig, former U.S. Senator from Idaho
- William A. Harris, former U.S. Senator from Kansas
- Kent Conrad, former U.S. Senator from North Dakota
- Jeremiah Denton, former U.S. Senator from Alabama (1981–1987)
- Thomas Swann, elected to the United States Senate but instead served as Governor of Maryland
- Mel Carnahan, posthumously elected to the United States Senate
U.S. Representatives
- Gil Cisneros, U.S. Representative from California (2019–present)
- Julia Brownley, U.S. Representative from California (2013–present)
- Darren Soto, U.S. Representative from Florida (2017–present)
- Neal Dunn, U.S. Representative from Florida (2017–present)
- Sam Johnson, U.S. Representative from Texas (1991–present)
- Susan Wild, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania (2018–present)
- William Timmons, U.S. Representative from South Carolina (2019–present)
- John James Duncan, Jr., U.S. Representative from Tennessee (1988–present)
- Pedro Pierluisi, Democratic Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico to the House
- E. Ross Adair, Republican from Indiana, 1951–1971, later Ambassador to Ethiopia
- Jason Altmire (1998), Democrat from Pennsylvania, 2007–2013
- Henry Moore Baker, Republican from New Hampshire, former state representative, 1893–1897, later a State Representative
- Michael D. Barnes, Democrat from Maryland
- Bob Barr (1972), former Republican from Georgia, 1995–2003,
- Henry W. Barry, Republican from Mississippi, former state senator, 1870–1875
- James Franklin Battin, Republican from Montana,
- Helen Delich Bentley, Republican from Maryland, 1985–1995
- Michael Bilirakis (1960), Republican from Florida, 1983–2007
- Vincente T. Blaz, Republican from Guam, Brigadier General, 1985–1993
- Charles Harrison Brown, Democrat from Missouri, 1957–1961
- Garry E. Brown, Republican from Michigan, 1967–1979
- Hank Brown, Republican from Colorado, former state senator, 1981–1991, later US Senator
- Joel Broyhill, Republican from Virginia, chairman of the Rules Committee, 1953–1974
- Sherman Everett Burroughs, Republican from New Hampshire, former state representative, 1917–1923
- Laurence J. Burton, Republican from Utah, 1963–1971, unsuccessful candidate for US Senate
- Robert Byrd (attended), Democrat from West Virginia, former state delegate and senator, 1953–1959, US Senator
- Goodloe Byron, Democrat from Maryland, former State Delegate and Senator, 1971–1978
- John L. Cable, Republican from Ohio, 1921–1925 and 1929–1933
- Gordon Canfield (1926), Republican from New Jersey, 1941–1961
- Eric Cantor (1985), Republican from Virginia, former Chief Deputy Whip, Minority Whip, 2001–2010, House Majority Leader, 2011–2014
- Lewis C. Carpenter, Republican from South Carolina, 1874–1875
- Donna Christian-Christensen, Democrat from the United States Virgin Islands, non-voting delegate, 1997–2015
- William Henry Coleman, Republican from Pennsylvania, 1915–1917
- Frank Coombs, Republican from California, former state assemblyman and speaker, 1901–1903
- John Blaisdell Corliss, Republican from Michigan, 1895–1903
- Norris Cotton, Republican from New Hampshire, 1947–1954, later US Senator
- William R. Coyle, Republican from Pennsylvania, 1925–1927 and 1929–1933
- Larry Craig, Republican from Idaho, 1981–1991, US Senator, 1991–2009
- Josiah Crudup, Republican from North Carolina, 1821–1823
- Charles F. Curry, Jr., Republican from California, 1931–1933
- Ewin L. Davis, Democrat from Tennessee 1919–1933
- Martin Dies, Jr., Democrat from Texas; co-founder and chairman of the House Committee Investigating Un-American Activities, 1931–1945 and 1953–1959
- Donald C. Dobbins, Democrat from Illinois, 1933–1937
- Clyde T. Ellis, Democrat from Arkansas, former state representative and Senator, 1939–1943
- John James Flynt, Jr., Democrat from Georgia, 1954–1979
- John H. Foster, Republican from Indiana, 1905–1909
- J. William Fulbright, Democrat from Arkansas, 1943–1945, later US Senator
- Ralph A. Gamble, Republican from New York, 1937–1957
- Stephen Warfield Gambrill, Democrat from Maryland, 1924–1938
- Dan Glickman (JD 1969), Democrat from Kansas, former chairman of the Intelligence Committee, 1977–1995, former United States Secretary of Agriculture
- Gilbert Gude, Republican from Maryland, former state delegate and senator, 1967–1977
- Orval H. Hansen, Republican from Idaho, former state representative and Senator, 1969–1975
- William A. Harris, Populist from Kansas, 1893–1895, later a state senator and then US Senator, 1897–1903, unsuccessful candidate for governor
- Franck R. Havenner, Progressive and then Democrat from California, 1937–1941 and 1945–1953
- Brooks Hays, Democrat from Arkansas, 1943–1959
- George Huddleston, Jr., Democrat from Alabama, 1963–1965
- Merlin Hull, Republican from Wisconsin, former member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, former Speaker, former Wisconsin Secretary of State, 1929–1931 and 1935–1953
- Henry S. Reuss, Democratic from Wisconsin
- William Y. Humphreys, Democrat from Mississippi, 1923–1925
- Daniel Inouye (JD 1952), Democrat from Hawaii 1959–1963, current US Senator
- Steve Israel (1985), Democrat from New York, 2001–2017
- Frank M. Karsten, Democrat from Missouri, 1947–1969
- Tom Kindness, Republican from Ohio
- Robert W. Levering, Democrat of Ohio
- Albert F. Dawson, Republican from Iowa
- Tim Mahoney (1983), Democrat from Florida, 2007–2009
- Henry May, Democrat from Maryland, 1853–1855 and 1861–1863
- Donald H. McLean, Republican from New Jersey, 1933–1945
- Herbert Alton Meyer, Republican from Kansas, 1947–1950
- Earl C. Michener, Republican from Michigan, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 1919–1933 and 1935–1951
- Edward Tylor Miller, Republican from Maryland, 1947–1959, unsuccessful candidate for US Senate
- Francis G. Newlands (JD 1869), Democrat from Nevada, 1893–1903, later US Senator
- William H. Parker, Republican from South Dakota, 1907–1908
- Stanford E. Parris, Republican from Virginia, former State Delegate, 1973–1975 and 1981–1991
- James T. Patterson, Republican from Connecticut, 1947–1959
- Nick Rahall, Democrat from West Virginia, 1977–2015
- Jim Ramstad (1973), Republican from Minnesota, 1991–2009
- Harry Reid (JD 1964), Democrat from Nevada, former lieutenant governor, 1983–1987, current US Senator
- John Merriman Reynolds, Republican from Pennsylvania, 1905–1911; later Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
- John M. Robsion, Jr., Republican from Kentucky, 1953–1959, unsuccessful candidate for governor
- Paul Rogers, Democrat from Florida, 1955–1979
- Alvah Sabin, from Vermont, former state representative and Senator, as well as state secretary of state, 1853–1857
- William L. Scott, Republican from Virginia, 1967–1973, later US Senator
- James Shannon, Democrat from Massachusetts, 1979–1985, later Massachusetts Attorney General
- Joe Skubitz, Republican from Kansas, 1963–1978
- Gladys Noon Spellman, Democrat from Maryland, 1975–1981
- Frederick Perry Stanton, Democrat from Tennessee, chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, 1845–1855, later Governor of Kansas
- Cliff Stearns (1963), Republican from Florida, 1989–2013
- Howard Sutherland, Republican from West Virginia, former state senator, 1913–1917
- Thomas Swann, Democrat from Maryland, former governor and mayor of Baltimore, elected to the US Senate but did not serve, 1869–1879
- E. S. Johnny Walker, Democrat from New Mexico, former state representative, 1965–1969
- Francis E. Walter, Democrat of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Committee on Un-American Activities, 1933–63
- Elton Watkins, Democrat from Oregon, 1923–1925, unsuccessful candidate for US Senate and Mayor of Portland
- Guilford Wiley Wells, Independent Republican from Mississippi, former US Attorney, 1875–1877
- Robert Wexler (1985), former state senator, Democrat from Florida, 1997–2010
- Compton I. White, Jr., Democrat of Idaho, 1963–1967
- Earle D. Willey, former Delaware Secretary of State, Republican from Delaware, 1943–1945
- William Lyne Wilson, Democrat from West Virginia, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, 1883–1895, later United States Postmaster General
U.S. mayors
- David Holt, current Mayor of Oklahoma City
- Vincent C. Gray, former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
- Richard Wallach, former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
- Walter Nathan Tobriner, former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
- Henry B. F. MacFarland, former Mayor of Washington, D.C.
- W. M. Holland, former Mayor of Dallas
- Nick Udall, former Mayor of Phoenix
- Henry Cisneros, former Mayor of San Antonio
- Harold L. George, former Mayor of Beverly Hills
- George W. Guthrie, former Mayor of Pittsburgh
- Rocky Anderson, former Mayor of Salt Lake City
- William S. Fitzgerald, former Mayor of Cleveland
- Frank E. Mann, former Mayor of Alexandria
- Leroy S. Bendheim, former Mayor of Alexandria
- Franklin P. Backus, former Mayor of Alexandria
- Thomas Swann, former Mayor of Baltimore
- James Taylor Ellyson, former Mayor of Richmond
- Steven L. Abrams, former Mayor of Boca Raton
- Dorothy Wilken, former Mayor of Boca Raton
- Frank Willey Clancy, former Mayor of Albuquerque
- John H. Logie, former Mayor of Grand Rapids
- Alex Knopp, former Mayor of Norwalk
- Tom Rust, former Mayor of Herndon, Virginia
- John Garland Pollard, former Williamsburg, Virginia
- George B. Fitch, former Mayor of Warrenton, Virginia
- William Henry Coleman, former Mayor of McKeesport, Pennsylvania
- Hector De La Torre, former Mayor of South Gate, California
- Skip Priest, former Mayor of Federal Way, Washington
- Scott Slifka, former Mayor of West Hartford, Connecticut
- Susan Bass Levin, former Mayor of Cherry Hill, New Jersey
- Elizabeth C. Hoffman, former Mayor of North Tonawanda, New York
- Tom Van Horn Moorehead, former Mayor of Zanesville, Ohio
- Tom Kindness, former Mayor of Hamilton, Ohio
- Gretchen Driskell, former Mayor of Saline, Michigan
- Susan W. Kluttz, former Mayor of Salisbury, North Carolina
- Kenneth S. Wherry, former Mayor of Pawnee City, Nebraska
- Compton I. White Jr., former Mayor of Clark Fork, Idaho
- Robert K. Goodwin, former Mayor of Redfield, Iowa
- James L. Wilmeth, former Mayor of Takoma Park, Maryland
- William V. Bouic, former Mayor of Rockville, Maryland
- Mike Enzi, former Mayor of Gillette, Wyoming
- Keith Sebelius, former Mayor of Norton, Kansas
Other U.S. officials
- Bill McGinley, current White House Cabinet Secretary
- Mercedes Schlapp, current White House Director of Strategic Communications
- Russell Vought, current Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Lauren Vaughan, current Secretary of the District of Columbia
- Tony Sayegh, current United States Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
- Aaron D. Ford, current Attorney General of Nevada
- Dennis Herrera, current City Attorney of San Francisco
- Corey Johnson, current Speaker of New York City Council
- Atif Qarni, current Virginia Secretary of Education
- Dan Maffei, current Commissioner of the Federal Maritime Commission
- Eddie Farnsworth, current President pro tempore of the Arizona Senate
- José R. Rodríguez, current Minority Leader of Texas Senate
- Ram Villivalam, current member of the Illinois Senate
- Caroline Simmons, current member of the Connecticut Senate
- Karl Rhoads, current member of the Hawaii Senate
- Rob Wagner, current member of the Oregon State Senate
- Julie Raque Adams, current member of the Kentucky Senate
- Mari Manoogian, current member of the Michigan House of Representatives
- JB McCuskey, current State Auditor of West Virginia
- Charles Manatt, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
- William B. Black Jr., 16th Deputy Director of the National Security Agency
- Gwendolyn King, former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration
- Frank Harris Hitchcock, former Chairman of the Republican National Committee
- Lewis Deschler, first Parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives
- Dionel M. Aviles, Under Secretary of the Navy, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy
- Victoria Clarke, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
- Kathleen Troia McFarland, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
- B. J. Penn, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (2005–2009)
- John P. Roth, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force
- Robert F. Hale, Under Secretary of Defense
- Robert O. Work, 32nd United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
- David O. Cooke, "Mayor of the Pentagon"
- Rosel H. Hyde, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
- Tom Bossert, United States Homeland Security Advisor for President Donald Trump
- Charles Colson, White House Counsel for President Richard Nixon
- Gregory G. Garre, United States Solicitor General
- Jack Conway, Attorney General of Kentucky
- Kevin J. O'Connor, former United States Associate Attorney General
- Diana Josephson, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere
- Charles James, assistant attorney general and general counsel of Chevron-Texaco
- Catherine M. Russell, Chief of Staff to Jill Biden, wife of Joseph Biden, former Associate Deputy Attorney General
- Bradley Schlozman, former head of the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and current US Attorney for the Western District of Missouri
- Alexander Butterfield, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration
- Erin Houchin, member of the Indiana Senate
- Katie Walsh, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff
- Donna Lynne, 49th Lieutenant Governor of Colorado
- Kenneth W. Starr (1968), United States Solicitor General, and Independent Counsel during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals
- Ross "Rocky" Anderson (JD 1978), former mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah
- Willie Bailey, Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Gary J. Barczak, former Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
- Bill Baroni, Republican State Senator of New Jersey, former Assemblyman, Adjunct Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law
- Edward Blackmon Jr., Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives
- Winston Bryant, former Attorney General of Arkansas
- Charlie Collins, Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives for the 84th district[7]
- Roger Cressey, member of the United States National Security Council
- Tim Morrison, member of the United States National Security Council
- M. Jerome Diamond, Vermont Attorney General, 1975–1981[8]
- Randall Edwards (MBA 1990), Oregon State Treasurer
- Harland E. Everson, former Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
- Sean Flaherty, Democratic member of the Maine House of Representatives
- Richard A. Flintrop, former Democratic member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
- Hillman Terome Frazier, Democratic state senator of Mississippi, former state representative
- Vivian V. Simpson, first female Secretary of State of Maryland
- Robert J. Garagiola, Democratic member of the Maryland State Senate
- James W. Gilchrist, Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Ana Sol Gutierrez, Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Murray D. Levy, Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Christopher B. Shank, Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Karen S. Montgomery, Democratic member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Tom Greenwell, first Republican judge of the 319th District Court in Corpus Christi[9]
- Paul Clinton Harris, Republican former member of the Virginia House of Delegates
- David Holt, Current Mayor of Oklahoma City, OK
- Raymond Johnson, Republican former member of the Wisconsin State Senate
- Rod Johnston, Republican former member of the Wisconsin State Senate
- Alex Knopp, eight-term member of the Connecticut House of Representatives (1987–2001) and two term mayor of Norwalk, Connecticut (2001–2005); clinical Lecturer at Yale Law School (since 2006)
- Jared Moskowitz, former member of the Florida House of Representatives
- Gretchen Driskell, former member of the Michigan House of Representatives
- Susan Bass Levin, former Mayor of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, current deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Frank E. Mann, former Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates
- Jesse Martineau, Democratic member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives
- Kenneth E. Melson, former director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- Bill Mims, former Republican State Delegate and former member of the Senate of Virginia, current Attorney General of Virginia
- Daniel J. O'Donnell, Democratic member of the New York State Assembly
- Leslie Osterman (1991), Republican member of the Kansas House of Representatives
- John Overington, Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
- Jeffrey Piccola, Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate
- Paul G. Pinsky, former Democratic Delegate and current member of the Maryland State Senate
- John Merriman Reynolds, US Representative from Pennsylvania and then Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
- Thomas Davis Rust, Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates
- James Shannon, former US Representative and Massachusetts Attorney General
- James Skoufis, Democratic member of New York State Assembly elected to State Senate in 2018
- Harry A. Slattery, US Under Secretary of the Interior, 1938–39; the Slattery Report
- Darren Soto, Democrat, Florida House of Representatives
- Ben Stevens, former President of the Alaska State Senate, son of United States Senator Ted Stevens
- Nick Udall, former mayor of Phoenix, Arizona, 1948–52, member of the Udall family
- Colin Van Ostern, New Hampshire Executive Council member and New Hampshire Gubernatorial candidate
- Leo Wardrup, former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates
- Mary Margaret Whipple, former Democratic State Delegate and current member of the Senate of Virginia
- Charles W. Colson, chief counsel for US President Richard Nixon, spent time in prison for his part in the Watergate scandal
- Harry S. Dent, Sr. (JD, 1957), Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon; General Counsel to the Republican National Committee; father of economist Harry Dent
- Elizabeth B. Drewry (BA, MA), archivist, National Archives and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
- Lori Garver, Deputy NASA Administrator
- Steven M. Goldman, New Jersey State Commissioner of Banking and Insurance
- Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator
- Kenneth R. Harding (1937), former Sergeant at Arms of the United States House of Representatives
- Heather Higginbottom, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in the administration of Barack Obama
- Leon Jaworski (1926), Special Prosecutor for the Watergate hearings
- Gwendolyn King, former Commissioner of the Social Security Administration; board member at Lockheed-Martin, Countrywide Financial, Pharmacia, and Monsanto Company
- Susan Bass Levin, former Mayor of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, former Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, current deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Dominic J. Monetta, former deputy director of Defense Research and Engineering (Research and Advanced Technology) at the U.S. Department of Defense, 1991–1993; former director, Office of New Production Reactors, at the United States Department of Energy, 1989–1991
- Kenneth P. Moritsugu (M.D. 1971), Surgeon General of the United States (August 2006–present)[10]
- Robert Nichols, President and COO of the Financial Services Forum, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Affairs
- Patrick P. O'Carroll, Jr, Inspector General of the Social Security Administration
- Maria Pallante (1990), current U.S. Register of Copyrights
- Marybeth Peters (1971), former U.S. Register of Copyrights
- Margaret Milner Richardson, Commissioner of Internal Revenue (or IRS Commissioner), head of the Internal Revenue Service, former partner at Ernst & Young
- Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, former CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, former chairman and CEO of the National Association of Securities Dealers, former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, former commissioner on the Securities and Exchange Commission, currently a director of Kraft Foods Inc, and Duke Energy Corporation
- James E. Webb (1936), second administrator of NASA
- William Lyne Wilson, 37th United States Postmaster General, former Ways and Means chairman in the US House of Representatives
- Aldrich Ames, Soviet spy working in the CIA as a counter-intelligence officer
- Allen Dulles (1920), director of the CIA
- James W. McCord, Jr., former CIA officer, involved in the Watergate scandal
- John A. Rizzo, Acting General Counsel of the CIA
- Bill Studeman, former Admiral of the United States Navy, former deputy director of the CIA, former acting director of Central Intelligence, former director of the National Security Agency, and former director of Naval Intelligence
- A. Bruce Bielaski, director of the Bureau of Investigation, predecessor to the FBI
- Floyd I. Clarke, former director of the FBI
- Sibel Edmonds, former FBI translator, founder of the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
- W. Mark Felt (1940), associate director, FBI; "Deep Throat" informant
- Stanley Finch (JD 1908), first director of the Bureau of Investigation
- L. Patrick Gray, former acting director of the FBI during the Watergate scandal
- J. Edgar Hoover (1916, 1917, 1935), director, FBI
- Eric O'Neill (JD 2003), FBI agent whose work led to the arrest and life imprisonment conviction of Robert Hanssen
- John P. O'Neill, former top anti-terrorism expert; former assistant director in the Federal Bureau of Investigation; head of security at the World Trade Center; died in the September 11, 2001 attacks
- Clyde Tolson, associate director of the FBI, protégé of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover
International
Heads of state and government
- Juan Guaidó (MPA '09), believes himself to be President of Venezuela (2019–present)
- Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (F.S. '03), former President of Croatia (2015–2020)
- Faure Gnassingbé (MBA '97), current President of Togo (2005–present)[11]
- Edward David Burt (BA '01, MS '03), current Premier of Bermuda (2017–present)
- Michael Dunkley (MS '80), 12th Premier of Bermuda (2014–2017)
- Tshering Wangchuk (LLM '03), interim Prime Minister of Bhutan (2018)
- Chimediin Saikhanbileg (LLM '02), Prime Minister of Mongolia (2014–2016)
- Syngman Rhee (BA 1907), 1st President of South Korea (1948–1960)
- Lee Myung-bak (V.S. '99), 17th President of South Korea (2008–2013)
- Chang Dae-whan (MA '76), Prime Minister of South Korea (2002)
- Song Yo Chan (BA '40), Prime Minister of South Korea (1961–1962)
- Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, (MEA '83) 21st Prime Minister of Pakistan (2017–2018)[12]
- Mandé Sidibé (MBA '74), 8th Prime Minister of Mali (2000–2002)
- Mikhail Saakashvili (LLM '94), 3rd President of Georgia (2004–2007, 2008–2013)
- Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer (MA '85), President of Iraq (2004–2005)
- Mahmud Suleiman Maghribi (PhD '73), Prime Minister of Libya (1969–1970)
Cabinet ministers
- Mohammad Nahavandian, current Vice President of Iran
- Hessa Al Jaber, current Minister of Information of Qatar
- John Deng, current Minister without Portfolio of Taiwan
- Omar Ayub Khan, current Energy Minister of Pakistan (grandson of President Muhammad Ayub Khan)
- Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, current Minister of Maritime Affairs of Indonesia
- Slim Feriani, Former Minister of Industry, Energy, Mining, Renewable Energy and SMEs, Republic of Tunisia
- Alexander Zaveryukha, former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia
- Nematullah Shahrani, former Vice President of Afghanistan
- S. M. Krishna, former Foreign Minister of India
- Ashtar Ausaf Ali, former Attorney-General for Pakistan
- Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former Minister of Petroleum & Natural Resources of Pakistan
- Lee Beom Seok, former Foreign Minister of South Korea
- Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields, former Minister for Internet Safety & Security of the United Kingdom
- Jorge Alberto Uribe, former Defense Minister of Colombia
- Pedro Sánchez Gamarra, former Energy Minister of Peru
- Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, former Minister of Culture of Brazil
- Roberto Campos, former Minister of Planning of Brazil
- Marcin Święcicki, former Minister of Economic Relations of Poland
- Ali bin Abdulla Al Kaabi, former Labour Minister of the United Arab Emirates
- Mansour bin Mutaib Al Saud, former Minister of Municipal Affairs of Saudi Arabia
- Raya Haffar al-Hassan, former Finance Minister of Lebanon
- Hedayat Amin Arsala, former Foreign Minister of Afghanistan
- Géza Teleki, former Education Minister of Hungary
- Aleksandre Jejelava, former Science & Education Minister of Georgia
- Khatuna Kalmakhelidze, former Minister of Corrections of Georgia
- Mihnea Motoc, former Defense Minister of Romania
- Sudirman Said, former Energy Minister of Indonesia
- Farouq Qasrawi, former Foreign Minister of Jordan
- Alaa Batayneh, former Energy Minister of Jordan
- Mohammad Nidal al-Shaar, former Minister of Economy & Trade of Syria
- Mohammad Mustafa, former Deputy Prime Minister of Palestine
- Kao Su-po, former Minister of Mongolian & Tibetan Affairs of Taiwan
- Kivutha Kibwana, former Defense Minister of Kenya
- Zhivargo Laing, former Culture Minister of the Bahamas
- Htay Aung, former Tourism Minister of Myanmar
Other figures
- Tshering Wangchuk, current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan
- Anwar Gargash, current Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
- Mauricio Vila Dosal, current Governor of Yucatán, former Mayor of Mérida
- John Wright Sol, former deputy of the Legislative Assembly in El Salvador
- Najmiddin Karim, current Governor of Kirkuk
- Joanna Shields, Baroness Shields, current Member of the House of Lords
- Andrew Hastie, current member of the Parliament of Australia
- George Maior, current Romanian ambassador to the United States
- İbrahim Kalın, current Press Secretary of the President of Turkey
- Pearnel Patroe Charles Jr., current Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade of Jamaica
- Hsu Mo, founding judge of the International Court of Justice
- José Abad Santos (1909), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
- Philip Jaisohn, a founding father of the Korean Independence Movement
- Chung Mong-joon, Chairman of the Liberty Korea Party
- HH Prince Talal Arslan, Druze leader and current Head of the House of Arslan; founder and President of the Lebanese Democratic Party
- Joe Hung (PhD history, 1981), Taiwanese journalist (Central News Agency) and diplomat, Representative of Taiwan to Italy (1993–2000)[13]
- Kazuyuki Hamada, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan
- Henrique Valle, Deputy Ambassador of Brazil to the United Nations
- José Julián Sidaoui, Deputy Minister of Finance of Mexico
- Andrew Marshall, Director of the Office of Net Assessment
- Sarah Adwoa Safo, member of the Parliament of Ghana
- Abdul Kady Karim, 2007 candidate for President of Sierra Leone
- Camillo Gonsalves, Permanent Representatives of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations
- Sandiaga Uno, former Vice Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia
- Vidar Bjørnstad, Member of the Norwegian Parliament
- Marcin Święcicki, Mayor of Warsaw, Poland
- Dianne Haskett, Mayor of London, Canada
- Donald Stone Macdonald, Mayor of Gwangju, South Korea
Diplomacy
U.S. Ambassadors
- Robin Bernstein, current U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
- Christine A. Elder, current U.S. Ambassador to Liberia
- Rebecca Gonzales, current U.S. Ambassador to the Lesotho
- Joseph Prueher, former U.S. Ambassador to China
- Nelson T. Johnson, former U.S. Ambassador to China and Australia
- Patrick J. Hurley, former U.S. Ambassador to China and New Zealand
- James R. Lilley, former U.S. Ambassador to China and South Korea
- Stephen W. Bosworth, former U.S. Ambassador to Tunisia, Philippines, and South Korea
- John J. Muccio, former U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala, Iceland, South Korea
- Michael Punke, former U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization
- Kurt Volker, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO
- David M. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO
- William Tapley Bennett Jr., U.S. Ambassador to NATO
- Catherine M. Russell, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues
- Patricia Roberts Harris, former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg
- Wiley T. Buchanan Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg and Austria
- John Cloud, former U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania and Germany
- Thomas A. Loftus, former U.S. Ambassador to Norway
- Edward W. Gnehm, former U.S. Ambassador to Jordan, Kuwait and Australia
- George W. Guthrie, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
- Robert Daniel Murphy, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan and Belgium
- Carol Z. Perez, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile
- William Miller Collier, former U.S. Ambassador to Chile and Spain
- Alexander W. Weddell, former U.S. Ambassador to Argentina and Spain
- John H. Wheeler, former U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua
- Cresencio S. Arcos Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras
- Charles A. Ford, former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras
- Frank Almaguer, former U.S. Ambassador to Honduras
- Morris D. Busby, former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia
- William Braucher Wood, former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia and Afghanistan
- Charles Taylor Manatt, former U.S. Ambassador to Dominican Republic
- Raul Yzaguirre, former U.S. Ambassador to Dominican Republic
- Donna Hrinak, former U.S. Ambassador to Dominican Republic, Bolivia, and Venezuela
- George W. Landau former U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela
- James M. Derham, former U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala
- Frank V. Ortiz, former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay, Guatemala, Barbados, Peru, and Argentina
- Richard C. Brown, former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay
- Lyle Franklin Lane, former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay
- Thomas J. Dodd, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Uruguay and Costa Rica
- Robert M. Sayre, former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Panama, and Uruguay
- Irving Bedell Dudley, former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil and Peru
- Charles Page Bryan, former U.S. Ambassador to Brazil, Japan, Belgium, and Portugal
- Everett E. Briggs, former U.S. Ambassador to Portugal
- Robert J. McCloskey, former U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Cyprus, and Netherlands
- John Peurifoy, former U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Guatemala, and Thailand
- Richard Boucher, former U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus
- Theodore Brentano, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary
- William Dale Montgomery, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, and Croatia
- E. Ross Adair, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia
- Tibor P. Nagy, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia
- David H. Shinn, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso
- Julius Waring Walker Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso
- Smith Hempstone, former U.S. Ambassador to Kenya
- Gerald Eustis Thomas, former U.S. Ambassador to Kenya and Guyana
- David C. Halsted, former U.S. Ambassador to Chad and Uganda
- Tom McDonald, former U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe
- Bernadette M. Allen, former U.S. Ambassador to Niger
- Robert Brendon Keating, former U.S. Ambassador to Madagascar
- George Moose, former U.S. Ambassador to Benin and Senegal
- Robert P. Jackson, former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Cameroon
- Donald C. Johnson, former U.S. Ambassador to Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, and Mongolia
- Francis Terry McNamara, former U.S. Ambassador to Cabo Verde, Gabon, and São Tomé and Príncipe
- Aubrey Hooks, former U.S. Ambassador to Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, and Republic of Congo
- Clare H. Timberlake, former U.S. Ambassador to Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Harmon Elwood Kirby, former U.S. Ambassador to Togo
- Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Mauritania
- Daniel A. Johnson, former U.S. Ambassador to Suriname
- Walter Nathan Tobriner, former U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica
- Walter E. North, former U.S. Ambassador to Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea
- William A. Heidt, former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia
- Carol Laise, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal
- Edward E. Masters, former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia
- Ralph L. Boyce, former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia and Thailand
- Sheila Gwaltney, former U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan
- Marisa Lino, former U.S. Ambassador to Albania
- Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, former U.S. Ambassador to Malta
- Richard L. Baltimore, former U.S. Ambassador to Oman
- Ross Wilson, former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
State Department officials
- Colin Powell, 65th U.S. Secretary of State
- John Foster Dulles, 52nd U.S. Secretary of State
- Carol Z. Perez, current Director General of the Foreign Service
- Michelle Giuda, current Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
- Tibor P. Nagy, current Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
- Richard Boucher, current Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs
- James E. Webb, former United States Under Secretary of State
- Heather Higginbottom, former Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources
- Grant S. Green, former Under Secretary of State for Management
- John F. W. Rogers, former Under Secretary of State for Management
- Heather Nauert, former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
- John D. Holum, former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs
- Robert Daniel Murphy, former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
- Carol Laise, former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
- Brooks Hays, former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
- J. Edward Fox, former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
- Robert J. McCloskey, former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
- William Tapley Bennett Jr., former Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs
- Nelson T. Johnson, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
- Eileen Claussen, former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs
- John Peurifoy, former Assistant Secretary of State for Administration
- Randall M. Fort, former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research
- Gregory B. Starr, former Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security
- William Braucher Wood, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs
- Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation
- Julius Katz, former Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs
- David Marchick, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs
- Robert M. Sayre, former Inspector General of the State Department and Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Other diplomats
- Nestor Mendez, current Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States
- Kazuyuki Hamada, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan
- Anwar Gargash, current Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
- Pearnel Patroe Charles Jr., current State Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade of Jamaica
- Carl Lutz, Swiss diplomat credited with saving over 62,000 Jews, the largest rescue operation of Jews of World War II
- George Maior, current Romanian ambassador to the United States
- Henrique Valle, Deputy Ambassador of Brazil to the United Nations
- Joe Hung, Taiwanese Ambassador to Italy
- Elliott Charng, Taiwanese Ambassador to Australia, New Zealand, and India
- Camillo Gonsalves, Permanent Representatives of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations
- Moncrieff J. Spear, former U.S Consul-General to the Bahamas
- Richard Paul Momsen, former U.S Consul-General to Rio de Janeiro
- Guilford Wiley Wells, former U.S. Consul-General to Shanghai
- Thomas Sammons, former U.S. Consul-General to Shanghai
- Frank Lockhart, former U.S. Consul-General to Shanghai
- Archer Blood, former U.S. Consul-General to Dhaka, East Pakistan, issued the Blood Telegram during the Bangladesh Liberation War
- An Le, current U.S. Consul to Ho Chi Minh City
- Michael Ratney, U.S. Special Envoy to Syria under President Obama
Law
U.S. Circuit Judges
- Sharon Prost, current Chief Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Richard Linn, current Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Clyde H. Hamilton, current Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Kenneth Francis Ripple, current Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- David R. Hansen, current Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Barbara Milano Keenan, current Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- Carlos F. Lucero, current Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- Glenn Leroy Archer Jr., former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- Randall Ray Rader, former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- James P. Coleman, former Chief Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- Richard Dickson Cudahy, former Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- William Edward Doyle, former Senior Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- Bennett Champ Clark, former Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Albert Tate Jr., former Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- Robert Smith Vance, former Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
U.S. District Judges
- John Michael Seabright, current Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii
- Joyce Hens Green, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Daniel T. K. Hurley, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- Cameron McGowan Currie, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
- Roger L. Hunt, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
- William K. Sessions III, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont
- Gordon Jay Quist, current Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
- Suzanne Mitchell, current Magistrate Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- Tanya S. Chutkan, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Stephen Victor Wilson, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- Darrin P. Gayles, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Florida
- Jorge Luis Alonso, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Catherine Eagles, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina
- Linda Vivienne Parker, current Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Alfred Adams Wheat, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Gerald Ellis Rosen, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- Ernest W. Gibson Jr., former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont
- James C. Cacheris, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- Edward Skottowe Northrop, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland
- Edwin F. Hunter, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana
- Ronald Edward Meredith, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
- James Franklin Battin, former Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana
- Harold H. Greene, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Henry Albert Schweinhaut, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- James Robertson, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Burnita Shelton Matthews, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Sarah T. Hughes, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas
- Oren Ritter Lewis, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
- John Milton Killits, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio
- Albert Morris Sames, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- Albert Sherman Christensen, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah
- George Ross Anderson Jr., former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
- Paul Benson, former Senior Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota
- Frederick Lincoln Siddons, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Adolph A. Hoehling Jr., former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Andrew Coyle Bradley, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- William Matthews Merrick, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- James Robert Kirkland, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- William Edward Doyle, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado
- Arthur Marshall Davis, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
- Benjamin Franklin Keller, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia
- David R. Hansen, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa
- Clyde H. Hamilton, former Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
U.S. State Supreme Courts
- Michael Kruse, current Chief Justice of the American Samoa High Court
- Bill Mims, current Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court
- D. Frank Wilkins, current Justice of the Utah Supreme Court
- Harry L. Carrico, 23rd Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court
- Barbara Milano Keenan, Justice on the Virginia Supreme Court
- Barbara Pariente, 51st Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court
- Clifford Taylor, 66th Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
- Mary S. Coleman, 57th Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court
- A. Lee Chandler, 28th Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- Taylor Hudnall Stukes, 20th Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court
- Russell A. Anderson, 20th Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Horace W. Wilkie, 19th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court
- Kathryn Werdegar, former Justice of the Supreme Court of California
- Albert Tate Jr., former Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
- Rankin Gibson, former Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court
- Adolph Grant Wolf, former Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court
- Félix Córdova Dávila, former Justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court
Attorneys General
- William Barr, current United States Attorney General
- Mohan Peiris, 41st Attorney General of Sri Lanka
- Aaron D. Ford, current Attorney General of Nevada
- Frankie Sue Del Papa, 29th Attorney General of Nevada
- Bill Mims, 45th Attorney General of Virginia
- John Garland Pollard, 21st Attorney General of Virginia
- Robert Y. Thornton, 8th Attorney General of Oregon
- Rufus L. Edmisten, 46th Attorney General of North Carolina
- Vernon B. Romney, 14th Attorney General of Utah
- Frank Willey Clancy, 1st Attorney General of New Mexico
- Jeffrey B. Pine, 70th Attorney General of Rhode Island
- M. Jerome Diamond, 22nd Attorney General of Vermont
- Joseph Foster, 29th Attorney General of New Hampshire
- Grace Berg Schaible, 20th Attorney General of Alaska
- Jack Conway, 49th Attorney General of Kentucky
- Paul Benson, 22nd Attorney General of North Dakota
- Robert E. Smylie, 21st Attorney General of Idaho
- Winston Bryant, 52nd Attorney General of Arkansas
- James P. Coleman, 33rd Attorney General of Mississippi
- John A. Carver Jr., interim Attorney General of American Samoa
- William C. Wantland, former Attorney General of the Seminole Nation
International judges
- Hsu Mo, Founding Judge of the International Court of Justice
- Tshering Wangchuk, current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bhutan
- Mohan Peiris, de facto Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka
- José Abad Santos, 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Other legal figures
- Andrew P. Bakaj, Former Department of Defense and CIA Official; lead counsel for the Whisteblower during the Impeachment Inquiry and the subsequent Impeachment of President Donald Trump.
- Scott W. Stucky, current Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces
- Leon Jaworski, Special Prosecutor during the Watergate scandal
- Belva Ann Lockwood, first woman to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, first female presidential candidate
- Ira Sorkin, Lead Attorney for Bernard Madoff
- Joyce Hens Green, Presiding Judge of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
- Thomas F. Hogan, Presiding Judge of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
- William Barberie Howell, Chief Judge of the U.S. Customs Court
- Wilma B. Liebman, Chair of the National Labor Relations Board
- Delbert Spurlock, General Counsel of the Army
- Makan Delrahim, United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
- William K. Sessions III, Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission
- Ken Starr, 39th Solicitor General of the United States
- *Omar Ashmawy, Chief Counsel to the Office of Congressional Ethics
- Bradley Schlozman, Head of the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
- Glenn Greenwald, Pulitzer Prize-winning legal author that exposed the United States surveillance of foreign leaders
- William D. Cohen, associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court[14]
- Chester Sipkin, Administrative Law Judge for the United States Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service.
Military
- General John William Vessey, Jr., 10th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General Colin Powell, 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Admiral David E. Jeremiah, interim Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General John Shalikashvili, 13th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General Peter Pace, 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General Robert T. Herres, 1st Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Admiral William Owens, 3rd Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Admiral Thad Allen (MPA), Commandant of the Coast Guard 2006–2010
- General Earl E. Anderson (J.D.)
- Rear Admiral Richard A. Appelbaum
- Captain Edward L. Beach, Jr. (M.A.)
- Major General Thomas A. Benes
- Brigadier General Vincente T. Blaz
- Major General Robert D. Bohn
- Lieutenant General Arnold W. Braswell, United States Air Force, MBA, 1967
- Rear Admiral F. Taylor Brown
- Major General George William Casey, Sr.
- General John T. Chain, Jr., former Commander of the Strategic Air Command
- Rear Admiral Sandy Daniels
- Major General Sharon K.G. Dunbar, U.S. Air Force
- Captain Frank Freyer, 14th Naval Governor of Guam and Chief of Staff of the Peruvian Navy
- General John Fugh, the first Chinese American to attain general officer status in the U.S. Army, former Judge Advocate General
- General Charles A. Gabriel, 11th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
- Admiral John B. Hayes (M.A.) Commandant of the Coast Guard (Ret.) 1978–1982
- General Robert T. Herres, the first Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- Admiral David E. Jeremiah, former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and also Acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
- General Charles C. Krulak, former Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
- Major General Bruce M. Lawlor (B.S., J.D., D.Sc.), first commander of Joint Task Force-Civil Support and first Chief of Staff at the Department of Homeland Security
- Brigadier General Michael A. McAuliffe
- Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney
- Lieutenant General John N. McLaughlin, Marine Corps service in three wars and spent three years as P.O.W.
- General Merrill A. McPeak, former Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and United States Secretary of the Air Force
- Major General Billy Mitchell (1919, but received degree as part of "class of 1899", having dropped out to serve in the Spanish–American War), advocate of air power in the military
- Lieutenant General Hal Moore, author of We Were Soldiers Once… and Young
- Major General Spurgeon Neel, father of army aviation medicine
- Major General Peter George Olenchuk
- Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr., Class of 1912, Commander of the 78th Infantry Division during World War II (August 1942 – November 1945)
- General Frank E. Petersen, United States Marine Corps, first black Marine general, first black Marine aviator, first black commanding officer of a fighter squadron, an air group, and a major base.
- Major General Herman Poggemeyer Jr., United States Marine Corps,
- Vice Admiral John R. Ryan, former Superintendent of United States Naval Academy, Chancellor of the State University of New York
- Major General Michael P. Ryan, United States Marine Corps, Co-founded Marine Corps Marathon
- Brigadier General Henry J. Stehling
- Major General William W. Stickney, United States Marine Corps, Director of Marine Corps Reserve
- Bill Studeman, former Admiral of the United States Navy, former deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency, former acting director of Central Intelligence, former director of the National Security Agency, and former director of Naval Intelligence
- Brigadier General Dennis B. Sullivan
- Colonel John Tweedale (LL.B.) Medal of Honor recipient, 1868
- Brigadier General James P. Ulm
- Major General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Jr.
- Rear Admiral Sidney A. Wallace
- General Larry D. Welch, the 12th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, Commander, Strategic Air Command
- Major General Don S. Wenger
- Major General Charles F. Widdecke (M.A.); recipient of Navy Cross during World War II
- Brigadier General Hugh E. Wild
- Brigadier General David W. Winn
Journalism
- Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired
- Bob Woodward, editor at The Washington Post, famous for reporting on the Watergate scandal
- Dana Bash, CNN White House correspondent
- Diana B. Henriques, reporter for the New York Times
- Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News anchor
- Kate Bolduan, CNN correspondent
- Doug McKelway, Fox News journalist
- Sally Kohn, CNN and Fox News commentator
- Marianne Means, White House correspondent
- Kasie Hunt, host of MSNBC's Kasie DC
- Hadas Gold, reporter for CNN and CNN International
- Nazenin Ansari, Voice of America correspondent
- Margaret Carlson, journalist; columnist for Bloomberg News; first woman columnist at Time
- Mona Charen, political analyst and best-selling author
- Victoria Clarke, CNN analyst, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
- Bob Considine, journalist with United Press International and author
- Geovanny Vicente, Political strategist and columnist for CNN
- Rowland Evans (1951), news commentator from CNN's Evans, Novak, Hunt and Shields
- Steve Benen, lead blogger of The Washington Monthly
- Bill Gertz reporter and analyst for The Washington Times and Fox News
- Glenn Greenwald, former attorney and current political and legal blogger, and columnist at Salon
- Jeff Jacoby, columnist for The Boston Globe
- Michael Kinsley, political commentator and journalist, former co-host of CNN's Crossfire
- Kathleen Troia McFarland, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Fox News commentator
- Philip Klein, executive editor of the Washington Examiner
- Michael Moran, author of The Reckoning; producer of the documentary series Crisis Guides
- Glenn R. Simpson, journalist for Wall Street Journalist
- Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, Fox News pundit
- Mosheh Oinounou, executive producer of CBS News
- Mark Olshaker, author who collaborates with FBI agent, John E. Douglas in books regarding criminal and investigative psychology
- Michael Punke, writer, novelist, professor, policy analyst, policy consultant, attorney best known for writing the novel The Revenant (2002), which was adapted into film as The Revenant (2015)
- Josh Rogin, CNN political analyst
- Hilary Rosen, on-air contributor for CNN; consultant, political director and Washington editor at large for The Huffington Post; former CEO of the RIAA
- Samuel K. Sloan political blogger, retired executive news director for Farpoint Media, LLC, retired co-producer and writer for Sirius/XM Satellite radio program Slice of SciFi
- Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor and publisher of Jacobin
- Chuck Todd (1991), NBC News political director
- Murray Waas, award-winning journalist and author, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Village Voice, The National Journal, and The Boston Globe
Pulitzer Prize
- Anders Gyllenhaal, Chairman of the Pulitzer Prize Board
- Glenn Greenwald, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
- Diana B. Henriques, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
- Bob Woodward, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting and the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
- Deborah Solomon, winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
- Ginger Thompson, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting
- William McPherson, winner of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism
- Michael Kammen, winner of the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for History
- George D. Beveridge, winner of the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting
Activism
- Tom Fitton, current President of Judicial Watch
- Roslyn Brock, Chairman of the NAACP
- Alex Pacheco, Co-founder and Chairman of PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
- Jonathan D. Katz (BA '81), Founder of Queer Nation
- Raul Yzaguirre, President & CEO of the National Council of La Raza
- Kati Marton, Chairwoman of the International Women's Health Coalition
- Paul Shapiro, Vice President of the Humane Society of the United States
- A. L. Steiner, Co-founder of Working Artists and the Greater Economy (W.A.G.E.)
- Stephanie K. Meeks, CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Leah Soibel, Executive Director of Fuente Latina
- Nicholas Eftimiades, founder of the Federation of Galaxy Explorers
- Marc Garlasco, senior military expert for Human Rights Watch
- Bari Lurie, chief of staff at the Clinton Foundation
- Amien Rais, leader of the Indonesian reform movement
- Jason Franklin, urban policy activist
- Margery E. Goldberg, public arts activist
- Nikolas Schiller, cannabis reform activist
- Mercedes Schlapp, Tea Party movement activist
- Richard A. Fowler, American political activist
- Dorothy Vredenburgh Bush, American political activist
- Jeanne Henriquez, women's rights activist
- Ida Hinman, American suffragette and feminist activist
- Arlene Raven, feminist activist
- Rita Banerji, gender activist
- Watson Davis, science education activist
- Richard Cizik, environmental activist
- Jane Briggs Hart, anti-war activist
- Brittany Lewis, domestic violence activist
- Omega Silva, universal health care activist
- Ángel Lozada, HIV activist
- Kim A. Snyder, chronic fatigue syndrome activist
- Peggy Cooper Cafritz, American civil rights activist
- David A. Clarke, American civil rights activist
- Kivutha Kibwana, Kenyan human rights activist
- Kraisak Choonhavan, Thai human rights activist
Entertainment
- Alec Baldwin, actor
- Casey Affleck, actor
- Courteney Cox (Mt. Vernon alumni), actress
- Kerry Washington (1998), actress
- Rachel Zoe, celebrity fashion stylist
- Ina Garten, host of Barefoot Contessa
- Dan Glickman (JD 1969), current president of the Motion Picture Association of America
- T.J. Miller, actor and stand-up comedian, Silicon Valley
- Angela Aki, singer-songwriter (Final Fantasy XII)
- Patricia Altschul, socialite and art collector
- William Peter Blatty, writer and filmmaker who wrote the novel The Exorcist (1971) and the subsequent screenplay version for which he won an Academy Award
- Reem Bassous, visual artist
- Irvin Bomb, artist
- Warren Brown, TV host on the Food Network
- Christopher Pearse Cranch, writer and artist
- Merce Cunningham (attended), dancer and choreographer
- Manish Dayal, actor, known for 90210
- Lester del Rey, author, founded Del Rey Books
- Donna Dixon, actress, wife of Dan Aykroyd
- Haddaway, Trinidadian singer most famous for "What Is Love" single
- Kevin Peter Hall, actor, Predator
- Haroon, graduate in Business Administration, Pakistani singer, composer, musician and engineer
- Reona Ito, music conductor (alumnus of the Elliott School)
- Chris Kilmore, turntablist for the band Incubus
- Ross Martin, Television-Film-Radio actor-Most famous for his role on TV in the Wild,Wild West
- Rooney Mara (attended), actress, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- Dina Merrill, actress and socialite
- Naeto C, Nigerian rapper
- Lee Phillip, Korean American actor
- Adam Richman (attended for one year), indie pop singer-songwriter
- Mark Russell, satirist and comedian
- Whitney Sudler-Smith, television personality and socialite
- Clay Travis, sports columnist and author
- Bill Westenhofer, Academy Award-winning visual effects artist
- Nathan Hale Williams, film and television producer, entertainment lawyer
- Scott Wolf (1991), actor
First Family and royalty
- Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States
- Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud of Saudi Arabia
- Princess Sonam Dechen Wangchuck of Bhutan
- Princess Yasmine Pahlavi of Persia
- Elisabeth Delatour Préval, First Lady of Haiti
- Susan Ford, daughter of U.S. President Gerald Ford
- Margaret Truman, daughter of U.S. President Harry S. Truman
- Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson
- David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight Eisenhower and son-in-law of President Richard Nixon
Religion
- L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology
- Richard G. Scott, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Matthew Cowley, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- J. Reuben Clark, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Bernard P. Brockbank, member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- George V. Murry, Roman Catholic Bishop of Youngstown
- Frank Joseph Dewane, Roman Catholic Bishop of Venice, Florida
- William C. Wantland, Episcopal Bishop of Eau Claire
- Violet L. Fisher, Bishop of the United Methodist Church
- Gregory V. Palmer, Bishop of the United Methodist Church
- Marc Stanley, Chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council
- Jonathan Hausman, Rabbi of Ahavath Torah
Sciences
- Ralph Alpher, "Father of the Big Bang theory"
- Charles Critchfield, physicist of the Manhattan Project
- Michael Griffin, 11th Administrator of NASA
- James E. Webb, 2nd Administrator of NASA
- James Morhard, 14th Deputy-Administrator of NASA
- Frederick D. Gregory, interim Administrator of NASA
- Peter Caws, President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences
- Patricia Wilson Berger, President of the American Library Association
- James Carroll, President of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology
- Allenna Leonard, President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences
- Marcus Ward Lyon Jr., President of the American Society of Mammalogists
- Nancy B. Jackson, President of the American Chemical Society
- Paul Antony, Chief Medical Officer of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America
- Serena M. Auñón, American physician, engineer, and NASA astronaut.
- Julius Axelrod, biochemist who won a share of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 along with Bernard Katz and Ulf von Euler
- Paul S. Berry, HIV researcher
- Captain Michael Coats (1977), astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander
- Todd B. Hawley, co-founder of the International Space University
- Anousheh Ansari (M.S., 1992), chairwoman and co-founder of Prodea Systems; patroness of private space flight; first female space tourist
- Howard Judd, menopause expert and medical researcher
- Hans Lineweaver (B.A. 1930, M.A. 1933), physical chemist who developed the Lineweaver–Burk plot
- Matthew Stirling, ethnologist and archaeologist who discovered and excavated many pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sites
- Ashani Weeraratna, cancer researcher
- Patch Adams, physician and comedian portrayed in a 1998 movie
- Neal D. Barnard, physician, author, clinical researcher, founding president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
- Albert Freeman Africanus King (MD 1861), personal physician to President Abraham Lincoln
Athletics
- Theodore N. Lerner (1948), owner of the Washington Nationals
- Abe Pollin (1945), owner of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals
- Jerry Reinsdorf (1957), owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls
- Randy Levine (B.A., 1977), President of the New York Yankees
- Red Auerbach (1940, 1941), President of the Boston Celtics
- David Haggerty, current President of the International Tennis Federation
- Jeffrey Pollack, Commissioner of the World Series of Poker
- Chet Simmons, 1st Commissioner of the United States Football League
- Joel Segal ('86), sports agent, 2016 "The NFL's 100 Most Important People" and Forbes "World's Most Powerful Sports Agents"
- Brendon Ayanbadejo (MBA, 2013), football player, Super Bowl champion, Baltimore Ravens
- Mike Brey (1982), current head coach, Notre Dame men's basketball team
- Yinka Dare (attended 1993–1994), basketball player, New Jersey Nets
- David Falk (J.D., 1975), sports agent
- John Flaherty (1988), former Major League Baseball player
- Jack Toomay, former Major League Baseball player
- Justin Prinstein, inaugural player in the Israel Baseball League
- Mike Hall (2006), basketball forward, Washington Wizards and overseas leagues, free agent
- Ronnie Nunn, former referee for the National Basketball Association
- Ray Hanken (1911–1980), football player
- Larry MacPhail, National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee
- Wayne Hart (1912), member of the All-South Atlantic football team for four years; coached Washington Vigilants and Clemson Agricultural College
- Lubomir Kavalek (1975), Chess Grandmaster
- Tuffy Leemans (1936), football running back, Pro Football Hall of Fame, New York Giants
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu (2006), basketball forward, Galatasaray S.K.
- Michael O'Connor (2002), baseball pitcher, Washington Nationals
- William W. Skinner, head football coach for University of Maryland, College Park and University of Arizona
- Tom Walter, head baseball coach for Wake Forest University
- Sam Perlozzo (1973), former manager, Baltimore Orioles; current third base coach, Seattle Mariners
- J. R. Pinnock (2006), basketball guard
- Mike Sommer (1958), member of college football team, played in the NFL with the Washington Redskins, Baltimore Colts, and the Oakland Raiders
- Jim Tennant, former MLB player
- Yuta Watanabe, Japanese NBA player
- Bernie Wolfe (born 1951), NHL hockey player
- Gregg Ritchie (1987), former MLB hitting coach, Pittsburgh Pirates; head coach George Washington Colonials baseball since 2013
Olympics
- Elana Meyers (BS '06, MA '11), bobsledder at the 2018 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Olympics
- Patricio Garino, basketball player at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu, basketball player at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Alice Schmidt, runner at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics
- Aquil Abdullah, rower at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Sameera Al-Bitar, swimmer at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Álvaro Fortuny, swimmer at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Chad Senior, pentathlete at the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2000 Summer Olympics
- Ugo Oha, basketball player at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Ben Stevens, President of the 2001 Special Olympics World Winter Games
- Dallas Shirley, basketball player at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Josiah Henson, wrestler at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Gerald F. Russell, runner at the 1940 Summer Olympics
Others
- Roger Stone, opposition research consultant for the Republican National Committee
- Barbara Bush (Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree), First Lady of the United States
- George Herbert Walker Bush (Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree), President of the United States
- Anwar al-Awaki, terrorist and principal member of al-Qaeda
- Harrison Howell Dodge (1852–1937), appointed as resident superintendent of Mount Vernon in 1885, serving 52 years in the position until his death[15]
- Mona Al Munajjed, United Nations official
- John Calder Brennan (Law, 1937), historian
- Alfred McAdams, painter
- Gustavo A. Mellander, AB, MA, PhD (History −1966) University dean for 15 years; College president for 20 years.
- Frank Robinson (Honorary Doctor of Public Service degree), Baseball Hall of Famer, manager of the Washington Nationals
- Jackie Ronne, Antarctic explorer, and the first woman in the world to be a working member of an Antarctic expedition
- Nikolas Schiller, mapmaker
- Geovanny Vicente, CNN columnist and political strategist.
- Harry Aubrey Toulmin Sr. (1882), patent attorney to the Wright Brothers
- John Appleton Wilson, architect
References
- ^ Who's Who in America, 1982–1983 (Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1982), p. 2844
- ^ "The History Makers". Other EducationMakers. The History Makers. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
- ^ L. Stanley Crane, was elected in 1978 as a member of the United States National Academy of Engineering in Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems Engineering
- ^ "Wyoming Governor Fenimore Chatterton". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
- ^ "Missouri Governor Mel Eugene Carnahan". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
- ^ "Adam McMullen". National Governors Association. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
- ^ Arkansas House of Representatives biography: Charlie Collins Archived December 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Vermont Legislative Directory. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Secretary of State. 1979. p. 198.
- ^ "Tom Greenwell". ncrptx.com. Retrieved July 24, 2013.
- ^ "Biography of the Acting Surgeon General". United States Department of Health and Human Services. July 1, 2006.
- ^ "Profile: Faure Gnassingbe". April 2, 2005.
- ^ Masood, Salman (August 2017). "Shahid Khaqan Abbasi: What You Need to Know About Pakistan's New Prime Minister". New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
- ^ "Late journalist-diplomat Joe Hung remembered as man of erudition and veracity". Eye on Taiwan Media. March 6, 2018. Archived from the original on March 14, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ Jensen, Lori (October 25, 2019). "Speaker Biography, William D. Cohen". VTACDL Fall Continuing Legal Education. Essex Junction, VT: Vermont Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
- ^ Staff. "COL. HARRISON DODGE, MT. VERNON CUSTODIAN; Superintendent of Washington's Home Since 1885—Made Many Improvements", The New York Times, May 21, 1937. Accessed July 24, 2010.