History Matters

"History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future." - Robert Penn Warren

History Matters

  • Chris Hughes (co-founder of Facebook)
  • Howard Stringer (chair and CEO of the Sony Corporation)
  • Carly Fiorina (president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard; History and Philosophy)
  • Chelsea Clinton
  • Martha Stewart
  • Lee Iacocca (American automobile executive best known for spearheading the development of the Ford Mustang; CEO of Chrysler)
  • Robert Johnson (CEO of BET TV)
  • Charles Sennott (co-founder and vice president of Global News)
  • Louis Theroux - inquisitive documentary maker 
  • Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube; History and Literature)
  • Steve Carell – comedy icon / actor, holds a history degree from Denison University
  • Lawrence Gene "Larry" David – comedian, writer, actor, television producer
  • Tony Danza – actor (“Who’s the Boss?”)
  • Janeane Garofalo – actress, stand-up comedian, liberal activist
  • John Arthur Lithgow – actor (“3rd Rock from the Sun” and other comedies)
  • Jonathan Ross – entertainment talk-show host (Looks like those skills of analysis come in handy for a successful career in media…)
  • Conan O’Brien – entertainment talk-show host
  • Edward Norton – actor (most notable for roles in “Fight Club” and “American History X” holds not only a history degree but a decent command of languages)
  • Dean Cain – actor (“Lois & Clark: Superman”)
  • Sacha Baron Cohen – actor (notable for his morally flawed character portrayal in “Borat”; though, he proves in reality, genuinely intelligent as a history graduate from Cambridge - a top-ranking UK school)
  • Michael Palin (Monty Python founder, in fact his co-founder Terry Jones, has published extensively on medieval history and hosted a History Channel series on the Middle Ages)
  • Jimmy Buffett – musician, actor, author, businessperson
  • Julia Child - chef and television personality
  • Katharine Hepburn - actress
  • Prince Charles - the Prince of Wales holds a degree in Archaeology, Anthropology and History, and was the first ever heir apparent to gain such a qualification. 
  • United States Presidents with History Degrees:
    • George W. Bush 
    • Theodore Roosevelt (also president of the American Historical Association, 1912)
    • Woodrow Wilson (also president of the American Historical Association, 1924)
    • Franklin D. Roosevelt
    • John F. Kennedy
    • Richard Nixon
    • Dwight Eisenhower
    • Other Notable Politicians/Public Figures Who Studied History:
      • Newt Gingrich 
      • George McGovern
      • George Mitchell
      • Tim Johnson
      • Joe Biden 
      • Cory Booker
      • Robert Gates
      • Samantha Power
  • Salman Rushdie – prolific novelist and essayist
  • H.G. Wells - War of The Worlds 
  • Ayn Rand - Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter
  • David Hume - historian, philosopher, author
  • Niccolo Machiavelli - historian, politician, philosopher, author, humanist, diplomat
  • Flo Steinberg - pioneer publisher of underground comic books
  • Kevin Fagan - cartoonist and creator of the syndicated strip “Drabble”
  • Malcolm Gladwell
  • Carl Sandburg
  • Annie Proulx
  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • Jackie Joyner-Kersee
  • Bill Bradley  
  • Andrew DeClercq
  • Ken Dryden
  • Grant Hill

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