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

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Famous People With History Degrees - The World of Business

Chris Hughes (co-founder of Facebook)
Howard Stringer (chairman 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)
Howard Stringer (chairman and CEO of the Sony Corporation)
Louis Theroux - inquisitive documentary maker 
Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube; History and Literature)

Celebrities with History Degrees - Entertainment Industry

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, businessman
Julia Child - chef and television personality
Katharine Hepburn - actress

Notable Political Figures with History Degrees

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

Notable Authors with History Degrees

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

Athletes with History Degrees

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Jackie Joyner-Kersee
Bill Bradley  
Andrew DeClercq
Ken Dryden
Grant Hill