A History of MIT Commencement Speakers
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MIT’s 138th Commencement exercise takes place on Friday, June, 5, 2015. The ceremony will feature guest speaker Megan Smith ’86, SM ’88, the chief technology officer (CTO) of the United States.
Smith is the 22nd MIT alumnus/ae and Institute’s 110th Commencement speaker dating back to 1880, the earliest year that MIT Commencement records exist at MIT’s Institute Archives and Special Collections. The list of speakers includes President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan SM '72, 12 alumni, and 11 MIT presidents.
Perhaps the most notable event in MIT’s Commencement history occurred when there was no speaker. In 1970, during the peak of the United States' conflict in Vietnam, the graduating class requested that then-MIT President Howard Wesley Johnson HM '66 refrain from speaking in lieu of two minutes of silence for attendees to consider what can be done "to help resolve the conflicts which divide mankind in this country and around the world."
The first half of the 20th century often featured more than one Commencement per year. Separate ceremonies were held from graduate and undergraduate students in the ’40s, and traditional students and military students often held separate ceremonies in the ’20s and ’30s.
Commencement speakers dating back to 1995 are listed below. Click on the image for the full list of MIT Commencement speakers dating back to Unitarian clergyman George E. Ellis, who addressed MIT graduates in 1880. Share your Commencement speakers memories in the comments below and on Facebook and Twitter.
