Phi Beta Kappa

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Phi Beta Kappa Key

Phi Beta Kappa is an American honorary academic society founded in 1776 at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg , Virginia . It is considered the oldest honor society or student association in the United States. Admission is regulated by the Phi Beta Kappa Society of the respective university. Only about 10% of higher education institutions in the US have such local branches. As a rule, no more than ten percent of college students (prior to graduation as " undergraduates ") are accepted. The student in question is offered membership, which is accepted almost without exception. Phi Beta Kappa currently has around 500,000 living members. Former members of the association include 17 US presidents , 40 Supreme Court justices and 136 Nobel Prize winners .

Phi Beta Kappa ( ΦΒΚ ) stands for the Greek words Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophía Bíou Kybernḗtēs) , which means " Wisdom love is the guiding star (actually captain or helmsman) of life".

Its symbol is a golden key with three stars on the front (they stand for friendship, morals, learning), a pointing hand and the initials ΦΒΚ, on the back an SP (for Societas philosophiae).

The society publishes the quarterly magazine The American Scholar with mainly humanities articles.

Every year Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) awards the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize for outstanding publications in the social and human sciences.

Known members

students

In chronological order

  • Bushrod Washington (1762–1829), American lawyer - William & Mary, 1778
  • John Marshall (1755–1835), American politician - William & Mary, 1780
  • James Kent (1763–1847) American lawyer and legal scholar - Yale, 1781
  • John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) American politician and diplomat, 6th President of the United States - Harvard, 1787
  • Eli Whitney (1765–1825), American inventor and manufacturer - Yale, 1792
  • Joseph Story (1779–1845), American lawyer - Harvard, 1798
  • Daniel Webster (1782-1852), American politician - Dartmouth, 1801
  • John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), American politician - Yale, 1804
  • Samuel Morse (1791–1872), American inventor and professor of painting, sculpture, and drawing - Yale, 1810
  • Rufus Choate (1799-1859) American lawyer and politician - Dartmouth, 1819
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864), American romantic writer - Bowdoin, 1824
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) American novelist, poet, translator, and playwright - Bowdoin, 1825
  • Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) American politician, 21st President of the United States Union, 1848
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes (1841-1935), American jurist - Harvard, 1861
  • Robert Edwin Peary (1856–1920), American engineer and polar explorer - Bowdoin, 1877
  • William Howard Taft (1857–1930), American lawyer and politician - Yale, 1878
  • John Dewey (1859–1952), American philosopher and educator - Vermont, 1879
  • Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) American politician, 26th President of the United States - Harvard, 1880
  • Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948), American politician and lawyer - Brown, 1881
  • Charles McLean Andrews (1863–1943), American historian and university professor - Hartford 1884
  • George Santayana (1863–1952), Spanish philosopher, writer and literary critic - Harvard, 1886
  • Bernard Baruch (1870–1965), American financier, stock market speculator, political advisor and later philanthropist - CUNY, 1889
  • WEB Du Bois (1868–1963), American sociologist, philosopher and journalist - Fisk, 1890
  • Bainbridge Colby (1869–1950), American lawyer and politician - Williams, 1890
  • Learned Hand (1872–1961), American judge and lawyer - Harvard, 1893
  • Alexander Meiklejohn - Brown, 1893
  • Harlan Fiske Stone (1872–1946), American lawyer and politician - Amherst, 1894
  • Owen Roberts (1875–1955), American lawyer - Pennsylvania, 1895
  • Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965), American lawyer - CUNY, 1902
  • Elihu Root (1845–1937), American lawyer and politician - Hamilton, 1903
  • John Foster Dulles (1888-1959), American politician - Princeton, 1908
  • Dorothy Kenyon (1888–1972), lawyer, judge, feminist, and civil rights activist - Northampton, 1908
  • Owen Brewster (1888–1961), American politician - Bowdoin, 1909
  • Harold Hitz Burton (1888–1964), American judge and politician - Bowdoin, 1909
  • Walter Lippmann (1889–1974), American journalist, writer and media critic - Harvard, 1909
  • Paul Howard Douglas (1892–1976), university professor, economist, and US Senator - Bowdoin, 1913
  • Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973), American writer - Randoph-Macon, 1914
  • James Bryant Conant (1893–1978), American chemist, science politician, and diplomat - Harvard, 1914
  • Dean Acheson (1893–1971), American politician - Yale, 1915
  • Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), American poet and politician - Yale, 1915
  • Charles Hamilton Houston - Amherst, 1915
  • Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956), American sex researcher and university professor - Bowdoin, 1916
  • Paul Robeson (1898–1976), American actor, singer, athlete, author, and civil rights activist - Rutgers, 1919
  • William O. Douglas (1898–1980), American lawyer - Whitman, 1920
  • Herbert Brownell Jr. (1904-1996), American lawyer, politician - Nebraska, 1924
  • Countee Cullen (1903-1946), American poet, writer - NY University, ca.1926
  • Alger Hiss (1904–1996), American attorney and government official - Johns Hopkins, 1926
  • Harry A. Blackmun (1908-1999), American lawyer - Harvard, 1929
  • Lewis F. Powell (1907-1998), Judges - Washington & Lee, 1929
  • Nelson Rockefeller (1908–1979), American politician - Dartmouth, 1930
  • Clement Greenberg (1909–1994), American art critic - New York, 1930
  • Jonas Salk (1914–1995), American doctor and immunologist - CCNY, 1930
  • Carl Albert (1908–2000), American politician - Oklahoma, 1931
  • Dean Rusk (1909-1994), American politician - Davidson, 1931
  • Daniel J. Boorstin (1914-2004), American historian and writer - Harvard, 1934
  • Richard Helms (1913–2002), American intelligence officer - Williams, 1935
  • Edmund Muskie (1914–1996), American politician - Bates, 1936
  • Robert McNamara (1916–2009), American manager and politician - Berkeley, 1937
  • Potter Stewart (1915–1985), American lawyer - Yale, 1937
  • Byron White (1917–2002) American football player and lawyer - Colorado, 1937
  • Caspar Weinberger (1917-2006), American politician - Harvard, 1938
  • Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981) American politician - Mt. Holyoke, 1940
  • John Paul Stevens (1920–2019), American lawyer - Chicago, 1941
  • Betty Friedan (1921-2006), American feminist and publicist - Smith, 1942
  • Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016), publicist and political activist - Washington U., 1943
  • Peter Gay (1923-2015), American historian - Denver, 1946
  • Tom Lehrer (* 1928), American singer-songwriter, satirist and mathematician - Harvard, 1946
  • Frank Church (1924–1984), American politician - Stanford, 1947
  • Robert Bork (1927–2012), American lawyer - Chicago, 1948
  • George Bush (1924-2018), American politician - Yale, 1948
  • William H. Rehnquist (1924-2005), American lawyer - Stanford, 1948
  • Brockman Adams (1927-2004), American politician - Washington, 1949
  • Edward O. Wilson (born 1929), American entomologist and biologist - Alabama, 1949
  • Henry Kissinger (* 1923), American political scientist and politician - Harvard, 1950
  • Pat Robertson (born 1930), American preacher and politician - Washington & Lee, 1950
  • Susan Sontag (1933–2004), American writer, essayist, publicist, and director - Chicago, 1951
  • Stephen Sondheim (* 1930), American musical composer and lyricist - Williams, 1952
  • John Shelby Spong (born 1931), Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark - North Carolina, 1952
  • Thomas R. Pickering (* 1931), American diplomat and business manager - Bowdoin, 1953
  • Ruth Bader Ginsburg (* 1933), American lawyer - Cornell, 1954
  • Richard Lugar (1932-2019), American politician - Denison, 1954
  • Victor Navasky (* 1932), Professor - Swarthmore, 1954
  • John Updike (1932–2009), American writer - Harvard, 1954
  • Ralph Nader (* 1934), American consumer advocate and politician - Princeton, 1955
  • Gloria Steinem (* 1934), American feminist, journalist and suffragette - Smith, 1956
  • Elizabeth Dole (born 1936), American politician - Duke, 1958
  • Anthony Kennedy (born 1936), American lawyer - Stanford, 1958
  • Kris Kristofferson (born 1936), American country singer, songwriter and actor - Pomona, 1958
  • Stephen Breyer (born 1938), American lawyer - Stanford, 1959
  • Francis Ford Coppola (* 1939), American director and producer - Hofstra, 1959
  • Bob Graham (born 1936), American politician - Florida, 1959
  • Robert Nozick (1938–2002), American philosopher - Columbia, 1959
  • Richard Posner (born 1939), American judge - Yale, 1959
  • Robert Rubin (* 1938), American banker, businessman and politician - Harvard, 1960
  • Fay Vincent - Williams, 1960
  • Patricia Schroeder (* 1940), American politician - Minnesota, 1961
  • David Souter (* 1939), American lawyer - Harvard, 1961
  • Lamar Alexander (born 1940), American politician - Vanderbilt, 1962
  • Tom Brokaw (born 1940), American journalist - South Dakota, 1962
  • Lynne Cheney (* 1941), American literary scholar and author - Colorado C., 1962
  • Richard Epstein - Columbia, 1963
  • David Satcher (born 1941), Admiral - Morehouse, 1963
  • James Woolsey (born 1941), American attorney and government official - Stanford, 1963
  • David R. Knechtges (* 1942), Professor of East Asian Languages ​​and Literature - Washington, 1964
  • Michael Crichton (1942–2008), American writer, screenwriter, and director - Harvard, 1964
  • Joe Lieberman (born 1942), American politician - Yale, 1964
  • Angela Davis (* 1944), American civil rights activist, philosopher, human scientist and writer - Brandeis, 1965
  • Paul Wellstone (1944–2002), American politician - North Carolina, 1965
  • Bill Weld (* 1945), American lawyer and politician - Harvard, 1966
  • Bill Clinton (born 1946), American politician, 42nd President of the United States - Georgetown, 1968
  • Laurie Anderson (* 1947), American performance artist, musician and film director - Barnard 1969
  • Hillary Clinton (* 1947), American politician - Wellesley, 1969
  • Jon Corzine (born 1947), American bank manager and politician - Illinois, 1969
  • Frank H. Easterbrook - Swarthmore, 1970
  • David Rubenstein (born 1949), American entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist - Duke, 1970
  • Louis Freeh (born 1950), American government official - Rutgers, 1971
  • Nadine Strossen (* 1950), American lawyer and civil rights activist - Radcliffe, 1972
  • Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), Pakistani politician - Radcliffe, 1973
  • Jeb Bush (born 1953), American politician - Texas, 1973
  • Elijah Cummings (1951-2019), American politician - Howard, 1973
  • EJ Dionne (* 1952), American journalist and political commentator - Harvard, 1973
  • Condoleezza Rice (* 1954), American politician - Denver, 1974
  • Susan Collins (* 1952), American politician - St. Lawrence, 1975
  • Gale Norton (* 1954), American politician - Denver, 1975
  • Lawrence B. Lindsey - Bowdoin, 1976
  • Jennifer Granholm (* 1959), American politician - Berkeley, 1980
  • Nicholas D. Kristof (* 1959), American journalist, author and columnist - Harvard, 1981
  • George Stephanopoulos (* 1961), American journalist and political advisor - Columbia, 1982
  • Miguel Estrada - Columbia, 1983
  • Dinesh D'Souza (* 1961), Indian-born American author, filmmaker, and conservative political commentator - Dartmouth, 1983
  • Daniel Pearl (1963-2002), US-Israeli journalist - Stanford, 1985
  • Jeff Bezos (born 1964), American entrepreneur and investor - Princeton, 1986
  • Paul Clement (* 1966), American lawyer and university professor - Georgetown, 1988
  • Ashley Judd (born 1968) American actress - Kentucky, 1990
  • Kellyanne Conway (* 1967), American lawyer and pollster - Trinity Washington, 1989
  • Anne Dias-Griffin - Georgetown, 1993
  • Stephanie Herseth (* 1970), American politician - Georgetown, 1993
  • Tristan Taormino (* 1971), feminist writer, columnist and porn director - Wesleyan, 1993
  • Jori Chisholm - Puget Sound, 1997
  • Peyton Manning (born 1976), American football player - Tennessee, 1997
  • Henry Paulson (* 1946), American businessman and politician
  • Paul Adelstein (* 1969), American actor and screenwriter
  • Kate Bolduan (born 1983), American television journalist - GWU Washington, 2005

Honorary members

In alphabetic order

literature

  • Richard N. Current: Phi Beta Kappa in American life. The first 200 years . Oxford University Press, New York 1990, ISBN 0-19-506311-2 .

Web links

Commons : Phi Beta Kappa  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Handelsblatt , October 17, 2008, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Thomas Mann's speech from 1942 on the occasion of this honor, without further title: in Ges. Werke 13, pp. 702–706.