<P> This article is a list of commencement speakers at Harvard University . The speech takes place in Harvard Yard in June or late May of every year . </P> <Ul> <Li> 2017: Mark Zuckerberg </Li> <Li> 2016: Steven Spielberg, film director, producer, and screenwriter--(video; text) </Li> <Li> 2015: Deval Patrick, 71st Governor of Massachusetts--(video) </Li> <Li> 2014: Michael Bloomberg, businessman and philanthropist, former Mayor of New York City--(video; audio; text) </Li> <Li> 2013: Oprah Winfrey, businesswoman and talk show host--(video; audio; text) </Li> <Li> 2012: Fareed Zakaria, journalist, author, former TIME editor--("We Live in an Age of Progress" video; text) </Li> <Li> 2011: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, 24th President of Liberia--(video) </Li> <Li> 2010: David Souter, former Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (video; text) </Li> <Li> 2009: Steven Chu, former United States Secretary of Energy (video; text) </Li> <Li> 2008: J.K. Rowling, author, Harry Potter series--("The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination" video; text) </Li> <Li> 2007: Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder--("Great Expectations" video; text) </Li> <Li> 2006: Jim Lehrer, author and journalist--(video) </Li> <Li> 2005: John Lithgow, actor and author--("An Actor's Own Words" text) </Li> <Li> 2004: Kofi Annan, 7th Secretary - General of the United Nations ("Three Crises, and the Need for American Leadership" text) </Li> <Li> 2003: Ernesto Zedillo, 54th President of Mexico </Li> <Li> 2002: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, former US senator representing New York ("Civilization Need Not Die") </Li> <Li> 2001: Robert Rubin, 70th United States Secretary of the Treasury </Li> <Li> 2000: Amartya Sen, economist and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, Harvard University ("Global Doubts") </Li> <Li> 1999: Alan Greenspan, 13th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (text) </Li> <Li> 1998: Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and 7th President of Ireland (text) </Li> <Li> 1997: Madeleine Albright, 64th United States Secretary of State (text) </Li> <Li> 1996: Harold E. Varmus, scientist and Director of the National Institutes of Health (text) </Li> <Li> 1995: Václav Havel, last President of Czechoslovakia and 1st President of the Czech Republic ("Radical Renewal of Human Responsibility" text) </Li> <Li> 1994: Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States (video; text) </Li> <Li> 1993: Colin Powell, 12th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (video; excepts) </Li> <Li> 1992: Gro Harlem Brundtland, Prime Minister of Norway </Li> <Li> 1991: Derek Bok, 25th President of Harvard University (text) </Li> <Li> 1990: Helmut Kohl, Chancellor of West Germany </Li> <Li> 1989: Benazir Bhutto, 11th Prime Minister of Pakistan ("Democratic Nations Must Unite" video; text) </Li> <Li> 1988: Óscar Arias, President of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel Peace Prize recipient </Li> <Li> 1987: Richard von Weizsäcker, President of the Federal Republic of Germany </Li> <Li> 1986: Peter Carrington, 6th Baron Carrington, 6th Secretary General of NATO </Li> <Li> 1985: Paul Volcker, economist and 12th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (text) </Li> <Li> 1984: Juan Carlos I, King of Spain </Li> <Li> 1983: Carlos Fuentes, author and diplomat </Li> <Li> 1982: John Huston Finley, Professor of Greek Literature Emeritus, Harvard University </Li> <Li> 1981: Thomas Watson Jr., businessman and diplomat, President of IBM, 11th President of the Boy Scouts of America, 16th United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union </Li> <Li> 1980: Cyrus Vance, 57th United States Secretary of State </Li> <Li> 1979: Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany </Li> <Li> 1978: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize - winning novelist ("A World Split Apart" video; audio; text) </Li> <Li> 1977: Barbara Jordan, US Representative representing Texas (text) </Li> <Li> 1976: Daniel Patrick Moynihan, US senator representing New York </Li> <Li> 1975: Archibald Cox, Harvard Law School Professor of Law </Li> <Li> 1974: Ralph Ellison, novelist </Li> <Li> 1973: Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, President of the University of Notre Dame </Li> <Li> 1972: Roy Jenkins, former Deputy Leader of the Labour Party </Li> <Li> 1971: Alan Paton, South African novelist </Li> <Li> 1970: Antonio Carrillo Flores, former Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs </Li> <Li> 1969: Jean Rey, Belgian politician and 2nd President of the European Commission </Li> <Li> 1969: Stewart Udall, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior </Li> <Li> 1968: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (excerpts) </Li> <Li> 1967: Edwin O. Reischauer, diplomat and Harvard professor </Li> <Li> 1966: W. Averell Harriman, businessman, politician, and diplomat </Li> <Li> 1965: Adlai Stevenson II, 31st Governor of Illinois and 5th United States Ambassador to the United Nations </Li> <Li> 1964: Alberto Lleras Camargo, 20th President of Colombia </Li> <Li> 1963: U Thant, 3rd Secretary - General of the United Nations </Li> <Li> 1962: William McChesney Martin, 9th Chairman of the Federal Reserve (text) </Li> <Li> 1962: Lionel Trilling, Professor of English, Columbia University </Li> <Li> 1961: Alec Douglas - Home, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, United Kingdom </Li> <Li> 1961: F. Cyril James, Vice Chancellor, McGill University </Li> <Li> 1960: Robert Menzies, 12th Prime Minister of Australia </Li> <Li> 1960: Paul - Henri Spaak, 2nd Secretary General of NATO </Li> <Li> 1959: Pieter Geyl, Dutch historian and Utrecht University professor </Li> <Li> 1959: C. Douglas Dillon, 21st United States Under Secretary of State </Li> <Li> 1958: Neil H. McElroy, 6th United States Secretary of Defense </Li> <Li> 1958: Raymond Aron, French historian and journalist </Li> <Li> 1957: Erwin Panofsky, art historian </Li> <Li> 1957: Lady Barbara Jackson, British author </Li> <Li> 1956: Herbert Butterfield, British historian and University of Cambridge professor </Li> <Li> 1956: John F. Kennedy, US senator representing Massachusetts (text) </Li> <Li> 1955: Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician </Li> <Li> 1955: Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of West Germany </Li> <Li> 1954: Henry Cabot Lodge, former US senator representing Massachusetts </Li> <Li> 1954: Robert Schuman, former Prime Minister of France </Li> <Li> 1954: Grayson L. Kirk, political scientist and 14th President of Columbia University </Li> <Li> 1953: John P. Marquand, Pulitzer Prize - winning novelist </Li> <Li> 1953: Lester B. Pearson, Canadian statesman and historian </Li> <Li> 1952: John Foster Dulles, US senator representing New York </Li> <Li> 1952: Joseph S. Clark Jr., lawyer and politician </Li> <Li> 1951: Thornton Wilder, playwright and novelist </Li> <Li> 1951: Warren Austin, US senator representing Vermont, 2nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations </Li> <Li> 1951: Charles Edward Wilson, President of General Electric </Li> <Li> 1950: Dean Acheson, statesman and lawyer </Li> <Li> 1950: Ralph Flanders, US senator representing Vermont </Li> <Li> 1950: Carlos P. Romulo, Filipino Minister of Foreign Affairs </Li> <Li> 1949: Ralph Bunche, political scientist </Li> <Li> 1949: Lucius D. Clay, Jr., General of the United States Army </Li> <Li> 1949: Sir Oliver Franks, Baron Franks, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United Nations </Li> <Li> 1948: Trygve Lie, 1st Secretary - General of the United Nations </Li> <Li> 1947: George Marshall, 50th United States Secretary of State ("What Must Be Done?" text) </Li> <Li> 1946: Maurice J. Tobin, 6th United States Secretary of Labor </Li> <Li> 1945: C.D. Howe, Canadian Minister of Munitions and Supply </Li> <Li> 1945: Sir Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist </Li> <Li> 1945: Ernest King, Fleet Admiral, United States Navy </Li> <Li> 1944: Walter Lippmann, journalist </Li> <Li> 1943: Joseph Grew, 13th United States Ambassador to Japan </Li> <Li> 1943: Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom </Li> <Li> 1942: Henry L. Stimson, 45th United States Secretary of War </Li> <Li> 1942: Frederick Paul Keppel, former President of Carnegie Corporation of New York </Li> <Li> 1942: Raymond Gram Swing, journalist </Li> <Li> 1942: Frank Knox, 47th United States Secretary of the Navy </Li> <Li> 1941: Edward Wood, 3rd Viscount Halifax, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States </Li> <Li> 1941: Clarence Addison Dykstra, Chairman of the National Defense Board </Li> <Li> 1941: Vannevar Bush, National Defense Research Committee </Li> <Li> 1940: Robert Sproul, 11th President of the University of California </Li> <Li> 1940: Carl Sandburg, author and poet </Li> <Li> 1940: Cordell Hull, 47th United States Secretary of State </Li> <Li> 1938: John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Scottish novelist and historian, 15th Governor General of Canada </Li> <Li> 1934: Harold W. Dodds, 15th President of Princeton University </Li> <Li> 1934: Charles F. Martin, President of McGill University </Li> <Li> 1933: Sir Ronald Lindsay, British civil servant and diplomat </Li> <Li> 1931: Sir James Salter, author and political scientist </Li> <Li> 1929: Ernest Barker, political scientist </Li> <Li> 1927: Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, British civil servant </Li> <Li> 1926: Arthur Currie, General of the Canadian Corps </Li> <Li> 1924: Owen D. Young, businessman, Dawes Commission </Li> <Li> 1923: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian politician </Li> <Li> 1918: Rufus Isaacs, 1st Earl of Reading, British politician </Li> <Li> 1917: Cecil Spring Rice, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States of America </Li> <Li> 1914: David F. Houston, 5th United States Secretary of Agriculture </Li> <Li> 1914: Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, 5th Chief Justice of Canada </Li> <Li> 1910: George Walter Prothero, British writer and historian </Li> <Li> 1909: Sir Napier Shaw, British meteorologist </Li> <Li> 1907: James Bryce, British historian, statesman, and diplomat (excerpts) </Li> <Li> 1904: Henry Cabot Lodge, US senator representing Massachusetts </Li> <Li> 1904: Baron Kaneko Kentarō, Japanese envoy to the United States </Li> <Li> 1904: William Osler, Canadian physician </Li> <Li> 1900: Julian Pauncefote, 1st Baron Pauncefote, British diplomat </Li> <Li> 1898: John Campbell - Gordon, 7th Earl of Aberdeen, British politician </Li> <Li> 1890: Leslie Stephen, British author and literary critic </Li> <Li> 1886: Lyon Playfair, 1st Baron Playfair, British politician </Li> <Li> 1884: Richard Claverhouse Jebb, British classical scholar and politician </Li> <Li> 1878: Frederick Hamilton - Temple - Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, British politician </Li> <Li> 1875: Thomas Carlyle, Scottish essayist and historian </Li> <Li> 1871: George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, British politician </Li> <Li> 1862: John Stuart Mill, British philosopher and economist </Li> <Li> 1860: Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, British diplomat </Li> <Li> 1858: Francis Napier, 1st Baron Ettrick, British diplomat </Li> <Li> 1853: James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, British colonial administrator and diplomat </Li> <Li> 1846: Thomas Grenville, British politician </Li> <Li> 1844: Charles Lyell, British lawyer and geologist </Li> <Li> 1831: Richard Whately, British rhetorician, logician, economist, and theologian </Li> </Ul> <Li> 2017: Mark Zuckerberg </Li>

Political philosopher who gave harvard's 1862 commencement