Woodrow Wilson ’79 ’s Honorary Degrees Numbered Twenty-Seven

Among the many distinctions achieved by the United States’ wartime President, the late Woodrow Wilson ’79, was that of holding more university degrees than any other individual of modern times. According to facts compiled not long ago by V. Lansing Collins ’92, Secretary of the University, President Wilson was the recipient of degrees from eighteen American and nine European educational institutions. In addition, eight cities of Europe officially granted him “honorary citizenship” or “freedom of the city,” and the Brazilian government made him a Field Marshal in the army of that nation.

After his graduation with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1879, Woodrow Wilson earned his Master’s degree at Princeton in 1882, Johns Hopkins conferred upon him a degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1886, Yale a Doctor of Letters in 1901, and he also received the degree of Doctor of Laws from the following universities: Lake Forest, 1887; Tulane, 1899; Johns Hopkins, 1900; Rutgers, 1902; Brown, 1903; University of Pennsylvania, 1903; Harvard, 1907; Williams, 1908; Dartmouth, 1909; Princeton, 1910; and Lincoln Memorial University, 1918.

President Wilson received honorary doctorates from the University of Paris in 1917, the University of Turin in 1919, the Sorbonne in 1918, and the University of Paris in 1919, and degrees of Doctor of Laws from Cracow University, the University of Athens, the University of Prague, the University of Louvain, and the University of Geneva, all in 1919.

The following cities granted him “freedom of the city” or “honorary citizenship” : Paris, Manchester, Rome, Turin, Milan, Cork, Lausanne, and the San Marino Republic.

This was originally published in the March 13, 1926 issue of PAW.