Subcategories for this page ...

• Presidents, national figures
• Ohio governors
• Nationally known Cincinnati mayor
• U.S. embassies or foreign service

Presidents, national figures

William Howard Taft (1857-1930), Law 1880, HonDoc ’25, 27th U.S. president, 1909-13; chief justice, 1921-30; U.S. solicitor general, 1890-92

Charles Dawes (1865-1951), Law 1886, 30th U.S. vice president, 1925-29;  Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 1925

Caleb Blood Smith (1808-64), att. UC 1820s, American journalist; U.S. secretary of the Interior under Abraham Lincoln, 1861; influential in securing Lincoln's nomination for the president at Chicago Republican National Convention, 1860

James Denver (1817-92), Law 1844,  U.S. commissioner of Indian Affairs, 1857; governor of the Kansas Territory, 1857-58; namesake of Denver, Colo., and of the Denver omelet. He was a politician, lawyer, soldier and accomplished actor.

Samuel Fenton Cary (1814-1900), Law 1837, U.S. vice presidential candidate in 1876, prohibitionist author and lecturer, anti-slavery leader

George Hunt Pendleton (1808-64),  att. UC 1840s, the Democratic nominee for U.S. vice president in 1864; married Alice Key, the daughter of Francis Scott Key

William Lawrence (1819-99), Law 1840, first comptroller of the U.S. Treasury (1880-85), chairman of the Committee on War Claims arising from the Civil War and influential in creating the U.S. Department of Justice, helping to create the American Red Cross and ratifying the Geneva Convention

Joseph "Uncle Joe" Cannon (1836-1926), att. Law 1858, 40th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1903-11; cumulatively served 48 years in Congress; cover subject of the first issue of Time magazine in 1923. The Cannon House Office Building, named for him, is the oldest congressional office building in Washington, D.C. (See his picture on Time magazine at right.)

Judson Harmon (1846-1927), Law 1870, U.S. attorney general, 1895-97; Ohio governor, 1909-13

James Beauchamp "Champ" Clark (1850-1921), Law 1875, 41st Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1911-19

Lawrence Maxwell Jr. (1853-1927), Law 1875, U.S. solicitor general, 1893-95

Nicholas Longworth IV (1869-1931), Law 1894, 43rd Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1925-31

Charles Sawyer (1887-1979), Law '11, U.S. secretary of Commerce, 1948-53 (See "Embassies" listing below.)

John "Jack" Gilligan, Law '47, administrator of U.S. Agency for International Development, 1977-79; director of the U.S. Institute for Public Policy, 1979-86 (See governor listing below.)

John Altenburg, Law '73, U.S. Army major general, military lawyer and appointing authority for military commissions covering detainees at Guantanamo, 2003-06

Nationally known Cincinnati mayor

Theodore "Ted" Berry (1905-2000), Law '31, first African-American mayor of Cincinnati, pivotal attorney in the Civil Rights Movement for the NAACP (Read more in UC Magazine.)

Pamela Bridgewater, MS (A&S) ’70, HonDoc ’06
Currently the U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica and was previously the ambassador to Ghana, until July 2008 at which time she became the longest-serving diplomat in South Africa. She also worked closely with Nelson Mandela as apartheid came to an end and was also a Special Coordinator for Peace in Liberia at the height of the most recent civil war in that country. (See her government bio here.)

• 2012 — U.S. ambassador to Jamaica
• 2005-08 — U.S. ambassador, Republic of Ghana, first African-American woman to that post
• 2004-05 — Diplomat-in-residence, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
• 2003 — U.S. deputy assistant secretary, African Affairs, managing the African bureau's relationships with 16 countries in West Africa
• 2000-02 — U.S. ambassador to Benin, West Africa
• 1999-2000 — president of the 42nd Senior Seminar, U.S. Department of State's most prestigious professional development program
• 1996-99 — Deputy chief of Mission, Nassau, Bahamas
• 1993-96 — Consul general, Durban, South Africa, first African-American woman appointed
• 1990-93 — Political officer at Pretoria, South Africa
• 1980 — entered the Foreign Service after a collegiate teaching career 
• Labor attache/political officer in Kingston, Jamaica
• Vice-consul in Brussels, Belgium