List of Northwestern University Alumni - Politics, Government, and Public Policy

Politics, Government, and Public Policy

• Dennis Daugaard, (J.D. 1978) Current Governor of South Dakota and former Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota
• John Hoeven, (M.B.A. 1981) Current United States Senator from North Dakota and former Governor of North Dakota
• Ali Babacan (M.B.A. 1992), Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
• Michael Bakalis (B.A. 1959, M.A. 1962, Ph.D. 1966), former Deputy Secretary of Education in the US Department of Education
• George Ball, former Undersecretary of State
• Judy Biggert, Republican congresswoman
• Rod Blagojevich, former Governor of Illinois
• Judy Baar Topinka, former State Treasurer of Illinois; Republican Gubernatorial candidate, 2006 election
• William Jennings Bryan, three-time Democratic presidential nominee
• Dale Bumpers (J.D. 1951), former U.S. Senator and Governor of Arkansas
• John A. Cade (M.B.A. 1954), former Maryland State Senator
• Francis H. Case, former U.S. Senator
• Salem Chalabi, ex-General Director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal
• Wendy Chamberlin (B.S. 1970), former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan; former assistant administrator, USAID Bureau for Asia and the Near East
• Cardiss Collins, former U.S. Representative from Illinois
• James L. Connaughton, Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality
• Dan Cronin, Current Illinois State Senator
• Karen DeCrow (B.S. 1959), former President of the National Organization for Women
• Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, former aide to Bill Clinton, former Democratic congressman of Illinois' 5th congressional district and former White House Chief of Staff of President Barack Obama
• Al From, founder and current CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council
• Chrissy Gephardt, prominent LGBT-rights political advocate, daughter of Dick Gephardt
• Dick Gephardt, former House Democratic leader
• Barbara Gittings, American LGBT activist
• Wendy Lee Gramm, former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
• Corwin C. Guell, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Robert Hanssen (M.B.A. 1971), former FBI agent who engaged in spying for the Soviet Union and Russia against the United States
• Loy W. Henderson (B.A. 1915), former United States Foreign Service Officer
• Earl Dewitt Hutto, former United States Representative from Florida
• Steve Kagen, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin
• Jim Kolbe, former U.S. Representative from Arizona, served 11 terms
• Scott L. Klug (M.S.J. 1976), former U.S. Representative from Wisconsin
• Liz Krueger (B.A.), New York State Senator
• Dan Lipinski (B.S. 1988), U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Frank Orren Lowden, former Governor of Illinois
• Edwin M. Martin, former United States Foreign Service Officer
• Carroll Metzner, Wisconsin State Assembly
• Catherine Waugh McCulloch, suffragist
• George McGovern, South Dakota Senator and 1972 Democratic candidate for president
• Eduardo Mondlane, Revolutionary leader of Mozambique
• Newton Minow, former director of the Federal Communications Commission
• Dawn Clark Netsch (B.A. 1948), politician
• John J. Nimrod, Illinois politician
• Phyllis Oakley (B.A. 1956), former assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research, the State Department
• George M. O'Brien (B.A. 1939), former U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Terry O'Neill (B.A.), president of the National Organization for Women (NOW)
• John Edward Porter (B.S. and B.A 1957), former U.S. Representative from Illinois
• Gary Rader, Green Beret Army Reservist who burned his draft card in 1967
• Jim Reese (Master of Arts 1952), mayor of Odessa, Texas, from 1968 to 1974; lost to George W. Bush in 1978 primary election runoff in Texas's 19th congressional district
• J. Leonard Reinsch, former White House Press Secretary
• Ora R. Rice, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Alec Ross (B.A. 1994), Senior Adviser on Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
• Amos Sawyer, former president of Liberia
• Mel Sembler (B.S. 1952), former U.S. ambassador to Italy
• Adlai Stevenson, Illinois governor and two-time Democratic presidential nominee
• Mike Synar (M.A. 1974), former United States Representative from Oklahoma
• James R. Thompson, former Governor of Illinois
• Barbara Ulichny, former Wisconsin State Senator
• Daniel Walker, former Governor of Illinois
• Harold Washington, first black Chicago mayor
• Lois Weisberg (B.S. 1946), Commissioner, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
• Richard E. Wiley (B.S. 1955, J.D.), former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
• Armida Alisjahbana (M.A. 1987), State Minister of National Development Planning/Head of National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), Republic of Indonesia