Alumni

Other Notable Names

Several high-profile and occasionally controversial speakers preceded Mohammad Khatami’s visit to Lake Forest College, although most came within the last 45 years. The College had few visitors from 1919 through the late 1950s in the wake of the Red Scare and the McCarthy era but enjoyed “a wonderful, liberal moment in the sun” starting after that, says College archivist Arthur Miller.

Here’s a sample of some who visited and why they raised a few eyebrows.

General Douglas McArthur (1951)
He visited campus shortly after President Truman removed him from command in the Korean War

Betty Friedan (1963)
The College was a stop on her book tour for The Feminine Mystique, the groundbreaking book that helped ignite the women’s movement

Ross Barnett (1964)
As the white supremacist governor of Mississippi until January 1964, he attempted to deny African American James Meredith admission to the University of Mississippi

Jesse Jackson (1967)
The outspoken civil rights leader was chosen by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a year earlier to promote boycotts of white businesses

Jerry Rubin (1969)
The political activist and Yippie was one of the “Chicago Seven” tried and acquitted for causing a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago

Angela Davis (1978)
Once on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, the African American radical was known for her association with the Black Panthers and the Communist Party

Donald Rumsfeld (1983)
A Special Envoy to the Middle East under President Ronald Reagan, the former Illinois congressman delivered a talk entitled “U.S. in a Difficult and Untidy World”  

Anita Hill (1996)
She accused Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his 1991 Senate confirmation hearing