Elmer L Andersen, B.A. '31, Ph.D. '83, former Minnesota governor

Wendell Anderson, B.A. '54, J.D. '60, former Minnesota governor and senator

Janet Benshoof, B.A. '69, former president of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy

James Blanchard, J.D. '68, former governor of Michigan

Kathleen Blatz, M.S.W. '78, J.D. '84, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court

Robert Bergland, B.S. '79, former U.S. secretary of agriculture and U.S. congressman

Kathryn Clark-Bourne, former foreign diplomat, serving Guinea, India, Iran, Netherlands, Nigeria, and Camaroon for 25 years

Mary Jeanne Coyne, B.S. '55, J.D. '57, former Minnesota Supreme Court justice

Warren Burger, attended '26-'27 and '31-'33, former chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (deceased)

Jeffrey Davidow, M.A. '67, former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Zambia, and Venezuela; current president of the Institute of the Americas

David Durenberger, J.D. '79, former U.S. senator

Donald Fraser, B.A. '44, J.D. '48, former Minneapolis mayor and U.S. congressman

Orville Freeman, B.S. '40, J.D. '46, former Minnesota governor and agriculture commissioner in President Kennedy's administration

Sandra Gardebring, J.D. '73, former Minnesota Supreme Court justice

Joan Growe, attended in '64 and '66, former Minnesota secretary of state

Walter Heller, B.A. '64, president of the Council of Economic Advisors in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; former professor of economics at the U of M

James Day Hodgson, B.A. '38, secretary of labor, 1970-74; ambassador to Japan, 1974-76

Hubert H. Humphrey, B.A. '39, former U.S. senator and vice president of the United States (deceased)

Hubert H. Humphrey III, J.D. '69, former Minnesota state senator; former Minnesota attorney general

Max Kampelman, B.A. '36, Ph.D. '52, former chairman of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy; former vice-chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Institute of Peace; former U.S. envoy to Madrid; former head of delegation, negotiations on nuclear and space arms; awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 1999

Stephen F. Keating, B.A. '42, former chairman and CEO of Honeywell and Toro Corporations in Minneapolis; the first head of the Minneapolis Urban Coalition

Roger Kennedy, J.D. '52, former superintendent of the National Park Service; former director of Smithsonian's National Museum of American History; author of 11 historical books

John Linder, D.D.S. '67, U.S. representative (R-Georgia)

Lee Loevinger, B.A. '33, L.L.B. '36, former Minnesota Supreme Court justice

Miles Lord, J.D. '48, former Minnesota attorney general and U.S. District Court justice

Bill Luther, B.S. '67, J.D. '70, former U.S. representative (D-Minnesota)

L. Bruce Laingen, M.A. '49, president of the American Academy of Diplomacy; former senior U.S. embassy official; held hostage by Iranian militants

Eugene McCarthy, M.A. '39, U.S. representative 1949-59, U.S. senator 1959-71, three-time presidential candidate

Mildred McWilliams-Jeffrey, B.A. '32, National Women's Political Caucus founder; awarded Medal of Freedom in 2000 (deceased)

Walter Mondale, M.A. '51, J.D. '56, former U.S. vice president; former U.S. senator; former ambassador to Japan

Mee Moua, J.D. '97, first Hmong legislator elected in the United States (Minnesota, 2002)

Wayne Morse, J.D. '28, former U.S. republican senator from Oregon who switched to the democratic side; known for his filibuster record set in 1953 and as a blunt, iconoclastic populist (deceased)

Diana Murphy, B.A. '54, J.D. '78, chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and judge on the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

Arthur Naftalin, B.A. '39, former mayor of Minneapolis; Humphrey Institute professor (retired)

Gen Olson, Ph.D. ' 90, Minnesota state senator

Norman Ornstein, B.A. '67, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; political consultant, TV analyst; newspaper columnist and author

Alan Page, J.D. '78, Minnesota Supreme Court associate justice; 1988 inductee to Pro Football Hall of Fame

Ruth Parriott, M.P.H., '92, lobbyist for the American Cancer Society and anti-tobacco issues

Tim Pawlenty,  B.A. '83, J.D. '86, governor of Minnesota, served 10 years in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

Patricia Schroeder, B.A. '61, former U.S. representative from Colorado

Gene Sperling, B.A., '77, White House economic advisor to President Clinton and director of the National Economic Council

Wichit Srisa-an, M.A. '63, Ph.D. '67, elected to Thai parliament; former head of the Educational Reform Committee; leading Thai educator and highest-ranking civil servant in Thailand's Ministry of University Affairs

Harold Stassen, B.A. '27, J.D. '29, former Minnesota governor and assistant to President Eisenhower on disarmament (deceased)

Robert Stein, '60, '61, executive director of the American Bar Association and former dean of the University of Minnesota Law School

Y.S. Tsiang, M.S. '40, Ph.D. '42, former secretary general to president of Taiwan; regarded as architect of Taiwanese Economic Miracle (deceased)

Bruce Vento, B.A. '61, former U.S. representative; became a leader in the fight for a cleaner environment and for better and more affordable housing (deceased)