Political History Resources: Federal Government Service by Bowdoin Alumni

This list details Bowdoin alumni who served in the federal government. Included are Members of Congress, Supreme Court Justices, and executive branch elected and appointed officials. Entries are organized by government branch (Executive; Legislative; and Judicial), then by Bowdoin College class year.

Click here to review an alphabetical list of these individuals.

 

 

EXECUTIVE
Class Name of Graduate Office Held Dates
1823 William Pitt Fessenden U.S. Secretary of Treasury 1864-1865
1824 Franklin Pierce U.S. President 1853-1857
1825 Nathaniel Hawthorne U.S. Consul, Liverpool, England 1853-1857
1827 John Parker Hale U.S. Minister to Spain 1865-1869
1834 John Appleton U.S. Minister to Bolivia 1848-1849
Asst. U.S. Secretary of State 1857-1860
U.S. Minister to Russia 1860-1861
1834 Samuel Clement Fessenden U.S. Patent Examiner 1865-1879
U.S. Consul, St. John, New Brunswick 1879-1881
1834 Charles Horace Upton U.S. Consul, Switzerland 1863-1877
1860 William Widgery Thomas, Jr. U.S. Consul, Gothenberg, Sweden 1863-1865
1917 Edward Carleton Moran, Jr. Asst. U.S. Secretary of Labor 1945
1953 Thomas Pickering U.S. Ambassador, Jordan 1974-1978
U.S. Ambassador, Nigeria 1981-1983
U.S. Ambassador, El Salvador 1983-1985
U.S. Ambassador, Israel 1985-1988
U.S. Ambassador, United Nations 1989-1992
U.S. Ambassador, India 1992
U.S. Ambassador, Russia 1993-1996
1954 George J. Mitchell Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Economic Initiatives in Ireland 1995-2000
Chairman, Sharm el-Sheikh International Fact-Finding Committee 2000-2001
    Special Envoy for Palestinian-Israeli Affairs 2009-
1962 William S. Cohen U.S. Secretary of Defense 1997-2001
1974 Christopher Hill U.S. Ambassador, Poland 2000-2004
    U.S. Ambassador, Korea 2004-2005
    Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs 2005-2009
    U.S. Ambassador, Iraq 2009-

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LEGISLATIVE
Class Name of Graduate Office Held Dates
1809 Benjamin Randall U.S. Representative (ME) 1839-1843
1809 Bellamy Storer U.S. Representative (OH) 1835-1837
1813 John Anderson U.S. Representative (ME) 1825-1833
1815 Robert Pinckney Dunlap U.S. Representative (ME) 1843-1847
1815 George Evans U.S. Representative (ME) 1829-1841
U.S. Senator (ME) 1841-1847
1822 James Bell U.S. Senator (NH) 1855-1857
1823 William Pitt Fessenden U.S. Representative (ME) 1841-1843
U.S. Senator (ME) 1854-1864; 1865-1869
1823 John Otis U.S. Representative (ME) 1849-1851
1824 Franklin Pierce U.S. Representative (NH) 1833-1837
U.S. Senator (NH) 1837-1842
1825 Samuel Page Benson U.S. Representative (ME) 1853-1857
1825 James Ware Bradbury U.S. Senator (ME) 1847-1853
1825 Jonathan Cilley U.S. Representative (ME) 1837-1838
1825 Cullen Sawtelle U.S. Representative (ME) 1845-1847; 1849-1851
1826 Seargent Smith Prentiss U.S. Represenative (MS) 1838-1839
1827 Alpheus Felch U.S. Senator (MI) 1847-1853
1827 John Parker Hale U.S. Representative (NH) 1843-1845
U.S. Senator (NH) 1847-1853; 1855-1865
1834 Owen Lovejoy U.S. Representative (IL) 1857-1864
1834 John Appleton U.S. Representative (ME) 1851-1853
1834 Samuel Clement Fessenden U.S. Representative (ME) 1861-1863
1834 Charles Horace Upton U.S. Representative (VA) 1861-1862
1836 Ephraim Wilder Farley U.S. Representative (ME) 1853-1855
1837 Frederick Augustus Pike U.S. Representative (ME) 1861-1869
1837 Lorenzo DeMedici Sweat U.S. Representative (ME) 1863-1865
1843 Samuel Royal Thurston U.S. Representative (OR) 1849-1851
1845 Thomas A. Deblois Fessenden U.S. Representative (ME) 1862-1863
n1846 Lafayette Grover U.S. Representative (OR) 1859
U.S. Senator (OR) 1877-1883
1846 William Whitney Rice U.S. Representative (MA) 1877-1887
1850 William Pierce Frye U.S. Representative (ME) 1871-1881
U.S. Senator (ME) 1881-1911
m1851 Isaac Newton Evans U.S. Representative (PA) 1877-1879; 1883-1887
1851 Paris Gibson U.S. Senator (MT) 1901-1905
1854 William Drew Washburn U.S. Representative (MN) 1879-1885
U.S. Senator (MN) 1889-1895
1860 Amos Lawrence Allen U.S. Representative (ME) 1899-1911
1860 Thomas Brackett Reed U.S. Representative (ME) 1877-1899
1870 DeAlva Stanwood Alexander U.S. Representative (NY) 1897-1911
1881 Daniel John McGuillicuddy U.S. Representative (ME) 1911-1917
1881 Frederick Clement Stevens U.S. Representative (MN) 1897-1915
1885 John Andrew Peters U.S. Representative (ME) 1913-1922
1900 Simon Moulton Hamlin U.S. Representative (ME) 1935-1937
1901 Donald Francis Snow U.S. Representative (ME) 1929-1933
1909 Ralph Owen Brewster U.S. Representative (ME) 1935-1941
U.S. Senator (ME) 1941-1952
1909 Harold Hitz Burton U.S. Senator (OH) 1941-1945
1910 Robert Hale U.S. Representative (ME) 1943-1959
1913 Paul Howard Douglas U.S. Senator (IL) 1949-1967
1917 Edward Carelton Moran, Jr. U.S. Representative (ME) 1933-1937
1945 Peter Adams Garland U.S. Representative (ME) 1961-1963
1954 George J. Mitchell U.S. Senator (ME) 1980-1995
1962 William S. Cohen U.S. Representative (ME) 1972-1978
U.S. Senator (ME) 1978-1997
1967 Thomas Allen U.S. Representative (ME) 1996-2008
1975 Thomas H. Andrews U.S. Representative (ME) 1991-1995

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JUDICIAL
Class Name of Graduate Office Held Dates
1824 Franklin Pierce U.S. Attorney General 1846
1853 Melville Weston Fuller U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice 1888-1910
1870 DeAlva Stanwood Alexander U.S. Attorney, Northern New York State 1889-1893
1885 John Andrew Peters U.S. District Court Judge, Maine 1922-1947
1909 Harold Hitz Burton U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1945-1958
1954 George J. Mitchell U.S. Attorney, Maine 1977-1979
U.S. District Court Judge, Maine 1979-1980
1937 Edward G. Hudon Asst. U.S. District Attorney, Maine 1966-1970
U.S. Supreme Court, Librarian 1972-1976

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