Theodore Roosevelt, Alpha (Harvard)
Gerald R. Ford, Omicron (Michigan)
George H. W. Bush, Phi (Yale)
George W. Bush, Phi (Yale)
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If there is anything the public knows about DKE, it is the names of some of the Fraternity's members. DKE is a small fraternity as fraternities go. What is exceptional about prominent DKE alumni is not that there are so many of them, but that they represent such a large percentage of the membership. Any large fraternity (and some are huge) will produce some famous alumni just by the law of averages, but when a small one produces a lot more, it's not accidental. As a member of DKE, men inherit a heritage of distinguished predecessors unmatched in the fraternity world. Here are just a few of the great men of DKE who have succeeded over the years. |
Presidents of the United States
Rutherford B. Hayes, Lambda (Kenyon)
Theodore Roosevelt, Alpha (Harvard)
Gerald R. Ford, Omicron (Michigan)
George H. W. Bush, Phi (Yale)
George W. Bush, Phi (Yale)
Theodore
Roosevelt, Alpha (Harvard)
Gerald R. Ford, Omicron (Michigan)
George H. W. Bush, Phi (Yale)
J. Danforth Quayle, Psi Phi (DePauw)
Mike
Foster, Louisiana, Zeta Zeta (Louisiana)
Tony Knowles, Alaska, Phi (Yale)
Don Siegelman, Alabama, Psi (Alabama)
Senator
Ted Stevens, Alaska, Theta Rho (UCLA)
Congressman Cass Ballenger, North Carolina, Sigma (Amherst)
Congressman Pete Stark, California, Sigma Tau (M.I.T)
Whitelaw
Reid, Kappa (Miami), Editor-in-chief, New York Tribune
William Randolph Hearst, Alpha (Harvard), Publisher, Hearst Newspapers
Otis Chandler, Sigma Rho (Stanford), Publisher, Los Angeles Times
Richard J. V. Johnson, Omega Chi (Texas), Publisher, Houston Chronicle
Eugene Pulliam, Psi Phi (DePauw), Publisher, Indianapolis Newspapers, Inc.
Rance Craine, Psi Phi (DePauw), Publisher, Crain Communications
John
Hessin Clarke, Beta Chi (Case Western)
Harold H. Burton, Theta (Bowdoin)
Potter Stuart, Phi (Yale)
J.
Pierpont Morgan, Alpha (Harvard) - Financier
Irving H. Chase, Phi (Yale) - Chase Manhattan Bank
Dean Witter, Jr., Phi (Yale) - Dean Witter & Co.
Edward Bausch, Beta Phi (Rochester) - Bausch & Lomb Opticals
William W. Wrigley, Phi (Yale) - Wrigley's Gum
Howard Heinz, Phi (Yale) - Heinz 57 Varieties
Howard Johnson, Phi (Yale) - Howard Johnson Motor Inns
James M. Gamble, Lambda (Kenyon) - Proctor and Gamble
Herb Kelleher, Gamma Phi (Wesleyan) - Southwest Airlines
Fredrick Smith, Phi (Phi - Yale) - President & Founder of Federal Express
Don Fisher (Theta Zeta-Berkeley) - President and Founder of The Gap
Craig McCaw (Sigma Rho-Stanford) - Cellular telephone pioneer based in
Seattle
Paul
Brown, Kappa (Miami) - coach of Cleveland Browns and owner of Cincinnati
Bengals
Thomas W. Landry, Omega Chi (Texas) - coach of Dallas Cowboys
Joe Paterno, Upsilon (Brown) - Penn State football coach
George Steinbrenner, Epsilon (Williams) - owner of the New York Yankees
Don Schollander, Phi (Yale) - won four gold medals in swimming in 1964
Olympics
Calvin Hill, Phi (Yale) - Dallas Cowboys football star
Hugh Culverhouse, Psi (Alabama) - owner of Tampa Bay Buccaneers
A. Bartlett Giamatti, Phi (Yale) - Commissioner of Major League Baseball
Dick
Clark, Phi Gamma (Syracuse) - hosted American Bandstand
Harry Hamlin, Theta Zeta (Berkeley) - actor
Cole Porter, Phi (Yale) - composer
Jonathan Winters, Lambda (Kenyon) - comedian and writer
Robert E. Peary
On April 6,
1909, Robert E. Peary became the first man (also a DEKE) to reach the
North Pole. The cold was so intense that a flask of brandy that he carried
under his parka froze solid. With him he brought an American flag and a Deke flag to represent the things that he loved most in life- his country
and fraternity.
Alan Bean
In 1963, Bean
was selected as an astronaut for the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration. 
He was the lunar module pilot on the Apollo 12 mission,
man's second lunar landing, and carrying a DKE flag, became the fourth man
(and first DEKE) to set foot on the moon on November 19, 1969. In 1973, Bean
again flew in space as commander of the Skylab 3 mission, the United
States' first space station. He traveled 24,400,000 miles in orbit around
the Earth for fifty-nine days, and with his crew accomplished 150 percent
of their pre-mission goals, a record that still stands today. Finally, he
was assigned as Chief of Operations and Training and Acting Chief
Astronaut until the first flight of the space shuttle.
Theodore Roosevelt
With the assassination of
President McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, not quite 43, became the youngest
President in the Nation's history. He brought new excitement and power to
the Presidency, as he vigorously led Congress and the American public
toward progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy.
During the Spanish-American War, Roosevelt was lieutenant colonel of the Rough Rider Regiment, which he led on a charge at the battle of San Juan. Over one hundred years later, he would finally be recognized for his bravery on that day. On January 16, 2001, Theodore Roosevelt became the first President to receive the Medal of Honor, the highest award for Military Service given in the United States. He was one of the most conspicuous heroes of the war.
As President, Roosevelt held the ideal that the Government should be the great arbiter of the conflicting economic forces in the Nation, especially between capital and labor, guaranteeing justice to each and dispensing favors to none. Roosevelt emerged spectacularly as a "trust buster" by forcing the dissolution of a great railroad combination in the Northwest. Other antitrust suits under the Sherman Act followed. Roosevelt steered the United States more actively into world politics. He liked to quote a favorite proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick". Aware of the strategic need for a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific, Roosevelt ensured the construction of the Panama Canal.
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, reached a Gentleman's Agreement on immigration with Japan, and sent the Great White Fleet on a goodwill tour of the world. While campaigning in Milwaukee, he was shot in the chest by a fanatic. Roosevelt soon recovered, but his words at that time would have been applicable at the time of his death in 1919: "No man has had a happier life than I have led; a happier life in every way."
William
Simon, Rho (Lafayette) - Former Secretary of the Treasury
John F. Akers, Phi (Yale) - Past President of I.B.M.
Mario Garcia Menocal, Delta Chi (Cornell)- President of the Republic of
Cuba
Charles Ives, Phi (Yale) - Pulitzer Prize winner in Music
Yuan Schikau, Phi (Yale) - Prime Minister of the Chinese Empire
Henry Cabot Lodge, Alpha (Harvard) - Senate Majority Leader
Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, Kappa (Miami) - first director of the C.I.A.
Melvil Dewey, Sigma (Amherst) - devised the Dewey Decimal System
Charles A. Ellis, Gamma Phi (Wesleyan) - designed the Golden Gate Bridge
Robert A. Peary, Theta (Bowdoin) - first man to reach the North Pole
Alan Bean, Omega Chi (Texas) - Apollo astronaut, walked on the moon
Leighton W. “Snuffy” Smith Jr. (Psi-North Carolina) - Commander of Allied
Forces in Bosnia
Mt.
Dekemore!
U.S. Presidents: Hayes,
Bush, Bush, Roosevelt, and Ford