Washington and Lee University

Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Rockbridge County, Virginia, located very close to Virginia Military Institute. The preparatory school from which it is descended was founded in 1749 as "Augusta Academy" and was renamed "Liberty Hall" in 1776. The academy moved to Lexington in 1780 and built its first building near town in 1782.

Alumni of Note

• Tom Wolfe '51 — Journalist (created New Journalism) and author of numerous books including The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and The Bonfire of the Vanities, with his most recent publishing the acclaimed I Am Charlotte Simmons, chronicling college life. The University broke a long standing tradition of avoiding outside speakers at commencement by inviting Wolfe to speak at the undergraduate commencement in 2005, and he in fact delivered his speech off-the-cuff and entirely without notes.
• Terry Brooks '85 — Author
• Robert Mosbacher '47 Undergraduate '49 Law School — Secretary of Commerce between between 1989 and 1992.
• Roger Mudd '50 — Congressional Correspondent for CBS and PBS; Host on the History Channel
• Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. '29 Undergraduate '31 Law School — Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
• Pat Robertson '50 — Chancellor, Regent University; founder, Christian Broadcasting Network
• Tom Robbins — Author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. (Didn't graduate here, but attended for two years before moving to New York to become a poet.)
• John Warner '49 — U.S Senator from Virginia

In total 27 alumni have served in the United States Senate, 67 have served in the United States House of Representatives, 31 have served as governor of a state, and 4 have served as Supreme Court Justices.

Related Topics:
United States Senate - United States House of Representatives - Supreme Court

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