A university awarding honorary degrees has some of the problems of a Washington hostess: how to snare the most eminent guests, fulfill obligations, perceive who's up and who's down, and keep the party lively with "interesting" people. Some honorary-degree recipients have become the equivalent of Supreme Court Justices on the Washington party circuitdistinguished figures with lifetime tenure. Eleanor Roosevelt and Ralph Bunche long ago lost count of their degrees. Herbert Hoover has 85, Chief Justice Earl Warren 50.
Cabinet members on active duty usually get honored by at least one school, and most...
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