Hesburgh grew up in Syracuse and had wished to become a priest since early childhood. He studied at Notre Dame until his seminary sent him to Italy. He studied in Rome until he was forced to leave due to the outbreak of World War II. He graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1945, having earned a Doctorate in Sacred Theology. He became executive vice-president in 1949 and served in that position for 3 years.

He served as Notre Dame’s President for 35 years (1952-87), the longest tenure so far. He holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for “Most Honorary Degrees”, having been awarded 150. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, the Congressional Gold Medal on December 9 1999 and the United States Military Academy’s Sylvanus Thayer Award in 1980.

In 1967, he led an academic movement which issued the so-called Land O’Lakes statement which insisted upon “true autonomy and academic freedom in the face of authority of whatever kind, lay or clerical”.

In 1982 he was awarded the F. Sadlier Dinger Award by educational publisher William H. Sadlier, Inc. in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the ministry of religious education in America. He was the first recipient of the NCAA Gerald R. Ford Award in 2004.

Hesburgh served as a member of the United States Civil Rights Commission from 1957, and Chairman from 1969, until his dismissal by President Richard Nixon in 1972 due to his frequent opposition to Nixon policies. He also served in a number of other posts on government commissions, non-profit organization boards, and Vatican missions, beginning with his appointment to a science commission by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1954.

According to Rick Perlstein in Nixonland, Hesburgh was considered by George McGovern as his running mate in the 1972 presidential election. McGovern chose Thomas Eagleton.

President Jimmy Carter appointed him to a blue-ribbon immigration reform commission in 1979; the commission’s finding — that any national immigration reform proposals can succeed only if the American national border is properly secured beforehand — has been cited by various opponents of illegal immigration to the United States, especially those that are Catholic or sympathetic to Catholic views.

He was one of the founders of People for the American Way. Hesburgh served on the Knight Commission that overhauled college sports from 1990 to 1996. Hesburgh was a major figure in US politics and the Catholic Church from the 1950s to the 1990s, and he is still influential today. He is an endorser of the Genocide Intervention Network and is a strong supporter of interfaith dialogue.

1. I can think of no better way of redeeming this tragic world today than love and laughter. Too many of the young have forgotten how to laugh, and too many of the elders have forgotten how to love. Would not our lives be lightened if only we could all learn to laugh more easily at ourselves and to love one another?

2. My basic principle is that you don’t make decisions because they are easy; you don’t make them because they are cheap; you don’t make them because they’re popular; you make them because *they’re right*.

3. The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet.