National Institute of Social Sciences

Since 1913, NISS has presented Gold Medals that celebrate the accomplishments of distinguished Americans and world leaders who have contributed at the highest level to the welfare and improvement of society. Gold Medal honorees, which include four U.S. presidents and 16 Nobel Prize winners, represent outstanding achievement in the social sciences, law, government, education, philanthropy, the arts, medicine, science, and industry. The organization sponsors speaking engagements on critical issues. It supports graduate students in the final stages of completing their dissertations through a grants program. == Early history ==

The National Institute of Social Sciences traces its origins to the American Social Science Association, or ASSA, which was established in 1865 in Boston as the American Association for the Promotion of Social Science. The ASSA was chartered by an act of the 56th Congress on January 28, 1899. In 1912, the ASSA established NISS as a distinct department. In 1926, when the ASSA dissolved, an act of Congress transferred its congressional charter to the NISS "for the furtherance of the interests of social science." == Gold Medals ==

The NISS original constitution states the organization's goal "to promote the study of Social Science and to reward distinguished services rendered to humanity, either by election to the National Institute, or by the bestowal of medals or other insignia.” In 1913 the NISS bestowed its first Gold Medals in recognition of significant contributions to humanity. The first recipients were William Howard Taft, 27th President of the United States, Archer M. Huntington, founder of the Hispanic Society of America, and Samuel L. Parrish, founder of the Parrish Art Museum in Southampton, NY. Each year since 1913, (except for 1922), the organization has presented Gold Medals to distinguished individuals. The National Institute's Gold Medal was designed by Laura Gardin Fraser, a noted sculptor with a specialty in medals. Honorees 1913 • Archer M. Huntington • Samuel L. Parrish • William Howard Taft 1914 • Charles W. Eliot • George W. Goethals • Abraham Jacobi • Henry Fairfield Osborn 1915 • Luther Burbank • Andrew Carnegie 1916 • Robert Bacon • Helen Hartley Jenkins • Adolph Lewisohn 1917 • George W. Crile • William Gorgas • John Purroy Mitchel • Mihailo Pupin 1918 • Henry P. Davison • Herbert Hoover • William J. Mayo 1919 • Samuel Gompers • William Henry Welch 1920 • Alexis Carrel • Henry Holbrook Curtis • Wilfred Grenfell • Harry Pratt Judson 1921 • Charles F. Chandler • Calvin Coolidge • Marie Curie • Cleveland Hoadley Dodge 1923 • Charles B. Davenport • Auckland Geddes • Emory R. Johnson • Jean Jules Jusserand • John D. Rockefeller 1924 • Walter Hampden Dougherty • Charles Evans Hughes • Caroline Berryman Spencer 1925 • Mary Williamson Averell (Mrs. Edward H. Harriman) • William Hallock Park • Elihu Root • Owen D. Young 1926 • S. Parkes Cadman • Clarence Mackay • Stephen Mather • Mary Schenck Woolman 1927 • George Pierce Baker • Walter Damrosch • Harry Emerson Fosdick • Adolph Ochs 1928 • Liberty Hyde Bailey • Robert W. DeForest • Willis R. Whitney 1929 • Valeria Langeloth • Rose Livingston • John D. Rockefeller Jr. • James T. Shotwell • Daniel Willard 1930 • Anna Billings Gallup • George R. Minot • William Lyon Phelps • Marcella Sembrich • Nathan Straus 1931 • Grace Abbott • Richard Clarke Cabot • Grace Goodhue Coolidge • Frank B. Kellogg 1932 • Edward F. Allen • James Howell Post • William C. Redfield • Gerard Swope 1933 • Newton D. Baker • Clifford W. Beers • Evangeline Booth 1934 • Eleanor Robson Belmont • Walter B. Cannon • Samuel Seabury 1935 • Cornelius N. Bliss • Harvey Cushing • Carter Glass • George E. Vincent 1936 • Nicholas Murray Butler • Dorothy Harrison Eustis • William Edwin Hall • J. Pierpont Morgan 1937 • James Rowland Angell • Mary Louise Curtis (Mrs. Edward W. Bok) • J. Edgar Hoover • Wesley Clair Mitchell 1938 • John W. Davis • Walter S. Gifford • Dorothy Thompson 1939 • Martha Berry • William Church Osborn • George Wharton Pepper 1940 • Carrie Chapman Catt • James E. West • Wendell Willkie 1941 • Norman H. Davis • Florence Jaffray Harriman • Al Smith 1942 • Anne O'Hare McCormick • Donald Nelson • Rufus B. von KleinSmid 1943 • Madame Chiang Kai-shek Soong Mei-ling • Edwin Grant Conklin • Mildred H. McAfee • Juan Terry Trippe 1944 • Bernard Baruch • Kate Trumbee Henry Pomeroy Davison • James G. K. McClure 1945 • Vannevar Bush • Emily Vanderbilt Sloane (Mrs. John Henry Hammond) • William Mather Lewis 1946 • Virginia Gildersleeve • Robert Moses • Edward Stettinius Jr. 1947 • Edward Johnson • Katherine Lenroot • Thomas J. Watson 1948 • Warren R. Austin • Basil O'Connor • Georgiana Farr Sibley 1949 • Lillian Moller Gilbreth • George Catlett Marshall • Alfred P. Sloan Jr. 1950 • Sarah Gibson Blanding • Henry Bruere • Carlos P. Romulo 1951 • Lewis W. Douglas • John Foster Dulles • Paul G. Hoffman • Douglas MacArthur • Bayard Foster Pope 1952 • Helen Keller • Robert Abercrombie Lovett • John J. McCloy • Harold Raymond Medina 1953 • Jonas Salk • E. Roland Harriman • Oveta Culp Hobby • Charles F. Kettering 1954 • Helen Dinsmore Huntington (Mrs. Lytle) Hull • Howard Rusk • Walter Bedell Smith 1955 • Samuel D. Leidesdorf • Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. • Elisabeth Luce Moore 1956 • Henry Townley Heald • Mary Pillsbury Lord • Clarence G. Michalis 1957 • Billy Graham Jr. • Alfred M. Gruenther • Clare Booth Luce 1958 • Marian Anderson • Robert B. Anderson • Herbert Hoover Jr. • James Rhyne Killian Jr. 1959 • Helen Hayes • Laurance Rockefeller 1960 • Rudolf Bing • Gilbert Darlington • Grayson L. Kirk • Millicent C. McIntosh 1961 • Marie Bullock • Karl Menninger • William C. Menninger • Edward Durell Stone 1962 • Ralph J. Bunche • Mary I. Bunting • Lucius D. Clay • John W. Gardner 1963 • Arthur Dean • Katharine Elizabeth McBride • Nathan Pusey • Frank Stanton 1964 • Bob Hope • Frederick R. Kappel • Dean Rusk • Margaret Chase Smith 1965 • Dorothy Buffum Chandler • James A. Perkins • Maxwell D. Taylor 1966 • G. Keith Funston • Lady Bird Johnson • Danny Kaye • David Sarnoff • Eric Sevareid • Francis Spellman 1967 • David Rockefeller • John D. Rockefeller III • Laurance Rockefeller • Nelson Rockefeller • Winthrop Rockefeller 1968 • Eugene R. Black Sr. • Anne Morrow Lindbergh • Charles Lindbergh • Ralph Washington Sockman 1969 • Frank Borman • Theodore M. Hesburgh • Lester B. Pearson • Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth 1970 • Katharine Graham • Lauris Norstad • William P. Rogers • Eric Sevareid 1971 • Joan Ganz Cooney • Charles Malik • Arthur K. Watson • Thomas J. Watson Jr. 1972 • George H. W. Bush • Henry Kissinger • Mary French Rockefeller • Fulton J. Sheen 1973 • John P. Flynn • Jean Kerr • Paul Moore Jr. • Elliot L. Richardson 1974 • Peter M. Dawkins • Golda Meir • George Shultz • Roy Wilkins 1975 • Nancy Hanks • William E. Simon • Deke Slayton • Lowell Thomas • Lowell Thomas Jr. 1976 • Barry Goldwater • John J. McCloy • Norman Vincent Peale • Peter G. Peterson • Barbara Walters 1977 • John Young (astronaut) • Anne Armstrong • Milton Friedman • Edwin Leather • Dina Merrill • Cliff Robertson • William Rockefeller • William B. Walsh 1978 • Henrik Beer • Arthur F. Burns • Julia Child • James R. Dumpson • Lila Acheson Wallace 1979 • McGeorge Bundy • C. Douglas Dillon • Jane Pickens • Linus Pauling 1980 • Omar Bradley • Alexander M. Haig • Henry Richardson Labouisse Jr. • William McChesney Martin Jr. • William J. McGill • Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger 1981 • Brooke Astor • Walter P. Chrysler Jr. • Jean MacArthur • Drew Middleton • John W. Young 1982 • Vernon Jordon • Claiborne Pell • S. Dillon Ripley • Arthur Ross • Lewis Thomas 1983 • Philip Habib • John K. McKinley • Patricia Neal • Frank E. Taplin • Marietta Peabody Tree 1984 • J. Peter Grace • Kitty Carlisle Hart • Warren H. Phillips 1985 • Hugh Bullock • Vartan Gregorian • Jeane Kirkpatrick • Beverly Sills • Brian E. Urquhart 1986 • I. I. Rabi • Juanita Kidd Stout • Eudora Welty 1987 • John Carter Brown • Rudy Giuliani • Vernon A. Walters • Susan H. Whitmore (Mrs. Harold P. Whitmore) 1988 • James McNaughton Hester • Paul Volcker • Caspar Weinberger 1989 • Robert MacCrate • Philippe de Montebello • Paul Nitze • Alice Tully 1990 • Hugh R. K. Barber • Kathryn Wasserman Davis • Shelby Cullom Davis • Angier Biddle Duke • Moorhead C. Kennedy Jr. • Thomas R. Pickering • Dorothy Sarnoff 1991 • Brendan Gill • Enid A. Haupt • Joseph Verner Reed Jr. • William vanden Heuvel 1992 • William F. Buckley Jr. • Roy M. Goodman • Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. • Richard Boies Stark 1993 • Robin Chandler Duke • Henry Clay Frick II • Ellen V. Futter • August Heckscher II 1994 • Louis Auchincloss • Kent Barwick • Mrs. Edward T. Chase • Daniel Patrick Moynihan 1995 • Peter Flanigan • Oseola McCarty • Anne Meyer • John C. Whitehead 1996 • Madeleine Albright • Richard Holbrooke • C. Everett Koop • James Levine • Howard Phipps Jr. 1997 • Anthony Drexel Duke • Richard G. Lugar • Helen Coley Nauts • Bill Richardson 1998 • John T. Casteen III • Abby M. O'Neill • Jay Rockefeller 1999 • John Kenneth Galbraith • Arnold J. Levine • Paul Samuelson • Nelson Talbot III Strobe Talbott 2000 • Wilhelmina Holladay • William Luers • Judith Rodin • Tom Seaver 2001 • Robert Curvin • Avery Dulles • Anna Glen Vietor • James Wolfensohn 2002 • Bruce Babbitt • William Joseph McDonough • John Negroponte • Judith Shapiro 2003 • Donna de Varona • Bernard Gersten • Richard Meier • Ted Turner 2004 • Kofi Annan • Peter D. Bell • Adele Chatfield-Taylor • Vishakha N. Desai 2005 • John Guare • Ada Louise Huxtable • George Rupp 2006 • Lewis B. Cullman • Hanna Holborn Gray • John Sculley 2007 • Jacques Barzun • David McCullough • Sandra Day O'Connor 2008 • Kenneth T. Jackson • Robert MacNeil • Robert M. Morgenthau 2009 • Doris Kearns Goodwin • Thomas L. Haskell • Eric Kandel 2010 • Agnes Gund • Garrison Keillor • Margaret Mead (in memoriam) 2011 • Chuck Close • Donald Henderson • James Q. Wilson 2012 • Robert Caro • Paul Goldberger • William M. Manger 2013 • John H. Adams • Wallace Smith Broecker • Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. 2014 • Eric Foner • Philippe Petit • E.O. Wilson 2015 • John C. Bogle • Paul Krugman • Michelle Kwan 2016 • Pauline Newman • Richard L. Ottinger • Robert D. Putnam 2017 • Ron Chernow • Robert J. Shiller • Michael I. Sovern 2018 • Daniel Kahneman • Geraldine Kunstadter • Elizabeth Barlow Rogers 2019 • Paul Farmer • Peter Gelb 2020 • Max Stier • Darren Walker • Judy Woodruff 2021 • Henry Louis Gates Jr. • Amartya Sen • Kwame Anthony Appiah 2022 • Philip J. Landrigan • Jennifer J. Raab • Neil deGrasse Tyson 2023 • Jonathan Fanton • Anthony Stephen Fauci • James H. Simons • Marilyn H. Simons 2024 • Ken Burns • David Remnick • Bryan Stevenson 2025 • Christopher Eisgruber • Claudia Goldin • Alison Gopnik == Research support ==

In its first two decades, the National Institute published an annual Journal of the National Institute of Social Sciences, which included articles by members and scholars. The 1920 journal, for example, included articles by the noted economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen and academic Virginia Gildersleeve. In the 1970s, the National Institute supported a national project on experiential education. The project was begun in 1974 by Frank Pace Jr., the NISS president, to strengthen field experiential education and support the NISS's "original mission and function." == Grants and scholarships ==

In 2011 the Institute began awarding Dissertation Grants (originally called Seed Grants) to graduate students completing dissertations in social science fields. To date, 30 unrestricted grants have been awarded. ==Advisory Council==

In 2022, NISS President Fred Larsen and the Board of Governors established the first Advisory Council, composed of former Gold Medal Honorees, leading scholars in the social sciences and cognate fields, leaders of educational and not-for-profit institutions focused on the social sciences, and distinguished artists, journalists, and performers whose work affects and is concerned with the advancement of knowledge and the betterment of society. The Inaugural Council consists of • Kwame Anthony Appiah • Paul Boghossian • Peg Breen • Anthea Butler • Anthony Roth Costanzo • Henry Louis Gates Jr. • Andrew H. Delbanco • Christopher Eisgruber • Jonathan F. Fanton • Henry Louis Gates, Jr. • James Grossman • Kenneth T. Jackson • Nancy Kidd • Philip J. Landrigan • Edward Liebow • Louise Mirrer • Jennifer Raab • Elizabeth Barlow Rogers • Max Rudin • Amartya Sen • Steven Rathgeb Smith • Max Stier • Stacy Wolf • Judy Woodruff ==References==