Georgetown’s Fictional Alumni

The awkward moment when you find out that Bill Clinton wasn’t the only United States president who attended Georgetown. Yep, you read that right. In fact, this other president was a Democrat, too.

So who does Bill Clinton share the limelight with? None other than 24‘s David Palmer, a Georgetown graduate with a B.A. in Political Economy. Palmer also notes that he played on the basketball team and hit a buzzer-beater to get Georgetown into the Final Four. He later became a Congressman and a Senator before becoming POTUS. Jack Bauer might have a few words to say about him.

This all begs the question, what other fictional characters have attended our beloved university? 

Lucky for us, we don’t have to look too far because Ben Gates is in the house. National Treasure’s main character received his degree in American History (no surprise there) from Georgetown before embarking on his extensive treasure hunts.

Now, you can’t talk about fictional Georgetown alumni without mentioning The West Wing’s Zoey Bartlet. Sure, she was President Bartlet’s daughter but she was also determined to make a name for herself. She graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown. We don’t know what her major was, but her kidnapping just after her graduation sparked a national security crisis unlike any other in the series. (Fun fact: Her Secret Service codename was “Bookbag”. Personally, I prefer Malia Obama’s codename — Radiance. But Bookbag works too, I guess?)

For you gamers, what’s the CIA operator’s name in Call of Duty: Black Ops? Jason Hudson? Turns out he was a double major in psychology and political science at Georgetown. Hudson served as a member of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division before switching over to the CIA.

Have you ever wanted to see what you might end up doing after graduation? St. Elmo’s Fire (1985) chronicles the lives of Georgetown graduates. I’m sure Lau has a copy available somewhere if you’re interested in watching.

To think that people like David Palmer and Ben Gates actually chanted “Hoya saxa” at one point in their lives…that’s pretty darn cool. Hey, why hasn’t anyone invited these folks to Homecoming Weekend yet? Might as well invite the rest of these fictional Georgetown alumni to our next Homecoming Weekend too.

Photos: Wikipedia