Each June, after Harvard's president welcomes the graduating classes into the company of educated men and women, the highlight of Commencement ceremonies is the University's conferral of honorary degrees.

Who are the movers and shakers who got free diplomas from Harvard? Here's just a random sampling of Harvard's honorands:

. Number of U.S. presidents who received honorary degrees:14.

. Only U.S. president to decline an honorary degree: Grover G. Cleveland, who said he was not worthy of a Harvard LL.D.

. Number of Revolutionary War leaders who garnered honoraries: five, including Gen. George Washington (1776).

. Number of Civil War leaders who got honoraries: three.

. Heads of state who have received honorary degrees:

Iran's Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Shahansha (1968), Germany's Helmut Schmidt (1979), Spain's King Juan Carlos (1984), and Sweden's Gustav Adolf (1938), Winston Churchill (1943).

. Cardinals in the Catholic church who have been awarded honoraries: Richard Cardinal Cushing (1959); Augustin Cardinal Bea (1964); Leon Cardinal Suen (1970).

. Husband-wife team which won honoraries in the same year: Former Harvard president Nathan Marsh Pusey '27 and his wife, Anne (1972).

. Philosophers you read in Government or Social Studies sophomore tutorial who received honoraries: Alexis de Tocqueville (1852) and John Stuart Mill (1862).

. First Yale graduate to receive an honorary from Harvard: Samuel Andrew (1714).

Source: Quinquennial Catalogue of Harvard University, 1636-1930)