[Music]
from the classroom to international
acclaim
[Music]
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're
counting down our picks for the top ten
successful Harvard students we're in a
revolutionary period and I'd like you to
be elevated by a higher sense of purpose
for this list we're not just focusing on
those celebrities with Harvard degrees
but whose career since their academic
days stand out while some graduates have
become iconic figures on the worldwide
stage others left Harvard to pursue
their destinies and innovate ideas I
went to great schools I came out I
practice law for a while and then tried
to get a job on Wall Street because I
thought it was the most interesting
exciting place to go in New York City a
financial town but all of our choices
are known for their success wealth
influence popularity Fame power and the
respect they've earned number 10
Matt Damon having grown up here I think
I had a one way of looking at at Harvard
and and a kind of a townie view of the
school and and suddenly walking through
as a as a perspective student I just
started to really take in how impressive
it was growing up in the crimson color
town of Cambridge Massachusetts
this eventual Academy Award winner
focused his sights on Harvard literally
and figuratively your US government
property
you're a malfunctioning 30
million-dollar weapon the future star of
the Jason Bourne franchise first
enrolled in 1988 and kicked off his
acting career that same year with a
small role in the film mystic pizza mom
do you want my green stuff that's called
the tamale steamer it's the best part
it's the [ __ ] steamed pony
despite a promising three years on
campus he failed to earn a degree after
dashing off to LA to appear in the
box-office bomb Geronimo an American
legend
didn't have to kill him just to get
their horses two decades later Matt
Damon has graduated to Hollywood
immortality and in the famous words of
Will Hunting do you like apples
[Music]
number 9 Steve Ballmer
and most of what I learned I learned at
Harvard University I thought I'd try to
summarize that and about nine easy steps
this 1977 magna [ __ ] laude grad was a
busy guy during his Harvard era he was a
manager for the Crimson football squad
spent time at both the Harvard Crimson
newspaper and the Harvard Advocate
magazine and was a mathematical wizard
who outscored fellow student Bill Gates
today NBA fans know Steve Ballmer as the
overly excited owner of the Los Angeles
Clippers
[Music]
but his 14-year tenure as the CEO of
Microsoft earned him a swanky ranking on
the Forbes 400 his business acumen makes
rivals nervous while his philanthropy
makes young students smile he's Steve
Ballmer the energetic billionaire people
want to do a start-up and and you have
this kind of real entrepreneurial
avalanche
the opportunity to have the best
business minds and the best technical
minds is phenomenal number eight John F
Kennedy ask not what your country can do
for you ask what you can do for your
country the 35th President of the United
States first walked onto the Harvard
campus in the mid 1930s and became
everyone's favorite party planner when
he was put on the 1936 edition of the
annual freshman smoker he also showed
off his natural athleticism as a
football and swim team member but
eventually he turned to more serious
matters focusing on his interest in
politics and producing a thesis entitled
why England slept which became a
best-selling book I am talking about
genuine peace the kind of peace that
makes life on Earth worth living
the kind that enables many nations to
grow and a hope and build a better life
for their children decorated military
service followed and although Kennedy
once seemed destined to become a
journalist the death of his older
brother Joseph propelled him to become
the family's next great politician the
rest as they say is history
in order to describe the picture here
let's breathe and much of it it official
ad-lib Kentucky moments ago the
President of the United States dead
number 7 Conan O'Brien into the room to
see what the pic sneaked into the room
snuck isn't it work Conan and you went
to Harvard and you should know that
with a father who was a professor of
medicine at the school this red-haired
underclassmen followed suit and enrolled
at Harvard in 1981 there he became a
comedy writer for the Lampoon and within
a few years of leaving he was one of the
TV industry's most promising writers yes
we were almost as unpopular then as we
are now only now we're older seem to
remember I was quite the non-entity
Conan was creating classic bits for
Saturday Night Live during the late 80s
and led the Simpsons into surrealism by
the early 90s psycho the big one baby
despite a fledgling career behind the
scenes O'Brien ultimately became one of
America's most beloved late-night
talk-show hosts
[Music]
whether it's his unique sketches or zany
voices Conan's combination of intellect
and physical comedy makes his daily
performances a treat to watch and
Passport
[Applause]
[Laughter]
number six Al Gore I don't think there's
any position with as much potential for
bring about to bring about change as the
position of president of United States
and I had for two minutes what well I
did well that's an old story this ivy
leaguer once struggled academically at
Harvard but a sudden reawakening
inspired him to graduate with
distinction and with an interest in
environmental matters that followed him
throughout his career you can see what I
have seen all these years it just keeps
going up it is relentless gore shocked
his fellow graduates by enlisting in the
Army in 1969 to aid his father's
political career and later shocked
opponents with his own swift rise to
political prominence by 1992 Gore had
been elected US vice president and was
instrumental in the worldwide
advancement of the information
superhighway
although Gore didn't single-handedly
invent the Internet he's managed to
effectively transform how a new
generation perceives the world not to
mention his efforts in raising awareness
on climate change I believe this is a
moral issue it is your time to seize
this issue it is our time to rise again
to secure our future
number five Barack Obama you know what I
would do if I were president mr.
president I would make same-sex divorce
illegal then see how bad they want it I
think that's why you're not president
and that's a good thing while al gore
was innovating technology in the early
90s
this man was gaining recognition by
becoming the first african-american
president of the Harvard Law Review I
think it's real important to keep the
focus on the broader world out there and
see that for a lot of kids the doors
that have been open to me aren't open to
me armed with a juris doctor and his
knack for vocal performance Barack Obama
gained a
devoted following as an Illinois State
Senator and was elected as the first
african-american president of the United
States in 2008 and the eighth president
who have graduated from Harvard some 232
years after the Declaration of
Independence an african-american a black
man had been elected president of the
United States agree or disagree with his
politics Obama's accomplishments are
unprecedented and he's a political
Trailblazer of the highest order
believe in God bless you and God bless
the United States of America
number 4 Sumner Redstone naturally to
win big in business but he falls but
that shouldn't be your objective your
objective should be to win as one of
America's most iconic businessmen this
1944 Harvard Graduate and World War two
veteran coined the phrase content is
king people don't watch CBS they watch
what's on it they watch Survivor they
watch the Bette Midler show a fugitive
they watch the NFL Super Bowl after
earning his Bachelor of Laws also from
Harvard redstone served as CEO of
National Amusements during the 60s and
invested heavily in Hollywood's elite
movie studios the finance Wiz unloaded
his film stock in the early 80s and soon
after became a key figure of Viacom
redstone was instrumental in turning the
company into a media empire that
included Paramount Pictures at a time
when the company was producing successes
like Forrest Gump Braveheart and Titanic
and so as he transformed American pop
culture this modern media giant kept
wheeling and dealing all the way to the
bank I'm the boss she works she's the
CEO and you're the senior CEO she won't
even give her the CEO job she's your
daughter I know but that's the way I
control your daughter come No
by a common CBS Bible to this family you
want to hear the picture I tell you what
no you want to give away what you have
to your family be my guest
number three Franklin Delano Roosevelt
[Music]
he was an experienced sailor by the age
of sixteen and fluent in both German and
French as the editor-in-chief of the
Harvard Crimson Franklin Delano
Roosevelt watched his fifth cousin
Theodore Roosevelt become president of
the United States and over 30 years
later he would take his own oath as
commander-in-chief FDR was elected to
the presidency four times during
Hitler's reign in Germany and
Roosevelt's policies shaped the world
long after his final breath in 1945
though not a stellar student Roosevelt
was raised to be a leader and he
embraced the role fearlessly number two
Mark Zuckerberg originally a Harvard
dorm room project Facebook has become an
integral part of global communication
and instant connections Mark Zuckerberg
never finished his Harvard education but
his ideas and astute business acumen
opened the doors for a social phenomenon
unlike any other people want to go on
the internet and check out their friends
so why not build a website that offers
that friends pictures profiles whatever
you can visit browse around maybe it's
someone you just met at a party
but I'm not talking about a dating site
I'm talking about taking the entire
social experience of college and putting
it online I can't feel my legs
I know I'm totally excited about this
too as chairman and CEO of Facebook
Zuckerberg has become synonymous with a
new epoch in world history and has along
with fellow billionaires like Bill Gates
and Warren Buffett pledged to donate a
majority of his earnings to charity in
accounts of the top ten gifts of 2013
conducted by the chronicle of
philanthropy reveals that the year's
largest donation came from Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife
Priscilla Chan
he's a seemingly accidental billionaire
with a most impressive set of skills and
he's putting them to good use it doesn't
really matter to some extent what the
Press says it matters what the people
who use our services tell us and what
their feedback is and that's what we're
so that's what we're really focused on
before we hand the Diploma to our top
pick here are a few honorable mentions
[Music]
the first president to live in the White
House left after about three months but
not before writing these famous words
about the building mine on honest and
wise men ever rule under this roof he
never fought in terms of pure party
politics he thought about what was right
for the American people and that's a
great lesson for presidents to learn you
don't represent your party as much as
you represent the people if you do
what's right for the most people that
you think's right you're gonna be a
great president you can make the world
there for everyone expect honesty from
yourself and each other
demands and create truly equal
opportunity number one Bill Gates and
Paul Allen really saw from the beginning
the kind of potential that it had to
change the lives of money power respect
Bill Gates
embodies the idea that you must pave
your own path to greatness
once a dorm-room geek this human dream
factory made a powerful impact during
his brief tenure at Harvard University
which began in 1973 but he swiftly
departed to realize the visionary idea
that would become Microsoft which
ultimately rocked the world of computer
software they saw that this was going to
be an incredible force and incredible
dynamic for this society and recognized
the the moment Gates has often been
recognized as the wealthiest man on the
planet but together with his wife the
couple has donated over 28 billion
dollars to charity you know hopefully
that'll influence more people to give at
all levels of wealth you know I'm
certainly having fun and I get to share
what's what's working and what's not in
other words Bill Gates walks the walk
and most importantly he talks the talk I
hope you will judge yourselves not on
your professional accomplishments alone
but also on how well you have addressed
the world's deepest inequities on how
well you treated people a world away we
have nothing in common with you but
their humanity do you agree with our
list who's your favorite successful
Harvard student for more mind-blowing
top 10s published every day be sure to
subscribe to watchmojo.com I'm gonna
press this I don't touch that please
[Music]