The National Institute of Social Sciences (NISS) is one of the oldest honorary societies in the United States. The stated mission of NISS is to promote the study of the social sciences, to support social science research and discussion, and to honor individuals who have rendered distinguished service to humanity.
NISS is headquartered in New York City.
Current activities
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