Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an American undergraduate honorary society (fraternity). Founded in 1776, election to it is considered by many the highest honor that can be granted to an undergraduate. Membership is granted to around 1% of college graduates.

Famous Phi Betes include:

• Bill Clinton
• George H. W. Bush
• William Rehnquist
• Stephen Sondheim
• John Updike
• Mark Twain
• W. E. B. Du Bois
• Jeff Bezos
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Condoleeza Rice
• Elizabeth Dole
• Susan Sontag[?]
• Gloria Steinem[?]
• Julie Taymor[?]
• Leonard Bernstein
• Glenn Close

PBK began as a secret literary and philosophical society at the College of William and Mary; chapters were established in the early 1800s at other prestigious east coast institutions. Secrecy was jettisoned during a period of strong anti-Masonic sentiment, in 1831. PBK was the first greek-letter fraternity.