Theodore Martin Hesburgh (born 1917) was an activist American Catholic priest who was president of Notre Dame, 1952-1987. He served on the Civil Rights Commission from 1957 to 1972, becoming both its most outspoken member and its chairman. He was also active in the anti-Vietnam War movement and in efforts to improve the treatment of illegal aliens.

Theodore Martin Hesburgh was born May 25, 1917, in Syracuse, New York, to Theodore Barnard Hesburgh and Ann Marie Murphy Hesburgh. A product of the "Catholic ghetto," he attended only Roman Catholic schools and felt called to be a priest while only in grade school. Following graduation from high school in 1934 he entered the Order of the Congregation of the Holy Cross and began his undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame that fall. He was graduated from Gregorian University in 1939 with a Ph.D. degree and entered the seminary at Holy Cross College, Washington...