black college to have a chapter of the honor society. In 1973–1976, he served as President of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa. Additionally, Franklin was appointed to serve on national commissions, including the National Council on the Humanities, the President's Advisory Commission on Ambassadorial Appointments, and One America Initiative. Franklin was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. He was an early beneficiary of the fraternity's Foundation Publishers, which provides financial support and fellowship for writers addressing African-American issues. In 1962, honored as an outstanding historian, Franklin became the first black member of the exclusive Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. In 1964, Franklin was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences The John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture resides at Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library and contains his personal and professional papers. The archive is one of three academic units named after Franklin at Duke. The others are the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies, which opened in February 2001 and the Franklin Humanities Institute. Franklin had previously rejected Duke's offer to name a center for African-American Studies after him, saying that he was a historian of America and the world, too. In 1973, Franklin was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 1975, he was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates. In 1975, Franklin was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree from Whittier College. In 1978, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. In 1994, the Society of American Historians (founded by Allan Nevins and other historians to encourage literary distinction in the writing of history) awarded Franklin its Bruce Catton Prize for Lifetime Achievement. In 1995, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP. In 1995, President Clinton awarded Franklin the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. The President's remarks upon presentation of the medal cited Franklin's lifelong work as a teacher and a student of history, seeking to bring about better understanding regarding relations between whites and blacks in modern times. In 1995, he received the Chicago History Museum "Making History Award" for Distinction in Historical Scholarship. In 1996, Franklin received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1997, Franklin was selected to receive the Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished