Medal for Merit
| Medal for Merit | |
|---|---|
 Obverse and reverse of the Medal for Merit |
|
| Awarded by President of the United States | |
| Country |  United States |
| Type | single grade decoration |
| Eligibility | Civilians of the United states and allied nations |
| Awarded for | exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services since the proclamation of an emergency by the President on September 8, 1939 |
| Status | No longer awarded |
| Statistics | |
| Established | July 20, 1942[1] |
| First awarded | March 28, 1944[2] |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | None (At the time of its awarding) |
| Next (lower) | Medal of Freedom |
 Ribbon bar of the medal |
|
The Medal for Merit was, during the period it was awarded, the highest civilian decoration of the United States, awarded by the President of the United States to civilians for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services ... since the proclamation of an emergency by the President on September 8, 1939". It was created by Public Law 77-671 and its awarding codified by Executive Order 9286--Medal for Merit on December 24, 1942, later amended and restated by Executive Order 9857A of May 27, 1947. Created during World War II, and awarded to "civilians of the nations prosecuting the war under the joint declaration of the United Nations and of other friendly foreign nations", the medal has not been awarded since 1952[citation needed].
The first medals were awarded to John C. Garand and Albert Hoyt Taylor on March 28, 1944.[2]
The Medal for Merit is currently listed as seventh in order of precedence of U.S. civilian decorations, below the Silver Lifesaving Medal and above the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.[3][4]
Civilians of foreign nations could receive the award for the performance of an exceptionally meritorious or courageous act or acts in furtherance of the war efforts of the United Nations. The first non-U.S. citizen to receive the medal was spymaster William Stephenson, code named Intrepid during WWII. Some consider Stephenson one of the real life inspirations for James Bond. A confidential White House inquiry as to whether King George VI could be awarded the medal was denied because he had not met the eligibility criteria.
Proposals were considered by the Medal for Merit Board, numbering three members appointed by the President, of whom one was appointed by the President as Chairman of the Board. The medal cannot be awarded for any action relating to the prosecution of World War II subsequent to the cessation of hostilities (as proclaimed by Proclamation No. 2714 of December 31, 1946), and no proposal for an award for such services could be submitted after June 30, 1947.
Contents |
[edit] Some recipients
- Dean Acheson (June 30, 1947)[5]
- Leason H. Adams (1948)[6]
- Dr. James Gilbert Baker (1948)
- Chester I. Barnard
- Irving Berlin (1945)
- Vannevar Bush (May 27, 1948)
- G. Edward Buxton Jr. (November 30, 1946)
- Granville Conway (July 16, 1947)
- Ralph K. Davies (December 12, 1945)
- Dr. Smith J. DeFrance (1948)
- Joseph Desch (1947)
- Charles F. Detmar, Jr
- John R. Dunning (1946)
- William Frederick Durand
- Rudolph Forster (June 16, 1945 posthumously)[7]
- William F. Friedman (1946)
- Jack Frye (December 18, 1946)
- John C. Garand (March 28, 1944)[2]
- Dr. Ivan A. Getting
- Leroy Randle Grumman (1948)
- Gaylord P. Harnwell
- W. A. Harriman (1946)
- Dr. Clarence N. Hickman (June 22, 1948)
- J. Edgar Hoover (March 8, 1946)
- Bob Hope
- David Luke Hopkins (1946)
- Cordell Hull (April 15, 1947)
- Jerome Clarke Hunsaker (1946)
- Frederick Vinton Hunt
- John Monroe Johnson (March 8, 1946)
- Louis Johnson (October 1, 1947)
- Eric Johnston (1947)
- Al Jolson (1950)
- Kaufman Thuma Keller (1946)
- Paul E. Klopsteg (1948)
- Edward F. Knipling (1947)
- Frank Knox (May 31, 1945 posthumously)[8]
- Julius A. Krug (May 1, 1946)
- George William Lewis (1948)
- Alfred Lee Loomis
- Paul V. McNutt (November 27, 1946)
- George W. Merck (1946)
- Clark B. Millikan
- Raymond D. Mindlin
- Henry Morgenthau (December 12, 1945)
- Philip McCord Morse (December 1946)
- John J. Muccio
- William Beverly Murphy (1946)
- David K. Niles (August 20, 1947)
- Dr. Brian O’Brien
- J. Robert Oppenheimer (1946)
- Dr. David B Parkinson, Sr
- Linus Carl Pauling (February 2, 1948)
- William D. Pawley (May 13, 1946)
- John J. Pelley (March 8, 1946)
- Howard C. Petersen (1947)
- Byron Price (January 15, 1946)
- Samuel F. Pryor, Jr. (1945)
- Dr. Robert F. Rinehart (1948)
- Samuel I. Rosenman (January 24, 1946)
- Dr. Bruce Sage (1948)
- Edgar Sengier
- James Augustine Shannon (1948)
- Cyril Stanley Smith
- John Wesley Snyder (May 14, 1947)
- Sir William Stephenson (1946)
- Myron C. Taylor (December 20, 1948)
- Albert Hoyt Taylor (March 28, 1944)[2]
- Frederick Emmons Terman
- Charles Allen Thomas (January 30, 1946)
- Juan T. Trippe (September 27, 1946)
- Fred M. Vinson (October 3, 1947)
- Dr. Theodore von Kármán (1946)
- John von Neumann (1947)
- Sidney James Weinberg (19 September 1946)
- Elmira Bears Wickenden
- Stephen J. Zand
[edit] See also
President's Certificate of Merit, for an act or service not sufficiently extraordinary or meritorious to warrant the award of the Medal for Merit, but nevertheless of high degree.
[edit] References
- ^ Public Law 77-671
- ^ a b c d "Scientific Notes and News". Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 99 (2571): p.276. April 7, 1944. doi:10.1126/science.99.2571.276. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/99/2571/276.extract. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ www.npc.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/31EC26CD.../PrecedenceofAwards.doc
- ^ http://kepler.pratt.duke.edu/USNRibbons.html
- ^ "Citation Accompanying Medal for Merit Awarded to Dean Acheson". The American Presidency Project. June 30, 1947. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=12688. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ R. E. Gibson (1980). "Leason Heberling Adams 1887—1969, A Biographical Memoir". National Academy of Sciences. p. 9. http://www.nap.edu/html/biomems/ladams.pdf. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
- ^ "Citation Accompanying Medal for Merit Honoring Rudolph Forster". The American Presidency Project. June 16, 1945. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12203. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ "Sec. of War Henry Stimson's diary and papers May 31, 1945 - June 6, 1945". Henry Lewis Stimson Papers, Manuscripts and Archives. Yale University Library. http://www.doug-long.com/stimson5.htm. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
[edit] External links
- NARA - Federal Register - Executive Order 9637--Medal for Merit
- Picture of certificate attached to Medal for Merit issued by President Truman to Linus Carl Pauling
- Picture of Medal of Merit
- Exploring the Medal for Merit, Philip J. Schlegel, 2010. Includes list of recipients.
