List of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
This is a partial list of well-known recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, grouped by the aspect of life in which they are/were renowned. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is awarded by the President of the United States "for especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors"; it is awarded to individuals selected by the President or recommended to him by the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board.[1]
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. |
Business and economics
- Gary Becker (2007)
- Edgar Bronfman, Sr. (1999)
- James E. Burke (2000)
- Edward J. DeBartolo, Sr.
- Peter Drucker (2002)
- Milton Friedman (1988)
- John Kenneth Galbraith (twice; in 1946 from President Harry Truman and in 2000 from President Bill Clinton)
- Alan Greenspan
- Bryce Harlow
- Friedrich Hayek
- Lane Kirkland (1994)
- Estée Lauder (2004)
- George Mardikian (1951)
- Walter Reuther (1995)
- David Rockefeller (1998)
- James W. Rouse (1995)
- Roger Bonham Smith (2004)
- George W. Taylor (professor) (1966)
- Dave Thomas (2003, posthumously)
- Juan Trippe (1985, posthumously)
- Sam Walton
- Walter B. Wriston (2004)
Computing
- Vinton G. Cerf (2005)
- Robert E. Kahn (2005)
- Gordon E. Moore (2002)
Education
- Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. (1964)
- Margaret McNamara (1981; wife of fellow recipient Robert McNamara)
- Antonia Pantojas (1996)
History
- Robert Conquest
- Ariel Durant and Will Durant (1977)
- John Hope Franklin (1995)
- Vartan Gregorian (2004)
- David McCullough
- Samuel Eliot Morison
Medicine
- Benjamin Carson (2008)
- Denton Cooley
- Michael DeBakey
- David Hamburg (1996)
- Donald Henderson (2002)
- Surgeon General C. Everett Koop (1995)
- Karl Menninger
- Arnall Patz (2004)
- Albert Sabin
- Jonas Salk
Philosophy
Science
- Apollo 11 Astronauts
- Apollo 13 Astronauts
- Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team
- James D. Watson (1977)
- Rachel Carson (1980, posthumously)
- Francis Collins (2007)
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1985)
- Lewis Mumford (1964)
- Edward Teller (2003)
- Steve Bales
- Mathilde Krim (2000)
- Thomas Francis, Jr. (1946)
- Dick Rutan (1986)
Sociology
- Robert Coles (1998)
- James Q. Wilson (2003)
Arts
Architecture
- Buckminster Fuller
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1963)
- I.M. Pei (1993)[2]
Art
Dance
Film
- Lucille Ball (1989, posthumously)
- James Cagney (1984)
- Bebe Daniels
- Doris Day (2004)
- Olivia De Havilland
- Marlene Dietrich
- Walt Disney (1964)
- Kirk Douglas (1981)
- John Ford
- Samuel Goldwyn
- Helen Hayes
- Audrey Hepburn (1992)
- Charlton Heston (2003)
- Bob Hope (1969)
- Danny Kaye
- Carole Lombard (1942, posthumously)
- Rita Moreno (2004)
- Gregory Peck (1969)
- Martha Raye (1993)
- James Stewart
- Lew Wasserman (1995)
- John Wayne (1980, posthumously)
Literature
- Jacques Barzun (2003)
- T. S. Eliot
- Ralph Ellison
- Eric Hoffer
- Louis L'Amour
- Harper Lee (2007)
- James Michener
- Carl Sandburg
- John Steinbeck
- Eudora Welty
- Elie Wiesel
- Thornton Wilder
- Edmund Wilson
- Tennessee Williams
- E.B. White
Music
- Marian Anderson
- Pearl Bailey
- Irving Berlin
- James "Eubie" Blake
- Pau Casals
- Van Cliburn (2003)
- Aaron Copland
- Plácido Domingo (2002)
- Duke Ellington (1969)
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Aretha Franklin
- B. B. King (2006)
- Vladimir Horowitz
- Frank Sinatra
- Kate Smith
- Isaac Stern
Photography
- Ansel Adams (1980)
- Edwin H. Land (1963)
Media
Journalism
- Robert L. Bartley (2004)
- Herbert L. Block (1994)
- William F. Buckley, Jr.
- Walter Cronkite (1981)
- Katharine Graham (2002)
- John H. Johnson (1996)
- Paul Johnson
- Edward R. Murrow
- A. M. Rosenthal (2002)
- Vermont C. Royster (1986)
- William Safire
Radio
- Paul Harvey (2005)
- Lowell Thomas (1976)
Television
- Lucille Ball
- David Brinkley
- Carol Burnett
- Johnny Carson (1992)
- Peggy Charren (1995)
- Julia Child (2003)
- Joan Ganz Cooney (1995)
- Bill Cosby (2002)
- Andy Griffith (2005)
- Brian Lamb (2007)
- Fred Rogers (2002)
Philanthropy
- Brooke Astor (1998)
- Zachary Fisher (1998)
- Eugene Lang (1996)
Politics and government
Activists
- Arnold Aronson (1998)
- Oscar Elias Biscet (2007)
- César Chávez (1994)
- Justin Whitlock Dart, Jr. (1998)
- Evelyn Dubrow (1999)
- Marian Wright Edelman (2000)
- James L. Farmer, Jr. (1998)
- Dorothy Height (1994)
- George G. Higgins (2000)
- Benjamin Hooks (2007)
- Jesse Jackson (2000)
- Millie Jeffrey (2000)
- Helen Keller (1964)
- Martin Luther King, Jr.(posthumously)
- Fred Korematsu (1998)
- Roger Nash Baldwin
- Mario G. Obledo (1998)
- Rosa Parks (1996)
- Ginetta Sagan (1996)
- Natan Sharansky
- William C. Velasquez (1995)
- Lech Wałęsa
- Andrew Young
Diplomacy
- Ryan Crocker (2009)[3]
- John P. Davies
- Nathaniel P. Davis (1946)
- Philip Habib (1982)
- George F. Kennan
- Jeane Kirkpatrick
- Sol M. Linowitz (1998)
- Gerard C. Smith
- Robert Schwarz Strauss
Environmentalism
- Rachel Carson (posthumously)
- Marjory Stoneman Douglas (1993)
- Gilbert Melville Grosvenor (2004)
- Margaret Murie (1998)
- Roger Tory Peterson
- Edgar Wayburn (1999)
Espionage
- Moe Berg[4]
- Whittaker Chambers (1984)
- William Stephenson (1946)
- George Tenet
- Claire Phillips
- Andrée de Jongh
- Nancy Wake
- Henry Rigby (1947)
Foreign heads of state or government
- Tony Blair (2009)
- Don Luis A. Ferré
- Václav Havel (2003)
- John Howard (2009)
- Helmut Kohl (1999)
- Nelson Mandela (2002)
- Wilma Mankiller (1998)
- Luis Muñoz Marín
- Margaret Thatcher (1991)
- Pope John XXIII
- Pope John Paul II (2004)
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (2007)
- Álvaro Uribe (2009)
U.S. Diplomats/Politicians
Law
- A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. (1995)
- Oliver White Hill (1999)
- Frank Minis Johnson (1995)
- Joseph L. Rauh, Jr (1993)
- Cruz Reynoso (2000)
- Laurence Silberman (2008)
- John Minor Wisdom (1993)
Supreme Court Justices
- Associate Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (1993)
- Chief Justice Warren E. Burger
- Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter
- Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall (1993)
- Chief Justice Earl Warren
- Associate Justice Byron White (2003)
Military
- Frank Berryman (1948)
- Omar Bradley
- Andrew Berry (1946)
- General Wesley Clark (2000)
- Admiral William J. Crowe (2000)
- Jimmy Doolittle
- Tommy Franks
- Andrew Goodpaster (1961: military); (1984: international affairs)
- General Lyman Lemnitzer (1987)
- Richard B. Myers
- Jan Nowak-Jeziorański (1996)
- Peter Pace (2008)
- Colin Powell (1993)
- Hyman Rickover
- H. Norman Schwarzkopf
- General John Shalikashvili (1997)
- Gunnar Sønsteby
- John Paul Vann
- Nancy Wake
- Chuck Yeager
- Chief of Naval Operations Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr. (1998)
- Women Airforce Service Pilots (2009)
U.S. Cabinet members
- Dean Acheson (awarded with Distinction)
- James Baker
- Zbigniew Brzezinski
- Richard Cheney, as Secretary of Defense during first Persian Gulf War in 1990-1991
- Warren Christopher
- Secretary of Transportation William T. Coleman, Jr. (1995)
- C. Douglas Dillon
- Henry Kissinger
- Robert S. McNamara (1968)
- Norman Mineta
- Averell Harriman
- Secretary of Defense William Perry (1997)
- Colin Powell (twice)
- Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, Defense, Commerce, Attorney General Elliot Richardson (1998)
- Donald Rumsfeld
- Donna Shalala
- George P. Shultz
- Caspar Weinberger (awarded with Distinction)
- Melvin Laird
U.S. First Ladies
- Lady Bird Johnson (1977)[5]
- Rosalynn Carter (1999)
- Nancy Reagan (2002)
U.S. members of Congress
- Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen (1999)
- Senator Edward W. Brooke (2004)
- Senator John H. Chafee (2000)
- Senator Bob Dole (1997)
- Representative Dante B. Fascell (1998)
- Senator William Fulbright (1993)
- Senator Barry Goldwater
- Representative Henry Hyde (2007)
- Senator Henry M. Jackson
- Representative Barbara Jordan (1994)
- Representative Clare Boothe Luce (1983)
- Senator George McGovern (2000)
- Representative Robert H. Michel (1994)
- Senator George J. Mitchell (1999)
- Representative G. V. (Sonny) Montgomery
- Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (2000)
- Senator Gaylord Nelson (1995)
- Representative Tip O'Neill
- Senator Margaret Chase Smith
- Senator Strom Thurmond
- Representative Mo Udall (1996)
- Representative Carl Vinson (awarded with Distinction)
U.S. presidents
- 35th President John F. Kennedy (1963, posthumously)[6]
- 36th President Lyndon B. Johnson (1980, posthumously)[7]
- 38th President Gerald Ford (1999)
- 39th President Jimmy Carter (1999)
- 40th President Ronald Reagan (1993)[8]
U.S. Vice Presidents
Other political figures
- Gero von Schulze-Gaevernitz (1945)
- Homer Morrison Byington (1946)
- Jean Monnet, statesman of the world, 1963
- James J. Caffrey(1977)
- Sargent Shriver (1994)
- Arthur Flemming (1994)
- James P. Grant (1994)
- James Brady (1996)
- Albert Shanker (1998)
- Max Kampelman (1999)
- Simon Wiesenthal (2000)
- Aung San Suu Kyi (2000)
- Irving Kristol (2002)
- Norman Podhoretz (2004)
- Paul Bremer
- Ella T. Grasso
- Paul Nitze
- Whitney Young
Religion
- Walter Hubert Baddeley
- Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (1996)
- Horacio de la Costa (1946)
- Sor Isolina Ferré (1999)
- Billy Graham
- Gordon B. Hinckley (2004)
- Reinhold Niebuhr (1964)
- Hugh O'Flaherty
- Norman Vincent Peale
- Gardner C. Taylor (2000)
- Mother Teresa
- Archbishop Iakovos of America
- Pope John XXIII
- Pope John Paul II (2004)
Sports
- Hank Aaron (2002)
- Muhammad Ali
- Arthur Ashe (1993)
- Earl Blaik
- Paul "Bear" Bryant
- Roberto Clemente (2003, posthumously)
- Joe DiMaggio
- Jack Nicklaus
- Jesse Owens
- Buck O'Neil
- Arnold Palmer (2004)
- Richard Petty
- Frank Robinson
- Jackie Robinson
- Ted Williams
- John Wooden (2003)
Humanitarian
- Norman Borlaug
- Millard Fuller (1996)
- Paul Rusesabagina (2005)
- Leon Sullivan
- Margaret Utinsky
- Willie Velasquez (1995)
- Mother Teresa
- Simon Wiesenthal (2000)
Notes and references
- ^ http://www.medaloffreedom.com/, citing Executive Order 11085 dated Feb. 22, 1963
- ^ "Curriculum Vitae of I. M. Pei". Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
- ^ "President Bush Commemorates Foreign Policy Achievements and Presents Medal of Freedom to Ambassador Ryan Crocker". White House. January 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-16.
- ^ Although Berg was better-known as a baseball player, he was awarded the medal for his espionage activities during World War II. He turned down the medal during his lifetime; it was re-awarded after his death, with his sister accepting on his behalf.
- ^ Lady Bird Johnson Biography
- ^ Presidential Medal of Freedom - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
- ^ Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient President Lyndon Baines Johnson
- ^ Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient President Ronald W. Reagan, 40th President of the United States
External links
- Order re-establishing the Medal, from the website of the John F. Kennedy Library
- List of recent recipients, from the United States Senate website