Rep. John Lewis, Maya Angelou, and President GW Bush Receive Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor presented to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.
The honorees are:
• Former President George H.W. Bus
• Chancellor Angela Merkel, the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, who was not at the White House East Room ceremony.
• Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a legendary figure in the U.S. civil rights movement.
• John H. Adams, co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council in 1970.
• Maya Angelou, an author, poet, educator, producer, actress, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.
• Warren Buffett, one of the richest and most successful business executives in the nation.
• Jasper Johns, a famous U.S. artist.
• Gerda Weissmann Klein is an author who has written about her Holocaust experience.
• Dr. Tom Little, an ophthalmologist, who was murdered on Aug. 6, 2010 by the Taliban in Afghanistan, along with nine other members of a team returning from a humanitarian mission to provide vision care.
• Yo-Yo Ma, one of the best known cellists in the world.
• Sylvia Mendez, a civil rights activist.
• Stan “The Man” Musial, a St. Louis Cardinals baseball star and Hall of Fame member
• Bill Russell a former Boston Celtics basketball team star and coach.
• Jean Kennedy Smith, the sister of President Kennedy, and former ambassador to Ireland, who founded VSA, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the John F. Kennedy Center promoting the artistic talents of children, youth and adults with disabilities.
• John J. Sweeney, the former president of the AFL-CIO.