THE
WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2009
President Obama Names Medal of Freedom
Recipients
16 Agents of Change to Receive Top Civilian Honor
WASHINGTON
President Obama today named 16 recipients of the 2009 Presidential
Medal of Freedom. Americas highest civilian honor, the Medal
of Freedom is awarded to individuals who make an especially meritorious
contribution to the security or national interests of the United
States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private
endeavors.
This years awardees were chosen for their work as agents of
change. Among their many accomplishments in fields ranging from
sports and art to science and medicine to politics and public policy,
these men and women have changed the world for the better. They
have blazed trails and broken down barriers. They have discovered
new theories, launched new initiatives, and opened minds to new
possibilities.
President Obama said, These outstanding men and women represent
an incredible diversity of backgrounds. Their tremendous accomplishments
span fields from science to sports, from fine arts to foreign affairs.
Yet they share one overarching trait: Each has been an agent of
change. Each saw an imperfect world and set about improving it,
often overcoming great obstacles along the way.
Their relentless devotion to breaking down barriers and lifting
up their fellow citizens sets a standard to which we all should
strive. It is my great honor to award them the Medal of Freedom.
President Obama will present the awards at a ceremony on Wednesday,
August 12.
The following individuals will receive the 2009 Presidential Medal
of Freedom:
Nancy
Goodman Brinker
Nancy Goodman Brinker is the founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure,
the worlds leading breast cancer grass roots organization.
Brinker established the organization in memory of her sister, who
passed away from breast cancer in 1980. Through innovative events
like Race for the Cure, the organization has given and invested
over $1.3 billion for research, health services and education services
since its founding in 1982 and developed a worldwide grassroots
network of breast cancer survivors and activists who are working
together to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for
all and energize science to find cures. Brinker has received several
awards for her work, and has also served in government as U.S. Ambassador
to Hungary (2001 2003), Chief of Protocol of the U.S. (2007
2009), and Chair of the Presidents Cancer Panel (1990).
In May, Nancy Goodman Brinker was named the first-ever World Health
Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control.
Pedro
José Greer, Jr.
Dr. Pedro Jose Greer is a physician and the Assistant Dean of Academic
Affairs at the Florida International University School of Medicine,
where he also serves as Chair of the Department of Humanities, Health
and Society. Dr. Greer is the founder of Camillus Health Concern,
an agency that provides medical care to over 10,000 homeless patients
a year in the city of Miami. He is also the founder and medical
director of the St. John Bosco Clinic which provides basic primary
medical care to disadvantaged children and adults in the Little
Havana community. He has been recognized by Presidents Clinton,
Bush, Sr., and Carter for his work with Miami's poor . He is also
the recipient of three Papal Medals as well as the prestigious MacArthur
"genius grant". He currently has a joint private practice
with his father, Pedro Greer, Sr.
Stephen
Hawking
Stephen Hawking is an internationally-recognized theoretical physicist,
having overcome a severe physical disability due to motor neuron
disease. He is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge
University, a post previously held by Isaac Newton in 1669. In addition
to his pioneering academic research in mathematics and physics,
Hawking has penned three popular science books, including the bestselling
A Brief History of Time. Hawking, a British citizen, believes that
non-academics should be able to access his work just as physicists
are, and has also published a childrens science book with
his daughter. His persistence and dedication has unlocked new pathways
of discovery and inspired everyday citizens.
Jack
Kemp
Jack Kemp, who passed away in May 2009, served as a U.S. Congressman
(1971 1989), Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (1989
1993), and Republican Nominee for Vice President (1996).
Prior to entering public service, Kemp was a professional football
player (1957 1969) and led the Buffalo Bills to American
Football League championships in 1964 and 1965. In Congress and
as a Cabinet Secretary, Kemp was a self-described bleeding
heart conservative who worked to encourage development in
underserved urban communities. In the years leading up to his death,
Kemp continued seeking new solutions, raising public attention about
the challenge of poverty, and working across party lines to improve
the lives of Americans and others around the world.
Sen.
Edward Kennedy
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has served in the United States Senate
for forty-six years, and has been one of the greatest lawmakers
and leaders of our time. From reforming our public
schools to strengthening civil rights laws and supporting working
Americans, Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting
for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He
has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to
quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so
for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities.
He has called health care reform the cause of his life,
and has championed nearly every health care bill enacted by Congress
over the course of the last five decades. Known as the Lion
of the Senate, Senator Kennedy is widely respected on both
sides of the aisle for his commitment to progress and his ability
to legislate.
Billie
Jean King
Billie Jean King was an acclaimed professional tennis player in
the 1960s and 1970s, and has helped champion gender equality issues
not only in sports, but in all areas of public life. King beat Bobby
Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes tennis match, then
the most viewed tennis match in history. King became one of the
first openly lesbian major sports figures in America when she came
out in 1981. Following her professional tennis career, King became
the first woman commissioner in professional sports when she co-founded
and led the World Team Tennis (WTT) League. The U.S. Tennis Association
named the National Tennis Center, where the US Open is played, the
Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006.
Rev.
Joseph Lowery
Reverend Lowery has been a leader in the U.S. civil rights movement
since the early 1950s. Rev. Lowery helped organize the Montgomery
bus boycott after Rosa Parks was denied a seat, and later co-founded
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a leading civil rights
organization, with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Rev. Lowery led the
march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. Rev. Lowery is a minister
in the United Methodist Church, and has continued to highlight important
civil rights issues in the U.S. and worldwide, including apartheid
in South Africa, since the 1960s.
Joe
Medicine Crow High Bird
Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief,
is the author of seminal works in Native American history and culture.
He is the last person alive to have received direct oral testimony
from a participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn: his grandfather
was a scout for General George Armstrong Custer. A veteran of World
War II, Medicine Crow accomplished during the war all of the four
tasks required to become a war chief, including stealing
fifty Nazi SS horses from a German camp. Medicine Crow was the first
member of his tribe to attend college, receiving his masters
degree in anthropology in 1939, and continues to lecture at universities
and notable institutions like the United Nations. His contributions
to the preservation of the culture and history of the First Americans
are matched only by his importance as a role model to young Native
Americans across the country.
Harvey
Milk
Harvey Milk became the first openly gay elected official from a
major city in the United States when he was elected to the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) citizens to live their lives openly and believed
coming out was the only way they could change society and achieve
social equality. Milk, alongside San Francisco Mayor George Moscone,
was shot and killed in 1978 by Dan White, a former city supervisor.
Milk is revered nationally and globally as a pioneer of the LGBT
civil rights movement for his exceptional leadership and dedication
to equal rights.
Sandra
Day OConnor
Justice OConnor was the first woman ever to sit on the United
States Supreme Court. Nominated by President Reagan in 1981, she
served until her retirement in 2006. Prior to joining the Supreme
Court, OConnor served as a state trial and appellate judge
in Arizona. She was also as a member of the Arizona state senate,
where she became the first woman in the United States ever to lead
a state senate as Senate Majority Leader. At a time when women rarely
entered the legal profession, OConnor graduated Stanford Law
School third in her class, where she served on the Stanford Law
Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Since retiring
from the Supreme Court in 2006, OConnor has served as Chancellor
of the College of William and Mary, on the Board of Trustees of
the National Constitution Center, and participated in the Iraq Study
Group in 2006, as well as giving numerous lectures on public service.
She has received numerous awards for her outstanding achievements
and public service.
Sidney
Poitier
Sidney Poitier is a groundbreaking actor, becoming the top black
movie star in the 1950s and 1960s. Poitier is the first African
American to be nominated and win a Best Actor Academy Award, receive
an award at a top international film festival (Venice Film Festival),
and be the top grossing movie star in the United States. Poitier
insisted that the film crew on The Lost Man be at least 50 percent
African American, and starred in the first mainstream movies portraying
acceptable interracial marriages and interracial kissing.
Poitier began his acting career without any training or experience
by auditioning at the American Negro Theatre.
Chita
Rivera
Chita Rivera is an accomplished and versatile actress, singer, and
dancer, who has won Two Tony Awards and received seven more nominations
while breaking barriers and inspiring a generation of women to follow
in her footsteps. In 2002, she became the first Hispanic recipient
of the coveted Kennedy Center Honor. Propelled to stardom by her
electric performance as Anita in the original Broadway premiere
of West Side Story, Rivera went on to star in additional landmark
musicals such as Chicago, Bye Bye Birdie, and Jerrys Girls.
She recently starred in The Dancers Life, an autobiographical
musical about her celebrated life in the theatre.
Mary
Robinson
Mary Robinson was the first female President of Ireland (1990
1997) and a former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
(1997 2002), a post that required her to end her presidency
four months early. Robinson served as a prominent member of the
Irish Senate prior to her election as President. She continues to
bring attention to international issues as Honorary President of
Oxfam International, and Chairs the Board of Global Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI Alliance). Since 2002 she has been
President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative,
based in New York, which is an organization she founded to make
human rights the compass which charts a course for globalization
that is fair, just and benefits all.
Janet
Davison Rowley
Janet Davison Rowley, M.D., is the Blum Riese Distinguished Service
Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics & Cell Biology and
Human Genetics at The University of Chicago. She is an American
human geneticist and the first scientist to identify a chromosomal
translocation as the cause of leukemia and other cancers. Rowley
is internationally renowned for her studies of chromosome abnormalities
in human leukemia and lymphoma, which have led to dramatically improved
survival rates for previously incurable cancers and the development
of targeted therapies. In 1999 President Clinton awarded her the
National Medal of Science--the nation's highest scientific honor.
Desmond
Tutu
Desmond Tutu is an Anglican Archbishop emeritus who was a leading
anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Widely regarded as South
Africa's moral conscience, he served as the General Secretary
of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) from 1978
1985, where he led a formidable crusade in support of justice and
racial reconciliation in South Africa. He received a Nobel Peace
Prize for his work through SACC in 1984. Tutu was elected Archbishop
of Cape Town in 1986, and the Chair of the South Africa Truth and
Reconciliation Commission in 1995. He retired as Archbishop in 1996
and is currently Chair of the Elders.
Muhammad Yunus
Dr. Muhammad Yunus is a global leader in anti-poverty efforts, and
has pioneered the use of micro-loans to provide credit
to poor individuals without collateral. Dr. Yunus, an economist
by training, founded the Grameen Bank in 1983 in his native Bangladesh
to provide small, low-interest loans to the poor to help better
their livelihood and communities. Despite its low interest rates
and lending to poor individuals, Grameen Bank is sustainable and
98% percent of its loans are repaid higher than other banking
systems. It has spread its successful model throughout the world.
Dr. Yunus received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his work.
|