Presidential Medal of Freedom: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

The Presidential Medal of Freedom

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the United States. It was established by President Harry Truman in 1945 to honor service during WWII. President John F. Kennedy revived the medal and began the tradition of awarding the medal annually, on or near July 4. The award is awarded to several people annually. Unlike many other US awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom can be awarded to non-US citizens.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Some winners of the award include:

• Luis Muñoz Marín
• Hank Aaron
• Dean Acheson
• Marian Anderson
• Arnold Aronson
• Arthur Ashe
• Brooke Astor
• Pearl Bailey
• James Baker
• George Balanchine
• Lucille Ball
• Robert L. Bartley
• Jacques Barzun
• Lloyd M. Bentsen
• Irving Berlin
• Tony Blair, British Prime Minister
• Omar Bradley
• James Brady
• David Brinkley
• Edgar M. Bronfman, Jr.
• Bear Bryant
• William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Warren Burger
• Edward W. Brooke
• James Cagney
• Johnny Carson
• Rachel Carson
• Jimmy Carter
• Rosalynn Carter
• César Chávez
• Richard Cheney
• Julia Child
• Wesley Clark
• Roberto Clemente
• Van Cliburn
• Robert Coles
• Aaron Copland
• Bill Cosby
• Jacques-Yves Cousteau
• Walter Cronkite
• Doris Day
• C. Douglas Dillon
• Joe DiMaggio
• Walt Disney
• Bob Dole
• Plácido Domingo
• Jimmy Doolittle
• Kirk Douglas
• Peter Drucker
• Evelyn Dubrow
• Will Durant
• T.S. Eliot
• Duke Ellington
• James Farmer
• Dante B. Fascell
• Sor Isolina Ferré
• Don Luis A. Ferré
• Zachary Fisher
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Betty Ford
• Gerald Ford
• John Ford
• William Fulbright
• Buckminster Fuller
• Samuel Goldwyn
• Billy Graham
• Martha Graham
• Vartan Gregorian
• Gilbert M. Grosvenor
• Václav Havel
• Helen Hayes
• Audrey Hepburn
• Frances Hesselbein
• Charlton Heston
• Oliver White Hill
• Gordon B. Hinckley
• Eric Hoffer
• Bob Hope
• Hubert Humphrey
• Jesse Jackson
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Barbara Jordan
• Max Kampelman
• Danny Kaye
• Helen Keller
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Jeane Kirkpatrick
• Henry Kissinger
• Helmut Kohl
• C. Everett Koop
• Fred Korematsu
• Estee Lauder
• Sol M. Linowitz
• Nelson Mandela
• Wilma Mankiller
• Thurgood Marshall
• George McGovern
• Robert S. McNamara
• James Michener
• Rita Moreno
• Mother Teresa
• Daniel Patrick Moynihan
• Margaret Murie
• Edward R. Murrow
• Mario G. Obledo
• Tip O'Neill
• Jesse Owens
• Arnold Palmer
• Antonia Pantojas
• Rosa Parks
• Arnall Patz
• Norman Vincent Peale
• Gregory Peck
• I.M. Pei
• William Perry
• Roger Tory Peterson
• Norman Podhoretz
• Colin Powell
• Nancy Reagan
• Ronald Reagan
• Elliot L. Richardson
• Hyman Rickover
• Jackie Robinson
• David Rockefeller
• Nelson Rockefeller
• Norman Rockwell
• Fred Rogers
• Donald Rumsfeld
• Anwar Sadat
• Jonas Salk
• Carl Sandburg
• Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr.
• Albert Shanker
• Frank Sinatra
• Kate Smith
• Margaret Chase Smith
• John Steinbeck
• Isaac Stern
• Jimmy Stewart
• Edward Teller
• Margaret Thatcher
• Dave Thomas
• Lowell Thomas
• Carl Vinson
• Sam Walton
• Earl Warren
• Edgar Wayburn
• John Wayne
• Caspar Weinberger
• Byron White
• Elie Wiesel
• Simon Wiesenthal
• Thornton Wilder
• Ted Williams
• James Wilson
• Karol Józef Wojtyła (Pope John Paul II)
• John Wooden
• Walter B. Wriston
• Chuck Yeager
• Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr.