White House announces 17 for Presidential Medal of Freedom
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will present the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including actor Denzel Washington, gymnast Simone Biles and the late John McCain, the Arizona Republican with whom Biden served in the Senate.
Biden will also recognize Sandra Lindsay, the New York City nurse who rolled up her sleeve on live television in December 2020 to receive the first COVID19 vaccine dose that was pumped into an arm in the United States, the White House announced Friday.
Biden’s honors list includes living and deceased honorees from the worlds of Hollywood, sports, politics, the military, academia, and civil rights and social justice advocacy.
The Democratic president will present the medals next week at the White House.
Biden himself is a recipient, awarded the medal by President Barack Obama to honored his public service as a longtime U.S. senator and vice president.
The honor is reserved for people who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace or other significant societal public or private endeavors, the White House said.
The other 13 medal recipients are:
▪ Sister Simone Campbell. Campbell is a member of the Sister of Social Service and a former executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization. She is an advocate for economic justice, overhauling the U.S. immigration system and health care policy.
▪ Julieta Garcia. A former president of the University
of Texas at Brownsville, Garcia was the first Latina to become a college president, the White House said.
▪ Gabrielle Giffords. A former U.S. House member from Arizona, the Democrat founded Giffords, an organization dedicated to ending gun violence. She was shot in the head in January 2011 during a constituent event.
▪ Fred Gray. One of the first Black members of the Alabama Legislature after Reconstruction. Gray was a prominent civil rights attorney who represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr.
▪ Steve Jobs. Jobs was the co-founder, chief executive and chair of Apple Inc. He died in 2011.
Father Alexander Karloutsos. He is the assistant to Archbishop Demetrios of America. The White House said Karloutsos has counseled several U.S. presidents.
▪ Khizr Khan. An immigrant from Pakistan, Khan’s Army officer son was killed in Iraq. Khan gained national prominence, and became a target of Donald Trump’s wrath, after speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
▪ Diane Nash. A founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Nash organized some of the most important
20th century civil rights campaigns.
▪ Megan Rapinoe. She is an Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup soccer champion. Rapinoe is a prominent advocate for gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQI+ rights.
▪ Alan Simpson. The retired U.S. senator from Wyoming served with Biden and has been a prominent advocate for campaign finance reform, responsible governance and marriage equality.
▪ Richard Trumka. He had been president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO for more than a decade at the time of his August 2021 death. Trumka was a past president of the United Mine Workers.
▪ Wilma Vaught. A brigadier general, Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history, breaking gender barriers as she has risen through the ranks. When Vaught retired in 1985, she was one of only seven female generals in the Armed Forces.
▪ Raul Yzaguirre. A civil rights advocate, Yzaguirre was president and CEO of the National Council of La Raza for 30 years. He served as U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic under Obama.