President Joe Biden will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 recipients, including media and entertainment figures, the administration announced Friday.
The award is the nation’s “highest civilian honor, presented to individuals 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.”
This year’s honorees include Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh, who is being recognized for her “groundbreaking work,” and continuing to “shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is also being awarded to journalist Phil Donahue, whose talk show “Donahue” transformed daytime TV.
Other honorees include former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Rep. Jim Clyburn, Sen. Elizabeth Dole, former Vice President Al Gore, civil rights activist Clarence B. Jones, Former Secretary of State John Kerry, Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, sports superstar Jim Thorpe, and more.
The awards will be held at the White House on Friday, where each honoree will be presented with the Medal of Freedom by President Biden.
“These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better,” the Biden Administration wrote in a press release. “They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.”
