Presidential Medal of Freedom

The highest civilian award in the United States. Originally called the Medal of Freedom, it was first awarded in 1945. It was renamed the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. This table includes awards since 1993.

1993

Arthur Ashe

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas

J. William Fulbright

Thurgood Marshall¹

Colin L. Powell

Joseph L. Raugh, Jr.¹

Martha Raye

John Minor Wisdom

1994

Herbert Block¹

Cesar Chavez

Arthur Flemming

James Grant

Dorothy Height

Barbara Jordan

Lane Kirkland

Robert H. Michel

R. Sargent Shriver

1995

Peggy Charren

Joan Ganz Cooney

William T. Coleman, Jr.

John Hope Franklin

Leon Higginbotham

Judge Frank Johnson

C. Everett Koop

Gaylord Nelson

Walter Reuther

James Rouse

William C. Velasquez

Lew Wasserman

1996

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin

James Brady

Millard Fuller

David Hamburg

John H. Johnson

Eugene M. Lang

Jan Nowak-Jezioranski

Rosa Parks

Antonia Patoja

Ginetta Sagan

Morris Udall

1997

William J. Perry

Robert Dole

1998

Arnie Aronson

Brooke Astor

Robert Coles

Justin Dart

James Farmer

Dante B. Fascell

Zachary Fisher

Frances Hesselbein

Fred Korematsu

Saul Linowitz

Wilma Mankiller

Margaret (Mardy) Murie

Mario Obledo

Elliott Richardson

David Rockefeller

Albert Shanker¹

Elmo 'Bud' Zumwalt

1999

Lloyd M. Bentsen

Edgar M. Bronfman, Sr.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter

Evy Dubrow

Sister M. Isolina Ferre

Gerald R. Ford

Oliver White Hill

Max Kampelman

Edgar Wayburn

2000

Aung San Suu Kyi

James Edward Burke

John Chafee¹

Wesley Clark

William Crowe

Marian Wright Edelman

John Kenneth Galbraith

George Higgins

Jesse Jackson

Mildred 'Millie' Jeffrey

Mathilde Krim

George McGovern

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Cruz Reynoso

Gardner Taylor

Simon Wiesenthal

2002

Hank Aaron

Bill Cosby

Plácido Domingo

Peter Drucker

Katharine Graham¹

D. A. Henderson

Irving Kristol

Nelson Mandela

Gordon Moore

Nancy Reagan

Fred Rogers

A. M. Rosenthal

2003

Jacques Barzun

Julia Child

Roberto Clemente¹

Van Cliburn

Václav Havel

Charlton Heston

Edward Teller

Dave Thomas¹

Byron Raymond White¹

James Q. Wilson

John R. Wooden

2004

Robert L. Bartley

Edward W. Brooke

Doris Day

Vartan Gregorian

Gilbert M. Grosvenor

Gordon B. Hinckley

Estée Lauder¹

Rita Moreno

Arnold Palmer

Arnall Patz

Pope John Paul II

Norman Podhoretz

Walter B. Wriston

2005

Muhammad Ali

Carol Burnett

Vinton Cerf

Robert Conquest

Aretha Franklin

Alan Greenspan

Andy Griffith

Paul Harvey

Robert Kahn

Sonny Montgomery

General Richard B. Myers

Jack Nicklaus

Frank Robinson

Paul Rusesabagina

2006

Ruth Johnson Colvin

Norman C. Francis

Paul Johnson

Riley 'B.B.' King

Joshua Lederberg

David McCullough

Norman Y. Mineta

John 'Buck' O'Neil¹

William Safire

Natan Sharansky

2007

Gary S. Becker

Oscar Elias Biscet

Francis S. Collins

Benjamin L. Hooks

Henry J. Hyde

Brian P. Lamb

Harper Lee

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

1. Award given posthumously.

Appears in these articles:

Rogers, Fred; Presidential Medal of Freedom

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