President Joe Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 former and current politicians, activists, stars, and sports Friday at the White House, a meeting Biden referred to as one of his favourite events of the year.
Biden notably bestowed the nation’s highest civilian honor on political allies, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ( D- CA ), Rep. Jim Clyburn ( D- SC), former Vice President Al Gore, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Past New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, sports athlete Jim Thorpe, and civil right leader Medgar Wiley Ever, were honored subsequently by the president.
Friday’s winners also featured two adult “firsts”, Michelle Yeoh, the initial Asian woman to get the Academy Award for best artist, and Ellen Ochoa, the first Spanish girl to travel to place.
The president cited author E. B. as his opening statement. White was a 1961 graduate of the first Presidential Medal of Freedom.
” Relentless attention, inventiveness, brilliance have led to serious trouble. You can just hope that we can escape with these characteristics,” Biden said. ” Hang on to your scarf, hang on to your wish, wind the time, and tomorrow is another day”.
” Now, we have another remarkable honor to offer the world’s highest civilian honor on 19 amazing people whose continuous interest, inventiveness, ingenuity, and hope have kept faith for a better tomorrow”, he continued.
Biden made a mistake when discussing Katie Ledeky’s accomplishments with Biden, saying he was excited to host her at the White House after she competes in the Paralympics as opposed to the 2024 Summer Olympics, which will be held in Paris.
In a final joke, the president joked that” I had to keep writing these introductions because I had to make them shorter and shorter.” ” There’s so much more to say for each one of them, but we’d be here for 12 hours”.
The full list of Friday’s recipients:
- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
- The Rev. Gregory Boyle
- Rep. Jim Clyburn ( D- SC )
- Elizabeth Dole, a former Republican senator from North Carolina,
- Phil Donahue
- Al Gore, a former vice president,
- Clarence Jones
- John Kerry, a former secretary of state,
- Katie Ledecky
- Opal Lee
- Ellen Ochoa
- Rep. Nancy Pelosi ( D- CA )
- Jane Rigby
- Teresa Romero
- Judy Shepard
- Michelle Yeoh
Posthumous recipients:
- Medgar Wiley Evers
- Former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg
- Jim Thorpe
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You can watch Biden’s remarks in full below.
