With just a couple of weeks remaining in his presidency, Joe Biden will honor a new group of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients today.
Bono, Michael J. Fox, George Stevens Jr. and Denzel Washington are among the 19 honorees recognized as “great leaders who have made America and the world a better place,” the White House said. The nation’s highest civilian honor, the Medal Of Freedom is 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.”
The ceremony will take place in the East Room at the White House later today.
Also being honored are chef José Andrés, Hillary Clinton, entrepreneur and LGBTQI advocate Tim Gill, ethologist and conservationist Jane Goodall, Magic Johnson, fashion designer Ralph Lauren, soccer star Lionel Messi, Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Carlyle Group’s co-founder and co-chairman David Rubenstein, investor and philanthropist George Soros and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
Being honored posthumously are former Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Robert F. Kennedy, civil rights pioneer Fannie Lou Hammer and former Michigan governor George Romney.
Per the White House, Bono is being recognized as the “frontman for legendary rock band U2 and a pioneering activist against AIDS and poverty”; Fox as an Emmy winning actor and “world-renowned advocate for Parkinson’s disease research and development”; Stevens for a career “dedicated to preserving and celebrating the best of American film and the performing arts, including by founding the American Film Institute and creating the Kennedy Center Honors”; and Washington as an Oscar-winning actor who served “as National Spokesman for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for over 25 years.”
