WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday awarded 19 politicians, activists and other prominent figures the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Recipients included an award-winning actor, Olympians and a former vice president.
“The relentless curiosity, inventiveness, ingenuity and hope of the 19 recipients kept faith in a better future,” Biden said during the ceremony.
Biden presented the awards at the White House, detailing the recipients’ accomplishments and praising their contributions.
Recipients included political powerhouses such as Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, whose House speakership overlapped with the first two years of Biden’s presidency; former Vice President Al Gore, also a Democrat; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose support for Biden in 2020 is often credited with delivering a major boost in his countryside; and Elizabeth Dole, a former Republican senator from North Carolina and advocate for military caregivers who served as secretary of Labor and Transportation.
Biden apparently took a jab at former President Donald Trump while discussing Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, in which he won the popular vote but lost the electoral college.
“He accepted the outcome of a contested presidential election for the sake of unity and trust in our institutions,” Biden said, appearing to implicitly contrast Gore with Trump’s repeated refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election.
Gore conceded the 2000 election in a phone call to former President George W. Bush, but later recanted as he filed lawsuits immediately after the 2000 election. peaked in the landmark Supreme Court case Bush v. Gore, which settled a dispute over the results in Florida. Gore then conceded on December 13, 2000, stating: “I accept the finality of the result, which will be ratified next Monday by the Electoral College.” »
The list of recipients also included several people who have broken barriers in their fields, including actress Michelle Yeoh, first person of Asian origin winning the Academy Award for Best Actress; Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman travel in space; and Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. Record-breaking Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky, who won seven Olympics Gold medalsis also on the list.
The 81-year-old president joked about age when discussing the accomplishments of Ledecky, who is 27, “who some say is old for swimming.”
“Don’t let age get in the way,” Biden joked to Ledecky. “Katie, age is just a number, kid.”
Thorpe, died in 1953; Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., who died in 2013; and civil rights leader Medgar Evers, assassinated in 1963, were honored posthumously.
The recipients “are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields,” the White House said in a statement announcing the recipients.
“They have consistently demonstrated throughout their careers the power of community, hard work and service,” the text adds.
