Astronaut John Glenn and poet Toni Morrison lead the pack of 2012 winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
13 people in all were given the medal — three of them posthumously. President Barack Obama presented the medals with these remarks:
“This is the highest civilian honor this country can bestow, which is ironic, because nobody sets out to win it. No one ever picks up a guitar, or fights a disease, or starts a movement, thinking, “You know what, if I keep this up, in 2012, I could get a medal in the White House from a guy named Barack Obama.” (Laughter.) That wasn’t in the plan.”
“…What sets these men and women apart is the incredible impact they have had on so many people — not in short, blinding bursts, but steadily, over the course of a lifetime.”
The full list of Medal of Freedom recipients:
- Folk-rocker Bob Dylan
- Poet Toni Morrison
- Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
- Astronaut John Glenn
- Israeli President Shimon Peres
- Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens
- Civil rights lawyer John Doar
- Epidemiologist William Foege
- Farm organizer Dolores Huerta
- Basketball coach Pat Summitt
- Polish officer and Holocaust reporter Jan Karski (posthumous)
- Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon (posthumous)
- Japanese WWII-era activist Gordon Hirabayashi (posthumous)