President Biden announces 2024 Medal of Freedom honorees including Congressman Clyburn

ABC Team,
President Joe Biden and Rep. Jim Clyburn

President Joe Biden walks with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., during U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s wake at Concord Church in Dallas on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024. Johnson, a trailblazing North Texas Democrat who served 15 terms in Congress, died on Dec. 31. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool)

 

 (WPDE) — President Joe Biden on Thursday announced this year’s recipients for the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 Americans, including South Carolina Representative James Clyburn, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and former Vice President Al Gore.

The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, bestowed upon 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,’ said the White House.

The awards ceremony will take place at the White House on May 3, 2024.

The official list of award recipients is as follows:

  • James E. Clyburn, former Assistant Democratic Leader and Majority Whip in the United States House of Representatives
  • Michael R. Bloomberg, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and three-term mayor of New York
  • Gregory J. Boyle, Jesuit Catholic priest who is the founder and director of Homeboy Industries, the world’s largest gang-intervention and rehabilitation program
  • Elizabeth Dole, Senator, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Labor, and President of the American Red Cross
  • Phil Donahue, journalist and television pioneer who pioneered the daytime issue-oriented television talk show
  • Medgar Wiley Evers (posthumous), fought in World War II, led the fight against segregation in Mississippi
  • Al Gore, former Vice President, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives and Nobel Peace Prize winner
  • Clarence B. Jones, civil rights activist and lawyer who helped draft Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I Have a Dream” speech
  • John Forbes Kerry, former Secretary of State, United States Senator, first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and Silver Star and Bronze Star recipient for his combat in the Vietnam War
  • Frank R. Lautenberg (posthumous), five-term United States Senator and New Jersey’s longest-serving Senator
  • Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky, won seven Olympic gold medals and twenty-one world championship gold medals
  • Opal Lee, educator and activist known for her efforts to make Juneteenth a federally recognized holiday
  • Ellen Ochoa, first Hispanic woman in space and the second female Director of NASA’s renowned Johnson Space Center
  • Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi, 52nd Speaker of the House and has represented San Francisco in Congress for more than 36 years
  • Jane Rigby, researcher, astronomer and chief scientist of the world’s most powerful telescope
  • Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers and the first Latina to become president of a national union in the United States
  • Judy Shepard, co-founder of the Matthew Shephard Foundation, an organization created in honor of her son who was murdered in one of the nation’s most notorious anti-gay hate crimes
  • James Francis Thorpe (posthumous), first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal, played professional football, baseball and basketball
  • Michelle Yeoh, actress and first Asian to win the Academy Award for Best Actress

In a statement on X, Congressman Clyburn reacted to the announcement.

“Words cannot express my profound honor and gratitude in receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I look forward to continuing my efforts to bend the arc of history toward justice and providing myself worthy of this incredible honor.”

 

Categories: Local News, News, Politics, State
Tags: , , , ,

Related Posts