WASHINGTON – Hillary Clinton, George Soros, and Denzel Washington are set to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. The award ceremony will take place at the White House and will be presented by President Joe Biden.
The prestigious award will also be conferred upon 16 other notable individuals from various fields such as politics, sports, entertainment, civil rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and science. These recipients have been chosen for their outstanding contributions to the country’s prosperity, values, security, and global peace.
According to the White House, the honorees have made significant impacts in societal, public, or private endeavors that have positively influenced the United States and the world at large.
Four medals are to be awarded posthumously. They are going to Fannie Lou Hamer, who founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and laid the groundwork for the 1965 Voting Rights Act; former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; George W. Romney, who served as both a Michigan governor and secretary of housing and urban development; and Ash Carter, the former secretary of defense.
Kennedy is father to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary. Romney is the father of former Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, one of Trump’s strongest conservative critics.
Major philanthropists receiving the award include Spanish American chef José Andrés, whose World Central Kitchen charity has become one of the world’s most recognized food relief organizations, and Bono, the frontman for rock band U2 and a social justice activist.
Sports and entertainment stars being recognized include professional soccer player Lionel Messi; retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend and businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson; actor Michael J. Fox, who is an outspoken advocate for Parkinson’s disease research and development; and William Sanford Nye, known to generations of students as “Bill Nye the Science Guy.”
Other awardees include conservationist Jane Goodall; longtime Vogue Magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour; American fashion designer Ralph Lauren; American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr.; entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ activist Tim Gill; and David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group global investment firm.
Last year, Biden bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on 19 people, including the late Medgar Evers, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina and actor Michelle Yeoh.
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