WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Friday honored 19 high-profile politicians, activists and others with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
Award recipients included an award-winning actor, Olympians and a former vice president.
The 19 recipients’ “relentless curiosity, ingenuity, ingenuity and hope kept them believing in a better tomorrow,” Biden said during the ceremony.
Presenting the awards at the White House, Biden detailed the honorees’ achievements and praised their contributions.
Recipients included political powerhouses such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who coincided with the first two years of Biden’s presidency; former Vice President Al Gore, also a Democrat; Rep. James Clyburn, D-C., is often credited with presenting a case for Biden’s 2020 endorsement. a big boost to his campaign; and Elizabeth Dole, a former Republican senator from North Carolina and veterans’ advocate who became both labor and transportation secretaries.
Biden touched on former President Donald Trump when discussing Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, during 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 confidence in our institutions,” Biden said, implicitly contradicting Gore’s repeated reluctance to accept Trump’s 2020 election results.
Gore conceded the 2000 election in a phone call to former President George W. Bush, but later withdrew due to litigation immediately following the 2000 election. A lawsuit reached its climax In the landmark Supreme Court case of Bush v. Gore, which settled a dispute over results in Florida. Gore later conceded on December 13, 2000, saying, “I accept the conclusion of the result, which will be confirmed in the Electoral College next Monday.”
The list of recipients included several people who have broken barriers in their fields, including actor Michelle Yeoh. The first person of Asian descent winning a best actress Oscar; Ellen Ochoa, the first Spanish woman to travel into space; and Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal. Katie Ledecky, a record-breaking Olympic swimmer with seven Olympic titles gold medalsalso listed.
While discussing Ledecky’s accomplishments, the 81-year-old president joked about age, which some say is old for swimming.
“Don’t let age get in your way,” Biden joked to Ledecky. “Katie, age is just a number baby.”
Thorpe, who died in 1953; Senator Frank Lautenberg, DN.J., who died in 2013; and slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers was honored posthumously in 1963.
The recipients are “at the pinnacle of leadership in their fields,” the White House said in a statement announcing the recipients.
“They have consistently demonstrated the power of community, hard work and service throughout their careers,” he said.