The award is the nation’s highest civilian honor.
President Joe Biden will honor 19 Americans with the Medal of Freedom, including former Vice President Al Gore, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), former Secretary of State John Kerry, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), champion swimmer Katie Ledecky, and award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.
The medals will be presented by the president at the White House on Friday.
“These nineteen Americans built teams, coalitions, movements, organizations, and businesses that shaped America for the better,” the White House said in a statement announcing the recipients. “They are the pinnacle of leadership in their fields. They consistently demonstrated over their careers the power of community, hard work, and service.”
The Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented to 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.”
This year’s list of recipients includes former New York City mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg, who ran for president in 2020 before endorsing Biden. It also includes former Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole, the wife of the late Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole.
Other recipients include: journalist and television host Phil Donahue, civil rights activist and lawyer Clarence Jones, teacher and activist Opal Lee, veteran astronaut Ellen Ochoa, astronomer Jane Rigby, United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero and Judy Shepard, co-founder of the Matthew Shephard Foundation.
Biden will also hand out three posthumous medals to former New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, civil rights activist Medgar Evers and Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe.
The president is a Medal of Freedom recipient himself. President Barack Obama honored him with the award in 2017 when he served as vice president.
