President Joe Biden on Thursday awarded the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to 17 people, including gymnast Simone Biles and soccer player Megan Rapinoe .
“She added to her medal count today,” Biden said as he introduced Biles, a former adoptive son whose 32 Olympic and World Championship medals made her the world’s best athlete. The most decorated United States gymnastics in history.
“I don’t know how you’re going to find room for another medal,” Biden joked. The 25-year-old is a mental health advocate for athletes, foster children and sexual assault victims. She’s also the youngest person ever to receive a medal, Biden said.
Rapinoe, an Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup champion, is the captain of CV Reign in the National Women’s Football League.
The Democratic president, who took office at a pivotal time in the coronavirus pandemic, also honored Sandra Lindsay, Queens, New York nurse as the first person to receive a vaccine against COVID-19 outside of clinical trials. available for a live TV appearance in December 2020.
This is the first time Biden has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His list of recipients includes both living and deceased honorees, some of whom represent different stages in the president’s life, from Catholic nuns who taught He as a boy grew up in Claymont, Delaware, to the Republican legislators he served in the Senate to a university. professors like his wife, Jill, to advocate for tighter access to weapons.
The 17 recipients of the honor “have overcome significant obstacles to achieving impressive achievements in the arts and sciences, devoting their lives to advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and act courageously to drive change in their communities and around the world, while shining the light of the White House.
Biden himself knows what it feels like to receive a medal. Then-President Obama honored Biden’s decades of public service by presenting him with the “outstanding” Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony shortly before they left office in January. 2017.
Biden ended the ceremony by declaring, “This is America.”
Other recipients honored
– John McCain, the Arizona Republican that Biden served in the Senate. Mr. McCain died of brain cancer in 2018. He spent more than 5 years in captivity in Vietnam while serving in the US Navy. He later represented Arizona in the House and Senate, and was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, competing with Democrats Barack Obama and Biden.
– Gabby Giffords, gun control advocate. Former Arizona congresswoman founded an organization called Giffords to campaign to end gun violence and limit access to guns. The Democrat nearly died after she was shot in the head in January 2011 during an election event in Tucson.
– Sister Simone Campbell, a member of the Sisters of Social Service and former executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice organization.
– Julieta Garcia, former president of the University of Texas at Brownsville. Garcia is the first Latina to become a university president, the White House said.
– Fred Gray, one of the first Black members of the Alabama Legislature after Reconstruction. He is a prominent civil rights attorney who has represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr., and, at age 91, continues to practice law.
– Steve Jobs, co-founder, CEO and president of Apple Inc. He passed away in 2011.
– Father Alexander Karloutsos, assistant to Archbishop Demetrios of the United States. The White House says Karloutsos has advised several US presidents. Biden says he’s “one of my dearest friends.”
– Khizr Khan, an immigrant from Pakistan, son of Khan’s Army officer was killed in Iraq. Khan gained national notoriety and became the target of Donald Trump’s wrath, after speaking at the 2016 Democratic National Convention.
– Diane Nash, founding member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, who organized some of the most important civil rights campaigns of the 20th century and worked with King.
– Simpson, who served in the Senate with Biden and is a prominent advocate for financial reform, responsible governance and marriage equality. Biden called Simpson “the real deal” and joked that “he never took himself too seriously nor took me too seriously.”
– Richard Trumka, who served as president of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO for over a decade at the time of his death in August 2021. He served as president of United Mine workers.
– Wilma Vaught. As a brigade general, Vaught is one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history, breaking gender barriers as she levels up. When Vaught retired in 1985, she was one of only seven female generals in the Armed Forces.
– Denzel Washington, a two-time Academy Award-winning actor, director, and producer. He also has a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a longtime spokesman for the Boys & Girls Club of America. The White House said Washington could not attend Thursday’s ceremony after testing positive for COVID-19. Biden said Washington will get his medal “when he can get here.”
– Raul Yzaguirr. A civil rights advocate, Yzaguirre was president and chief executive officer of La Raza National Council for 30 years.
