Presidential Medal Of Freedom Given To Meryl Streep, Tom Brokaw, More

The Presidential Medal of Freedom was given out by President Barack Obama to 18 recipients, and it sort of opened up the Thanksgiving holiday week. Obama said that the recipients this year made the world so much wiser, stronger, more beautiful, and more humane.

After seeing who got the Medal of Freedom, it’s hard to disagree with that assessment.

USA Today reported the medal was given to 18 Americans “who devoted their lives to their fellow citizens.” The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor in the United States.

Actress Meryl Streep, NBC journalist Tom Brokaw, musician Stevie Wonder, and retiring Democratic Rep. John Dingell were just four of those that receiver the great honor on Monday, November 24.

John Dingell is the longest serving member of Congress.

“Once a year we set aside this event to celebrate people who have made America stronger, and wiser, and more humane, and more beautiful,” Obama said during a ceremony at the White House.

According to Yahoo! News, most of the 18 recipients gathered together in the White House East Room and were each officially given their Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Obama was said to be in awe of the company he was in on Monday morning, and that this is one of his favorite events every year.

“This is one of my favorite events,” Obama said from the East Room. “Once a year, we set aside this event to celebrate people who have made America stronger, and wiser, and more humane, and more beautiful with our higher civilian honor.”

Others given the Medal of Freedom included actress Marlo Thomas, golfer Charles Sifford, former Rep. Abner Mikva of Illinois, Native American activist Suzan Harjo, economist Robert Solow, and physicist Mildred Dresselhaus.

Six posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom awards were also handed out. Those that received these medals included civil rights workers Andre Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner, who were all killed in 1964 as they took part in a historic voter registration drive in Mississippi.

Choreographer Alvin Ailey, and Reps. Patsy Mink of Hawaii and Edward Roybal of California, founder of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, were also given posthumous medals.

There was one more Presidential Medal of Freedom that was scheduled to be given out and that was to composer Stephen Sondheim. President Obama said that he wasn’t able to make the event and would be included in next year’s class.

[Image via Getty Images]