United States President George W. Bush announced on October 29, 2007 the list of winners of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor which may be granted by the United States.
President Harry Truman initiated the award in 1945 to honor civilian service during World War II and President John Kennedy re-established it in 1963 to honor an “especially meritorious contribution” to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, or for their accomplishments in the areas of culture or “other significant public or private endeavors.”
The Medal of Freedom may be awarded by the president to any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, or to world peace, cultural or other significant endeavors.
The medals will be awarded on November 5, 2007.
The winners are:
- Gary Becker, 1992 Nobel economics prize winner
- Oscar Elias Biscet, an anti-abortion and pro-democracy activist and political prisoner in Cuba
- Francis Collins, Human Genome Project leader
- Benjamin Hooks, US civil rights leader
- Retired Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois and former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee
- Harper Lee, author of the book To Kill a Mockingbird
- Brian Lamb, founder of the C-SPAN cable public affairs network
- Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of Liberia and the first woman elected to head an African country
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