Bush announces 2007 Medal of Freedom winners

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

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.

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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Sources

Various Correspondents. "US names Medal of Freedom recipients" — Herald Sun, Australia, October 30, 2007
"President Bush Announces 2007 Medal of Freedom Recipients" — VOA News, October 29, 2007
Mark Silva. "Hyde, Becker among Medal of Freedom winners" — Chicago Tribune, October 29, 2007
Press Release: "President Bush Announces Recipients of Presidential Medal of Freedom" — The White House, October 29, 2007

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