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WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Democratic philanthropist George Soros and actor-director Denzel Washington will be honored Saturday at a White House ceremony with the nation’s highest civilian honor.
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President Joe Biden will present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 of essentially the most famous figures from the worlds of politics, sports, entertainment, civil rights, LGBTQ+ support and science.
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The White House said recipients “have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant social endeavors, public or private.”
Four medals are to be awarded posthumously. They point them to Fannie Lou Hamer, who founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and laid the groundwork for the Voting Rights Act of 1965; former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy; George W. Romney, who served as each Michigan’s governor and secretary of Housing and Urban Development; and Ash Carter, former Secretary of Defense.
Kennedy is the daddy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services. Romney is the daddy of former Utah Republican senator Mitt Romney, certainly one of Trump’s staunchest conservative critics.
Notable philanthropists receiving the award include Spanish-American chef Jose Andres, whose charity World Central Kitchen has develop into certainly one of the world’s most recognized food relief organizations, and Bono, frontman of the rock band U2 and social justice activist.
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Recognized sports and entertainment stars include skilled soccer player Lionel Messi; retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball legend and businessman Earvin “Magic” Johnson; actor Michael J. Fox, who’s an outspoken advocate for Parkinson’s disease research and development; and William Sanford Nye, known to generations of scholars as “Bill Nye, the Scientist.”
Other awardees included conservationist Jane Goodall; long-time editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine Anna Wintour; American designer Ralph Lauren; American Film Institute founder George Stevens Jr.; entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ activist Tim Gill; and David Rubenstein, co-founder of worldwide investment firm The Carlyle Group.
Last 12 months, Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 people, including the late Medgar Evers, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina and actress Michelle Yeoh.
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